Rib Lake, Wisconsin.
Typical home $218,380 (+6.8% in a year). Wausau-Weston, WI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$539 (+89%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $13,963 +7%
- $204,417$218,380 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $18,407 +9%
- $199,973$218,380 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Rib Lake$1,146
- Wisconsin$1,770
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 39 years.
Typical home values in Rib Lake, WI rose 6.8% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Rib Lake, Taylor County, Wisconsin
Rib Lake is a village of 935 people in Taylor County. Half its households earn more than $57,632 a year and half less, against $69,350 across Taylor County; 16% of its people live below the poverty line. 65% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 35% are rented. Unemployment in Taylor County was 3.0% in August 2026, and the county had 0.7% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in manufacturing, then schools and health care.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Rib Lake is a small village in Taylor County, in northern Wisconsin, with a population older than the typical American community. Household incomes run below the county's, and more people live below the poverty line than most would expect of a place this size. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and a four-year degree is held by a minority of adults. Winters are long and cold, with January the coldest month, and a great deal of snow falls each year. Summers are pleasantly warm, and the year brings a fair amount of rain and melted snow.
Work. Many residents work in manufacturing, in schools, hospitals and social care, in shops, and in restaurants, hotels and entertainment. The largest workplaces in the village include GNC Manufacturing, a maker of wood cabinets, along with the Rib Lake School District and North Shore Healthcare, which runs nursing homes. Across Taylor County, unemployment is low and has changed little over the past year, though the county has slightly fewer jobs than it did the year before. Commutes are fairly short, and only a small number of people work from home.
Things to do. Spirit Lake is a lake a short drive away, and it is the closest of the nearby waters. A longer drive brings you to Council Grounds State Park, a protected area, and to Wisconsin Concrete Park, a museum of folk art sculpture. Grandfather Falls, a waterfall, is also a longer drive from the village.
Report a mistake
- 392households
- 22%of adults have a degree
- 16%below the poverty line
- 20 mintypical commute
- 7%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Taylor County had 7,776 jobs in 2025, 0.7% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 21° and lows near 2°; warmest in July, with highs near 79° and lows near 57°. About 57 inches of snow and 34 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Medford weather station, 15 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Rib Lake
- GNC ManufacturingCabinets, kitchen, stock or custom wood, manufacturing81
- Rib Lake School DistrictSchool district69FTE
- North Shore HealthcareNursing homes52
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 133 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Taylor County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, very low. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Taylor County and the Wausau-Weston, WI metro.
Rib Lake home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Rib Lake$218,380
- Wisconsin$337,196
- United States$366,157
Levy by levy, and a check of one home’s own bill, the site covers Ohio’s property tax.
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Rib Lake7
Zip codes with a Rib Lake address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Rib Lake — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.