Rio, Wisconsin.
Typical home $250,916 (+0.7% in a year). Madison, WI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$717 (+120%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $1,836 +1%
- $249,080$250,916 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $48,181 +24%
- $202,735$250,916 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.
- Rio$1,317
- Wisconsin$1,770
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 16 years.
Typical home values in Rio, WI rose 0.7% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Rio, Columbia County, Wisconsin
Rio is a village of 1,119 people in Columbia County. Half its households earn more than $67,833 a year and half less, against $85,351 across Columbia County; 18% of its people live below the poverty line. 65% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 35% are rented. Unemployment in Columbia County was 3.1% in August 2026, and the county had 0.9% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Columbia County work in schools and health care, then manufacturing.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Rio is a village in Columbia County, Wisconsin, and a small one, home to a modest community of residents. The median age sits a little above the middle years, and most homes are lived in by their owners. Household incomes run below the county's, and a larger share of people live below the poverty line than you might expect in a place this size. Winters are cold, with January highs and lows well below freezing and a good deal of snow, while July is warm and the year brings a fair amount of rain and melted snow.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with manufacturing, retail, and professional and business services also employing many. Among the largest workplaces in Rio are the Rio Community School District, Total Wall, which makes stucco and stucco products, and Century Traffic Rio, which paints lines on highways, streets and bridges. Few adults hold a four-year degree, and the typical commute is a fairly long one. Across Columbia County there were slightly fewer jobs last year than the year before, and unemployment there is a little higher than it was a year ago.
Things to do. Devil's Lake State Park, a protected area built around a lake, is a longer drive away and is one of the best known outdoor spots in the region. Also a longer drive away is the International Crane Foundation, a zoo devoted to cranes. For a day on the water, Lake Mendota in Madison is a lake a longer drive away, and the Ice Age Trail, a long hiking trail, is also reachable with a longer drive.
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- 490households
- 20%of adults have a degree
- 18%below the poverty line
- 29 mintypical commute
- 8%work from home
What people in Columbia County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Columbia County had 21,764 jobs in 2025, 0.9% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 26° and lows near 10°; warmest in July, with highs near 82° and lows near 62°. About 39 inches of snow and 38 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Portage Wwtp weather station, 11 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Rio
- Rio Community School DistrictSchool district65FTE
- Total WallStucco and stucco products manufacturing33
- Century Traffic RioPainting lines on highways, streets and bridges23
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 2 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 56 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
- HailVery high
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- Heat wavesRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- Inland floodingRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Columbia County, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Columbia County and the Madison, WI metro.
Rio home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Rio$250,916
- 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.
Not enough data to draw this yet.
Zip codes with a Rio address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Rio — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.
Zillow publishes no zip-level series with this city on the address.