Washburn, Wisconsin.
Typical home $273,991 (+2.5% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$869 (+153%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $6,555 +2%
- $267,436$273,991 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $73,270 +37%
- $200,721$273,991 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.
- Washburn$1,438
- Wisconsin$1,770
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 11 years.
Typical home values in Washburn, WI rose 2.5% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Washburn, Bayfield County, Wisconsin
Washburn is a city of 2,051 people in Bayfield County. Half its households earn more than $62,128 a year and half less, against $71,151 across Bayfield County; 7% of its people live below the poverty line. 69% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 31% are rented. Unemployment in Bayfield County was 3.8% in August 2026, and the county had 2.4% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then shops.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Washburn is a small city on the Wisconsin shore of Lake Superior, with a population that is easy to know by sight. Most homes are lived in by their owners, and household incomes run below the county's, while typical home values sit in a middle range for the region. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month and plenty of snow, and summers are mild and comfortable, with July the warmest.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, followed by shops, manufacturing and government. Among the largest workplaces in town are the Washburn School District, Hansen's IGA and Washburn Iron Works. Commutes are short, and a fair number of people work from home.
Things to do. The Grand Opera House, a theatre, is a short drive away, as is Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge, a protected area with a creek running through it. For a longer outing, Apostle Islands National Lakeshore and Big Bay State Park are both a longer drive away and offer shoreline and protected natural areas to explore.
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- 851households
- 36%of adults have a degree
- 7%below the poverty line
- 14 mintypical commute
- 12%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Bayfield County had 4,295 jobs in 2025, 2.4% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 22° and lows near 4°; warmest in July, with highs near 77° and lows near 56°. About 33 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Bayfield Fish Hatchery weather station, 8 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Washburn
- Northern LightsAssisted-living facilities without on-site nursing care facilities151
- Washburn School DistrictSchool district89FTE
- Hansen's IGA - WashburnSupermarkets42
- Forest ServiceFederal government · Department of Agriculture37
- Washburn Iron WorksIron castings, unfinished, manufacturing37
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 3 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 230 people in all. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and federal offices from OPM's federal workforce data (2026); 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
- Winter weatherRelatively moderate
- Strong windRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Bayfield 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 Bayfield County.
Washburn home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Washburn$273,991
- 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.
- Washburn13
Zip codes with a Washburn address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Washburn — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.