Waunakee, Wisconsin.
Typical home $582,438 (+2.6% in a year), asking rent $2,076 . Madison, WI metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,643 (+116%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $14,999 +3%
- $567,438$582,438 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $138,217 +31%
- $444,221$582,438 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.
- Waunakee$3,057
- Wisconsin$1,770
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 13 years.
Typical home values in Waunakee, WI rose 2.6% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Waunakee, Dane County, Wisconsin
Waunakee is a village of 14,879 people in Dane County. Half its households earn more than $125,220 a year and half less, against $89,975 across Dane County; 3% of its people live below the poverty line. 77% of its homes are lived in by their owners and 23% are rented. Unemployment in Dane County was 2.9% in August 2026, and the county had 0.6% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most residents work in schools and health care, then professional services.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Waunakee is a village in Dane County, and most homes there are lived in by their owners. Household incomes run well above the county's, and very few residents live below the poverty line. A large majority of adults hold a four-year degree, and the typical home costs a good deal to buy, with rents that are not low either. Winters are cold and snowy, with January the coldest month and highs staying below freezing, while July is warm and the year brings a fair amount of rain and melted snow.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, with others in professional and business services, banking, insurance and property, or manufacturing. Waunakee Community School District, Nord Gear and Dane Manufacturing are among the largest workplaces in the village. Commutes are fairly short, and a good number of people work from home. Across Dane County, unemployment is a little higher than a year ago, and the number of jobs has edged up.
Things to do. Lake Mendota and Lake Monona are both lakes a short drive away, good for time on the water or along the shore. Governor Nelson State Park, a protected area, is also a short drive off, and so is the Elvehjem Museum of Art for a quieter afternoon indoors. Olbrich Botanical Gardens, another short drive away, makes an easy outing in the warmer months.
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- 5,844households
- 64%of adults have a degree
- 3%below the poverty line
- 22 mintypical commute
- 24%work from home
What residents work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Dane County had 361,286 jobs in 2025, 0.6% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 27° and lows near 12°; warmest in July, with highs near 82° and lows near 62°. About 52 inches of snow and 37 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Madison Dane Regional Airport weather station, 6 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Waunakee
- Waunakee Community School DistrictSchool district653FTE
- Nord GearDrives, high-speed industrial, manufacturing474
- Dane ManufacturingSheet metal work manufacturing198
- Octopi - BreweryBeverages, beer, ale, and malt liquors, manufacturing197
- Scientific Protein LaboratoriesBiological product except diagnostic manufacturing195
- RenewAireVentilating fans, industrial and commercial-type, manufacturing163
- Waunakee RemodelingConstruction management, residential remodeling133
- Trilogy Health ServicesNursing care facilities skilled nursing facilities124
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 18 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 2,122 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 wavesVery high
- HailRelatively high
- TornadoesRelatively high
- Inland floodingRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- Strong windRelatively high
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms across Dane 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 Dane County and the Madison, WI metro.
Waunakee home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Waunakee$582,438
- 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.
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Waunakee listings, and the typical home goes pending in 24 days — the market is roughly in balance.
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
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Waunakee29.24%
- United States26.90%
Days to pending
How long the typical listing takes to go under contract.
- Waunakee24
- United States24
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Waunakee60
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Waunakee22
Median sale price
What buyers actually paid — closed sales, not asking prices.
- Waunakee$630,518
- United States$371,553
Zip codes with a Waunakee address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Waunakee — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.