28 areas, lightest to steepest
The short version: on the same $250,000 of home value, the monthly tax line runs from about $193 in Lake Holcombe to about $490 in Cadott — a $297-a-month spread decided by nothing but the address.
Your lender escrows property taxes into the monthly payment right alongside the mortgage and the insurance, so this line is real money every month, not a once-a-year surprise. Every area below links to its full guide, where the same math runs on local prices and the whole bill gets broken down levy by levy.
| Area | Rate per $1,000 | Tax / year on $250K | Tax / month on $250K |
|---|
| Lake Holcombe | $9.25 | $2,313 | $193 |
| Lake Wissota | $9.76 | $2,440 | $203 |
| Long Lake (New Auburn) | $10.04 | $2,510 | $209 |
| Hayward | $10.32* | $2,580 | $215 |
| Upper Long Lake | $10.55†‡ | $2,638 | $220 |
| Shell Lake | $11.84‡ | $2,960 | $247 |
| Birchwood | $12.37†‡ | $3,093 | $258 |
| Chetek Chain | $12.79* | $3,198 | $266 |
| Chippewa Falls | $13.70 | $3,425 | $285 |
| Augusta | $14.86 | $3,715 | $310 |
| Altoona | $15.25 | $3,813 | $318 |
| Lake Altoona | $15.25† | $3,813 | $318 |
| Rice Lake | $15.81* | $3,953 | $329 |
| Lake Hallie | $16.63 | $4,158 | $346 |
| Fall Creek | $16.83 | $4,208 | $351 |
| Elk Mound | $17.19 | $4,298 | $358 |
| Mondovi | $17.98 | $4,495 | $375 |
| Ladysmith | $18.01* | $4,503 | $375 |
| Lake Arbutus | $18.02† | $4,505 | $375 |
| Black River Falls | $18.64 | $4,660 | $388 |
| Lake Eau Claire | $19.19† | $4,798 | $400 |
| Eau Claire | $20.47 | $5,118 | $426 |
| Menomonie | $21.07 | $5,268 | $439 |
| Osseo | $23.16 | $5,790 | $483 |
| Cadott | $23.54 | $5,885 | $490 |
Eau Claire appears once on purpose: the Third Ward, Eastside Hill, and Randall Park guides are neighborhoods inside the City of Eau Claire, so all four guides share this one citywide rate — their own pages work the math from their neighborhood median prices instead of the $250,000 yardstick.
* Effective full-value rate. Rates marked * are Wisconsin Department of Revenue effective full-value rates — they apply to full (market) value rather than assessed value. They are shown on the same $250,000 basis so the ranking holds.
‡ 2024 levy. Rates marked ‡ are the 2024 levy (payable 2025), computed from Wisconsin DOR Statements of Taxes and Assessment for Washburn County. Every other row is the 2025 levy, payable 2026.
† Lake Arbutus: Jackson County side (Town of Komensky). The Clark County side (Town of Dewhurst) has no published net rate — its levy runs about 47% county and 44% schools. The Lake Arbutus guide breaks both shores down.
† Lake Altoona: City of Altoona rate. Shoreline parcels inside the Lake Altoona District add 2.65 mills — $17.90 per $1,000 total, about $373 a month on $250,000.
† Lake Eau Claire: Town of Bridge Creek rate. Parcels inside the Lake Eau Claire Protection and Rehabilitation District are listed at $21.96 per $1,000 — about $458 a month on $250,000.
† Birchwood: Village of Birchwood rate. The lake shores in the surrounding towns carry no village levy and generally run lighter.
† Upper Long Lake: Town of Long Lake, Rice Lake Area School District side. The town’s Spooner Area School District side nets $9.42 per $1,000.
How these numbers work
A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of value — despite the name, it has nothing to do with a million. A rate of $20.47 per $1,000 on a $250,000 value is 250 × $20.47, about $5,118 a year; divide by 12 and you have the monthly line.
Most rates here are net mill rates: they apply to a home’s assessed value, the number the local assessor puts on it. Assessed values are supposed to track market value, but they can sit well under it — in the areas that publish an assessment ratio, they run from about 59% to 92% of market value — which is why a steep-looking mill rate doesn’t always mean a steep bill. The four areas marked * publish only an effective full-value rate through the Wisconsin Department of Revenue; those apply to full market value instead.
Every row uses the same $250,000 value so the comparison is apples-to-apples. It is a yardstick, not a prediction: each area’s guide runs its own worked example on local prices, and your real bill starts from your home’s actual assessment.
Rates are shown rounded to the cent, exactly as published; each guide works its example from the full-precision rate, so a guide’s figures can differ from this table by a few dollars. Every figure is also the gross bill: Wisconsin subtracts the lottery and gaming credit and the first dollar credit after the bill is calculated, so the check a homeowner writes is smaller. Special charges and assessments are in no rate at all — they ride on top, parcel by parcel.
Sources: the Wisconsin Department of Revenue and the county treasurers’ published mill-rate sheets, named in each area’s guide. Most rows are the 2025 levy — bills mailed in December 2025, payable in 2026. Birchwood, Shell Lake, and Upper Long Lake (marked ‡) are the 2024 levy, payable 2025: Washburn County publishes no mill-rate sheet, so those rates are computed from the Department of Revenue’s Statements of Taxes and Assessment, the latest available.
Property tax questions
Why do property taxes vary so much between nearby towns?
Because a tax bill isn’t one tax — it’s a stack of levies: the school district, the county, your city, village, or town, and the technical college each take a slice. The school district is the biggest slice in most of these areas, but the swing factor is usually the municipal layer. In the same Chippewa Falls school district, a home in the city pays $13.70 per $1,000 while one out in the Town of Lafayette pays $9.76 — the difference is the city levy stacked on top.
What is a mill rate?
A mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of value. A net rate of $20.47 per $1,000 means $20.47 a year for each $1,000 your home is valued at — a $250,000 value at that rate comes to about $5,118 a year, or about $426 a month, before credits. Multiply the value by the rate and divide by 1,000 and you have the gross bill.
Do these numbers include the lottery credit?
No — every figure here is the gross bill, before Wisconsin’s credits come off. The lottery and gaming credit and the first dollar credit are subtracted after the bill is calculated, so the amount a homeowner actually pays is smaller than the table shows. Special charges and assessments aren’t in these rates either; they ride on top, parcel by parcel.
Why is there no city tax on the lakes?
Because most lake homes here don’t sit in a city or village at all — they sit in towns, and towns don’t stack a municipal services levy the way a city does. Lake Wissota homes in the Town of Lafayette pay the school, county, town, and technical college slices and stop there: $9.76 per $1,000, about $203 a month on $250,000. Cross into the City of Chippewa Falls — same school district — and the rate rises to $13.70 because the city layer is added on top.
When do Wisconsin property tax bills come out?
Wisconsin taxes run on a fall levy: local budgets are set and levied late in the year, bills are mailed in December, and they’re payable in the new year. The rates in the table are the 2025 levy — bills mailed in December 2025 and payable in 2026 — except the three Washburn County areas, which run on the 2024 levy (payable 2025), the latest their published statements support.
Carter Barstad
