City of Colby, Clark and Marathon Counties, Wisconsin: Place Profile

A ranked list of Colby's largest employers could not be anchored to a fetched primary source this session.

A hospital serving Colby could not be confirmed from a fetched source.

The City of Colby is an incorporated city in Clark County and Marathon County, Wisconsin (Census place GEOID 5516150).

The city covers 1.638 square miles of land and 0.005 square miles of water, centered near 44.911327, -90.315729.

Of Colby's 2020 census population, 1,275 lived in the Clark County part and 677 in the Marathon County part; DOA's 2025 estimates are 1,260 and 670.

The City of Colby is a separate municipality from the Town of Colby in Clark County, which had a 2020 census count of 922.

GNIS records Colby as a populated place in Clark County at 44.9099665, -90.3156911.

The city is bordered by the Town of Colby, the Town of Hull and the City of Abbotsford.

Colby calls itself the birthplace of Colby cheese; a downtown historical marker commemorates Joseph Steinwand for developing the cheese in the 1880s.

The city dates Colby cheese to 1885, when Joseph Steinwand, son of cheese factory owner Ambrose Steinwand, created it at a factory one mile south and one mile west of Colby.

The city history page says Colby came into existence because the government gave Gardner Colby rights to build a railroad from Menasha to Ashland; Wikipedia says the station was named for his son Charles L. Colby.

The Clark County Historical Society's Rural Arts Museum in Colby, built around the Colby Cheese Box Company site and the original Colby depot, opens Sundays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

The 2020 census counted 1,952 residents in the City of Colby across both counties.

The Wisconsin DOA January 1, 2025 official estimate for the whole city is 1,930.

The Census Bureau's July 1, 2024 estimate for Colby city is 1,959 (2020 estimates base 1,996).

The city's home page states a population of 1,708, a figure that matches neither the 2020 census nor current estimates.

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimate of total population is 2,118 (margin of error +/-317).

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year median age is 38.2 years (margin of error +/-2.4).

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year median household income is $52,574 (margin of error +/-$7,806).

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year median value of owner-occupied homes is $147,900 (margin of error +/-$13,691).

At the 2020 census, 20.6 percent of Colby residents were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

Colby has a mayor and a six-member city council, with two council members from each of Wards I, II and III.

James Schmidt is the Mayor of Colby.

Council members are Jason Lindeman and Liz Baumgartner (Ward I), Dan Hederer and Todd Schmidt (Ward II), and Randy Hesgard and Jacob Hoernke (Ward III).

Connie Gurtner is the City Clerk/Treasurer and Callie Weber the Deputy Clerk/Treasurer; City Hall is open weekdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

The Common Council meets on the first Tuesday of the month at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of Colby City Hall, 211 W. Spence Street, unless noticed otherwise, and the agenda is posted at City Hall.

Agendas, minutes and packets are searchable on the city's Meetings page at ci.colby.wi.us, and residents can subscribe to email alerts for news, agendas, minutes and packets.

City Hall is at 211 W. Spence Street (P.O. Box 236), Colby, WI 54421; phone (715) 223-4435; [email address]

The city's official website is ci.colby.wi.us.

William Gamoke of Marshfield is City Attorney and Gregory Schmidt of Edgar is the assessor.

Colby is policed by the joint Colby-Abbotsford Police Department at 112 W. Spruce Street in Abbotsford; Alex Bowman is chief.

Colby is served by the Colby School District (NCES 5502730), a PK-12 district of 4 schools with 930 students in 2024-25, based at 705 N. Second Street.

Public schools with a Colby address are Colby Elementary (202 W. Dolf St.), Little Stars Pre-School (202 W. Dolf St.), Colby Middle (703 N. 2nd St.) and Colby High (705 N. 2nd St.).

The district posts Board of Education agendas, minutes, packets and its meeting schedule on colby.k12.wi.us, and its teams are the Hornets.

The city's community page notes one parochial elementary school for grades K-8 in Colby.

The Colby Industrial Park on County Highway N lists 31 total acres with 17 available; the city's profile of the park was last updated in May 2004.

The city offers four commercially zoned parcels of 6.44 to 12.73 acres off Highway 13 near Highway 29, with price negotiable on improvement value and jobs; the notice carries no posting date.

The city references a 2024-2044 Comprehensive Plan on its economic development page.

Clark County had 779 business establishments and 9,517 paid employees in 2023, of which 3,947 worked in manufacturing.

The Tribune-Phonograph, which the Wausau Wire roster lists for Abbotsford and Colby, publishes online in its own Tribune Phonograph section of centralwinews.com (Central Wisconsin News).

The Colby Community Library is at 505 W. Spence Street; it is open weekdays, with Saturday morning hours only June through August, and Vicky Calmes is librarian.

Fire and EMS service comes from the Central Fire & EMS District, formed in 2017 when the Colby, Abbotsford and Dorchester departments merged; each city keeps a fire hall, the district office is at the Abbotsford Fire Hall, and Joe Mueller is chief.

The city's community page lists the Marshfield Clinic Colby/Abbotsford Center as the area's family health care provider.

Local groups named by the city include the Lions and Lioness Clubs, the VFW and Auxiliary, and the ShowCase Players community theater, and city recreation areas offer tennis, softball, basketball, sand volleyball and horseshoes.

Colby Cheese Days, begun in 1965 by the Colby Chamber of Commerce, VFW Post 2227 and the Colby Lions Club, is held every July with an ATV pull, Main Street parade, street dances, a tractor pull and a midway.

The Colby Chamber of Commerce and Colby FFA Alumni hold a June Dairy Breakfast on a Colby-area farm on the fourth Sunday in June.

The city provides water, sewer, garbage and recycling service billed monthly; Xcel Energy supplies electricity and WE Energies supplies natural gas.

State Highway 13 runs through Colby, and the city's development land sits near the Highway 29 corridor on the north end of town.

The city posted a notice of a water rate increase for Colby Municipal Water Utility customers on August 5, 2026.