Wood County, Wisconsin: County Profile

The current operators, status, and employment of Wood County's paper mills were not confirmed from a fetched source in this session.

Wisconsin Rapids is the county seat of Wood County.

The Wood County Courthouse is at 400 Market Street, Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494.

Wood County covers 793.02 square miles of land and 16.232 square miles of water.

Wood County borders Adams, Clark, Jackson, Juneau, Marathon, and Portage counties.

The City of Wisconsin Rapids covers a total area of 14.67 square miles (9,388.8 acres).

State routes 13, 34, 54, and 73 all meet in Wisconsin Rapids, which sits along the Wisconsin River.

The Wood County Board of Supervisors has 19 supervisors, each representing one of 19 districts.

The Wood County Board generally meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 9:30.

Lance A. Pliml chairs the Wood County Board and also serves as the county's Administrative Coordinator.

Jake Hahn is 1st Vice Chair and Joseph H. Zurfluh is 2nd Vice Chair of the Wood County Board.

Trent Miner is the Wood County Clerk (four-year term expiring January 1, 2029).

Shawn Becker is the Wood County Sheriff (four-year term expiring January 2, 2027).

Jonathan Barnett is the Wood County District Attorney.

Heather L. Gehrt is the Wood County Treasurer.

Tiffany R. Ringer is the Wood County Register of Deeds.

Kimberly A. Stimac is the Wood County Clerk of Circuit Court.

Dave Patton is the Wood County Coroner.

The Wood County Circuit Court has four branches, with judges elected to six-year terms.

Wood County's circuit judges are Gregory J. Jerabek (Branch 1), Nicholas J. Brazeau, Jr. (Branch 2), Emily Nolan-Plutchak (Branch 3), and Timothy Gebert (Branch 4).

Roland Hawk is the Wood County Highway Commissioner.

Sue Smith is the Wood County Health Department Director and Health Officer.

Matt Zacher is Mayor of the City of Wisconsin Rapids, a nonpartisan office with a two-year term.

Nick Poeschel is Mayor of the City of Marshfield.

Wood County has four cities: Wisconsin Rapids, Marshfield, Nekoosa, and Pittsville.

Wood County has eight villages: Arpin, Auburndale, Biron, Hewitt, Milladore, Port Edwards, Rudolph, and Vesper.

Wood County has 22 towns: Arpin, Auburndale, Cameron, Cary, Cranmoor, Dexter, Grand Rapids, Hansen, Hiles, Lincoln, Marshfield, Milladore, Port Edwards, Remington, Richfield, Rock, Rudolph, Saratoga, Seneca, Sherry, Sigel, and Wood.

The City of Marshfield extends into Marathon County; its Wood County part had a 2025 official estimate of 17,928 residents.

The Village of Milladore spans more than one county; its Wood County part had 268 residents in 2020.

Wood County had a 2025 final population estimate of 73,930.

Wood County had a 2020 Census population of 74,207.

Wood County had a 2010 Census population of 74,749.

The Census Bureau estimated Wood County's population at 73,943 as of July 1, 2024.

Wood County's population in 1860 was 2,425.

The City of Wisconsin Rapids had a 2020 Census population of 18,877 and a 2025 official estimate of 18,659.

The Town of Grand Rapids, with a 2025 estimate of 7,620, is Wood County's most populous town.

The City of Nekoosa had a 2025 official estimate of 2,406 residents.

The ACS 2019-2023 five-year estimate of Wood County's population is 74,039.

Wood County's median age is 43.9 (ACS 2019-2023, margin of error +/-0.4).

Wood County's median household income is $66,417 (ACS 2019-2023, margin of error +/-$2,136).

The median value of owner-occupied housing in Wood County is $168,100 (ACS 2019-2023, margin of error +/-$5,669).

Wood County had 1,717 business establishments and 34,252 paid employees in 2023.

Health care and social assistance is Wood County's largest employment sector, with 9,944 paid employees at 231 establishments in 2023.

Manufacturing employed 5,677 people at 115 Wood County establishments in 2023.

Retail trade employed 3,839 people at 242 Wood County establishments in 2023.

Transportation and warehousing employed 3,696 people at 97 Wood County establishments in 2023.

Wood County's total 2025 equalized value of real property is $8,312,694,500.

The City of Marshfield holds the largest share of Wood County's 2025 equalized value ($1,955,482,600), followed by the City of Wisconsin Rapids ($1,663,722,500).

Wisconsin Rapids has a long history of lumber, papermaking, and cranberries.

Marshfield Clinic is part of Sanford Health, which is headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Marshfield Clinic Research Institute was established in 1959 and is housed primarily in the Lawton Center and the Melvin R. Laird Center in Marshfield.

Aspirus Wisconsin Rapids Hospital is at 410 Dewey St. in Wisconsin Rapids.

Norwood Health Center, owned by Wood County, is licensed by the State of Wisconsin as a specialty hospital and a nursing home, providing acute inpatient psychiatric care and long-term care for severe mental illness.

Edgewater Haven is a Wood County skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility in view of the Wisconsin River; the county states it is rated 5 stars on Medicare.gov.

Family Health Center operates four HRSA-supported health center sites in Wood County, three in Marshfield and one in Wisconsin Rapids.

Mid-State Technical College has campuses in Wisconsin Rapids and Marshfield, as well as Adams and Stevens Point.

UW-Stevens Point operates a branch campus in Marshfield (UW-Stevens Point at Marshfield).

Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools serves approximately 4,637 students across 12 schools.

The NCES 2023-24 public school geocode file lists 32 public schools in Wood County, in Wisconsin Rapids (10), Marshfield (8), Nekoosa (6), Port Edwards (3), Auburndale (2), Pittsville (2), and Rudolph (1).

Wood County's public library outlets include McMillan Memorial Library (Wisconsin Rapids), Everett Roehl Marshfield Public Library, Charles & Joann Lester Library (Nekoosa), and Pittsville Community Library, plus Lester Public Library outlets in Arpin and Vesper.

Wood County operates seven recreational parks and manages 38,000 acres of county forest; the county also cites 18,500 acres of Wood County State Wildlife Area.

Wood County opened the Powers Bluff Welcome Center at 7073 County Highway N in Arpin in 2026, serving as trailhead for Powers Bluff County Park's bike trails.

The South Wood County Historical Museum is at 540 3rd St. S in Wisconsin Rapids.

The National Register lists 22 Wood County properties, 16 of them in Marshfield.

The Wood County Courthouse in Wisconsin Rapids was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on July 21, 2015.

Skunk Hill (Tah-qua-kik) Ceremonial Community near Arpin was listed on the National Register on July 5, 2002.

The Central Wisconsin State Fair Round Barn in Marshfield was listed on the National Register on March 21, 1997.

Wood County was detached from Portage County under Chapter 54, Laws of 1856.

Wood County was named after Joseph Wood, who came from Illinois in 1848 and became the first County Judge.

The Wood County Board met for the first time on October 8, 1856.

In the winter of 1827, Daniel Whitney of Green Bay employed 22 Stockbridge Indians to make shingles at the mouth of the Yellow River on the Wisconsin River.

The first lumbering plants on the Wisconsin River in Wood County were Daniel Whitney's mill at Whitney's Rapids (1831-32) and Grignon & Merrill's mill at Grignon's Rapids (1836).

The Wood County Reporter, established in November 1857, was adopted as the county's official newspaper on January 5, 1858.

The Menominee called the Wisconsin Rapids site 'Ah-dah-wah-gam' and ceded the land to the United States in the 1836 Treaty of the Cedars.

Grand Rapids (east bank) and Centralia (west bank) consolidated in 1900 as Grand Rapids.

Grand Rapids was renamed Wisconsin Rapids in 1920 because mail was being sent to Grand Rapids, Michigan.