Village of Rib Mountain, Marathon County, Wisconsin: Place Profile

The full current trustee roster, terms, and board size are not confirmed from an official source.

The Village Board's regular meeting schedule, and where agendas and notices post, are not confirmed from a source Wausau Wire may read.

A ranked list of Rib Mountain's largest employers with current headcounts is not available from a primary source.

No public library outlet is recorded in Rib Mountain.

No post office inside the village is confirmed; Rib Mountain uses Wausau (54401) mailing addresses.

The municipality is the Village of Rib Mountain, an incorporated village in Marathon County, Wisconsin (Census place GEOID 5567320; WI DOA code 37168). It was formerly the Town of Rib Mountain.

On May 3, 2023, the Wisconsin Incorporation Review Board granted the petition to incorporate the entire Town of Rib Mountain as a village.

In a July 11, 2023 referendum, voters approved incorporation 1,194 to 104, per unofficial tallies.

The incorporation took effect July 21, 2023.

The entire former town became the village, so no remnant Town of Rib Mountain exists.

A Census-designated place named Rib Mountain lies within the village. It is a smaller statistical area than the village.

Rib Mountain addresses use ZIP 54401, the ZIP shared with Wausau; the municipal mailing address is 227800 Snowbird Avenue, Rib Mountain, WI 54401-5828.

Rib Mountain village covers 24.535 square miles of land and 1.193 square miles of water, with an internal point near 44.89722, -89.683855.

The village's eastern boundary follows the Wisconsin River and Lake Wausau. To the east across the river lie Wausau, Schofield, and Rothschild; the Towns of Mosinee, Marathon, and Stettin border it on the south, west, and north.

Rib Mountain, the 1.7-billion-year-old quartzite ridge the community is named for, rises about 700 feet above the surrounding land. The IRB record describes it as the third-highest point in Wisconsin at 1,942 feet.

Mosinee Hill, a second peak southeast of Rib Mountain, rises about 400 feet.

I-39/US 51 runs along Rib Mountain’s east side and WIS 29 runs just north of it. The IRB record calls Rib Mountain a convenient stopping place for travelers heading from Illinois and southern Wisconsin to the Northwoods.

About 70 percent of the village is public recreation land or woodland. The IRB record shows 16,347.5 total acres, 30.6 percent of it developed (2015 land use).

The Wisconsin DOA lists a 2020 population of 7,313 for the Village of Rib Mountain. The DOA calls this a reasonable approximation, since the 2020 Census counted the territory as a town, not as this village.

The Wisconsin DOA January 1, 2025 official estimate for Rib Mountain is 7,333 residents.

The Census Bureau Vintage 2024 estimate for Rib Mountain village is 7,275 (July 1, 2024), from a 2020 estimates base of 7,309.

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimate for Census place 5567320 is 6,134 residents (margin of error +/-329), well below the roughly 7,300 in the village.

Median age for the ACS Rib Mountain place is 48.8 years (2019-2023, margin of error +/-4.3).

Median household income for the ACS Rib Mountain place is $87,054 (2019-2023, margin of error +/-$15,128).

Median value of owner-occupied homes for the ACS Rib Mountain place is $237,700 (2019-2023, margin of error +/-$16,785).

Rib Mountain's population has grown only about 0.1 percent a year since 2000. The IRB record attributes this to most developable land already being built out.

Overall population density is 286 people per square mile, or 402 excluding publicly owned recreation land.

Rib Mountain is governed by a village president and a board of trustees.

Allen Opall is village president; he was quoted in that role in August 2026.

In the April 7, 2026 election, incumbent trustee Cory Sillars (1,219 votes) and challenger Barbara Newton (1,203) won the two open seats; Joe Hurst (973) lost, per unofficial results.

Lynnae Kolden is the clerk of record (715-842-0983).

Gaylene Rhoden was village administrator as of October 2024.

The Rib Mountain Municipal Center is at 227800 Snowbird Avenue.

The village's website is at ribmountainwi.gov. Its robots.txt disallows all but a short list of named search and social crawlers, so Wausau Wire does not crawl it.

At incorporation, the town's equalized value was $971,169,600, and 36 percent of it was commercial.

Rib Mountain’s 2021 municipal tax rate was $3.37 per $1,000. Petitioners estimated a 2023 rate of $3.60, which the IRB record says would be the lowest among Marathon County cities and villages.

The proposed 2023 village general-fund budget was $3,696,633 in both revenues and expenditures.

Rib Mountain Sanitary District serves about 80 percent of residents. Wastewater goes to the separate Rib Mountain Metropolitan Sewerage District, which also serves Weston, Rothschild, Kronenwetter, and Mosinee.

Since 2020, Rib Mountain has contracted with the Marathon County Sheriff's Office for a full-time officer who works from the municipal center.

SAFER, the South Area Fire and Emergency Response District, provides fire, EMS, and rescue to Rib Mountain. SAFER began operating January 1, 2014, and has a station in Rib Mountain at 224225 Hummingbird Rd.

Josh Finke is the SAFER fire chief.

Rib Mountain students are served entirely by the Wausau School District, which enrolled 7,738 students in 2024-25.

Rib Mountain Elementary, 2701 Robin Ln (NCES ID 551590002059), opened in 1955.

South Mountain Elementary, 5400 Bittersweet Rd (NCES ID 551590001409), opened in 1997.

Faith Christian Academy runs a middle and high school inside Immanuel Baptist Church in Rib Mountain.

Rib Mountain Drive is a regional retail corridor. The IRB record lists 200 businesses in the town employing 3,207 people, including Best Buy and Dick's Sporting Goods on Rib Mountain Drive.

Rib Mountain hosts regional offices of the Wisconsin DMV, the DNR, and the Division of State Patrol.

Granite Peak Ski Area has run skiing on Rib Mountain since 2000 under a 30-year lease. The IRB record puts its draw at about 100,000 skiers a year and its seasonal staff at 200.

Rib Mountain created Tax Incremental District No. 1 in 2020 to redevelop the Rib Mountain Drive corridor, which dates to the 1960s. It is guided by the Rib Mountain Drive/TID 1 Master Plan and Corridor Study (2021).

The village has asked Walmart and Sam's Club to stop repeatedly challenging their Rib Mountain property assessments, which it says they have contested since the 2017 tax year.

Wausau Pilot & Review covers Rib Mountain government, from incorporation in 2023 to 2026 elections and assessment disputes.

WXPR public radio and WSAU news radio have reported Rib Mountain government news.

Rib Mountain’s health businesses include orthopedic, dental, chiropractic, and physical therapy providers, among them a Bone and Joint Clinic location.

The IRB record lists eight churches in Rib Mountain, including Rib Mountain Lutheran Church and Immanuel Baptist Church.

Rib Mountain State Park is a DNR day-use property open 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. year-round, with picnic areas, hiking trails, an amphitheater, and summit views. A vehicle admission sticker is required.

The state park was created in 1927 from 160 donated acres. The IRB record puts it at 1,600 acres with about 400,000 visitors a year.

Granite Peak Ski Area sits on the mountain's north face and offers downhill skiing and snowboarding.

Nine Mile County Forest, owned by Marathon County and about 5,000 acres, has 45 kilometers of mountain bike trails plus cross-country skiing and other uses.

The municipality maintains six parks: Chellis Park, Flax Lane Tot Lot, Liberty Park, Doepke Recreation Area, Rookery View Park, and Sandy's Bark Park.

Bluegill Bay County Park (68 acres), run by Marathon County, has a boat launch onto Lake Wausau, a shelter, and fishing piers.

Lake Wausau, the Wisconsin River, and the Big Rib River border or cross the village and support boating, fishing, and paddling.

The Rib Riders Snowmobile Club maintains 39 miles of trail within Rib Mountain.

Recurring local events in the IRB record include the Rib Mountain Lions Club Steak Fry, the Rib Mountain Adventure Challenge run-bike-paddle race (held since 2015), and the Wausau 24-hour run at Nine Mile.

The municipality runs a summer recreation program for elementary students, averaging about 60 children a day.

The area west of the Wisconsin River split from the Town of Weston in 1905. After a series of name changes, it became the Town of Rib Mountain in 1930.

Skiing on Rib Mountain dates to the park's early years. The Civilian Conservation Corps built a chalet and rope tows in the 1930s.

Commercial development on Rib Mountain Drive began in the 1960s.

'Village of Rib Mountain' signs went up on I-39/US 51 and WIS 29 in October 2024.

The Village of Rib Mountain is among the municipalities pledging support for the Rothschild Dam modernization, which maintains Lake Wausau.