City of Stevens Point, Portage County, Wisconsin: Place Profile

Founding year, campus size, and enrollment for UW-Stevens Point are not asserted here.

A ranked list of the city's largest employers with headcounts was not assembled from a primary source.

The Stevens Point City Times is not profiled here: its listed domain, gospnews.com, now serves unrelated lifestyle content.

WSPT (97.9 FM) and WPCN (1010 AM) are licensed to Stevens Point, licensee Muzzy Broadcast Group.

The city's USPS retail post office location was not confirmed from a USPS source.

The municipality is the City of Stevens Point, an incorporated city in Portage County, Wisconsin (Census place GEOID 5577200).

Stevens Point is a city governed by a full-time mayor and an 11-member Common Council, not a town or village.

The USGS GNIS populated-place record for Stevens Point in Portage County sits at 44.5235792, -89.574563; the place record for the city carries GNIS ID 01584223.

The city covers 17.303 square miles of land.

The city covers 1.242 square miles of water.

The Census internal point for the city is near 44.5253 N, 89.550377 W.

The Portage County Courthouse is at 1516 Church Street in Stevens Point, and the county Annex is at 1462 Strongs Avenue.

Official city addresses use the ZIP codes 54481 (City Hall, 1515 Strongs Avenue) and 54482 (Central Transportation at 2700 Week Street; the Municipal Airport at 4501 Highway 66).

The city sits on Interstate 39: the city says its industrial park lies directly west of I-39, with U.S. Highway 10 about a mile away.

The city lies on the Wisconsin River, with the Plover River basin as its later water-supply source, according to the city parks history.

The 2020 Census counted 25,666 residents.

The Wisconsin DOA official January 1, 2025 estimate is 26,820 residents.

The Census Bureau Vintage 2024 estimate for July 1, 2024 is 26,465, from a 2020 estimates base of 25,681.

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year estimate of total population is 25,497 (plus or minus 119).

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year median age is 28.7 years (plus or minus 0.9).

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year median household income is $56,218 (plus or minus $5,893).

The ACS 2019-2023 5-year median value of owner-occupied homes is $189,700 (plus or minus $8,368).

The mayor is Mike Wiza.

The mayor serves as full-time chief executive, presides over Council meetings, holds a veto the Council can override by a two-thirds vote, and chairs the Board of Public Works and the City Plan Commission; four-year terms carry no term limit.

The Common Council has 11 alderpersons, one from each of the city's 11 voting districts.

The Common Council holds regular meetings on the third Monday of each month.

The Common Council meeting start time conflicts on the city site: the Agendas page says 6:00 pm by ordinance, while the Council page says 7:00 p.m.

2026 Common Council meetings are scheduled in the Community Room at 933 Michigan Avenue, the Police Department building.

The next scheduled Common Council meeting in the city's CivicClerk feed is September 21, 2026.

The City Plan Commission generally meets on the first Monday; the standing committees (Finance, Personnel, Public Policy and General Government, Board of Public Works), the Airport Commission, the Board of Water and Sewerage Commissioners, and the Transportation Commission meet on the second Monday; the Board of Park Commissioners meets on the first Wednesday.

The City Clerk is Susan Pagel (715-346-1569), at 1515 Strongs Avenue.

The City Clerk keeps the official records, issues municipal licenses, publishes official notices, and runs elections.

City Hall is at 1515 Strongs Avenue, Stevens Point, WI 54481.

The city owns 27% of the shared County/City building and has agreed with Portage County to trade that share for the property at 1039 Ellis St. as the site of a new City Hall.

The official city website is stevenspoint.com.

Agendas and minutes post on the city website (agendas 2021 to present, minutes archives back to 1999) and through the city CivicClerk portal, with an email subscription for new postings; meetings stream live and post to YouTube.

The city states that online agendas, minutes, and ordinances are unofficial, and that the bound official copies are kept in the City Clerk's Office.

Stevens Point shares a joint municipal court with the Village of Plover; the judge is Erik J. McFarland.

Stevens Point was designated an eco-municipality in 2007.

City polling places include Mid-State Technical College (1001 Centerpoint Dr.), the Parks and Recreation Center (2442 Sims Ave.), the Dreyfus University Center (1015 Reserve St.), Beloved Community Church, St. Paul United Methodist Church, and Lincoln Center (1519 Water St.).

The Stevens Point Area Public School District (NCES district ID 5514490) serves PK-12 from its office at 1900 Polk Street and has 16 schools.

The district enrolled 6,911 students in 2024-25, with 458.34 classroom teachers (FTE) and a student/teacher ratio of 15.08.

Stevens Point Area Senior High is at 1201 N Point Dr. (NCES ID 551449001880).

The district runs two junior highs in the city: Benjamin Franklin Junior High (2000 Polk St) and P J Jacobs Junior High (2400 Main St).

Elementary schools with Stevens Point addresses include Bannach, Jefferson, Madison, McDill, and Washington, plus the McKinley Center.

The city lists Mid-State Technical College, Saint Paul Lutheran School, and Stevens Point Area Catholic Schools among local schools.

The city lists the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point among its local schools.

Sentry Insurance, a mutual insurer founded in 1904, says it employs over 2,000 associates in Stevens Point.

SentryWorld, Sentry's golf course, banquet facility, restaurant, and sports complex, sits on the company home office campus and has operated since 1982.

The Point Brewery, started by George Ruder and Frank Wahle in 1857, is the city's longest-established business, according to the city mural guide.

The Stevens Point Industrial Park covers nearly 300 acres west of I-39, over half of it in Tax Increment District 8; the Portage County Business Park and East Park Commerce Center followed.

Portage County had 1,715 business establishments and 29,656 paid employees in 2023; finance and insurance employed 4,761 and manufacturing 5,002.

The Stevens Point Area Convention and Visitors Bureau is at 1105 Main Street, Suite A.

The Waupaca County Post site (waupacanow.com) runs a Stevens Point News section and sells Stevens Point Gazette subscriptions and e-editions, along with a Stevens Point Buyers' Guide.

The Stevens Point Journal is a Stevens Point newspaper title; a city page reprints a Stevens Point Journal account from 1958.

The City of Stevens Point holds the license for WSNP-LP (105.9 FM), and the mayor's "Talking Point" program airs on it and on Community TV.

WWSP (89.9 FM) is licensed to Stevens Point, licensee the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.

W31EV-D, a low-power digital TV station licensed to Gray Television, lists Stevens Point as its community of license.

The Portage County Public Library's Stevens Point Branch is at 1001 Main Street (715-346-1544); the system also has branches in Almond, Plover, and Rosholt.

Aspirus Stevens Point Hospital is at 900 Illinois Avenue ((715) 346-5000) and offers emergency medicine.

Noble Community Clinics - Stevens Point, a HRSA-supported health center site, is at 2501 Main St.

The Stevens Point Fire Department provides fire and EMS from two stations: headquarters at 1701 Franklin Street (engine, ladder, rescue squad, three ambulances) and Station Two at 4401 Industrial Park Road.

The fire chief is Jb Moody, and the city's ISO rating is 2.

The Stevens Point Police Department is at 933 Michigan Avenue (715-346-1500).

Stevens Point Municipal Airport (Mattson Field), at 4501 Highway 66, has a 6,028-foot primary runway and a 3,642-foot secondary runway.

The city runs Central Transportation, its bus and paratransit service, from 2700 Week Street.

The Green Circle Trail is a 27-mile nature trail around the Stevens Point Area.

The Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department, at 2442 Sims Avenue under director Dan Kremer, runs the K.B. Willett Ice Arena, the pool and waterslide, and the winter sports area.

The major city parks include Bukolt Park (the former Old Water Works Park), Iverson Park (formerly Robertson Park), Goerke Field, Mead Park, McGlachlin Park, and Emerson (Seramur) Park, which the Council dedicated in 2018.

Named lakes nearest the city centroid in the GNIS file include Lake Joanis and Johns Lake.

The Stevens Point Farmers Market runs on the Mathias Mitchell Public Square, which Mitchell donated in 1847; the city calls it the longest-running farmers market in Wisconsin.

The Stevens Point Area Winter Farmers Market runs on Saturdays from November through April in community centers.

Riverfront Rendezvous is the city's free live-entertainment festival; in 2026 it ran Friday, July 3 through Sunday, July 5.

Free Levitt AMP concerts run Thursday evenings in June, July, and August at the Pfiffner Pioneer Park Bandshell, organized by CREATE Portage County.

The Business 51 improvement project entered construction, with work spread over several years beginning in 2026.

Stevens Point was incorporated as a city on May 17, 1858, covering 2.5 square miles with about 2,000 residents.

At incorporation the city was run by an elected mayor and six aldermen from three wards.

The city credits George Stevens with creating the "Point" of Stevens Point as a rest stop and storage area; Joshua Hathaway first surveyed the area.

Stevens Point is known as "The Gateway to the Pineries."

The city's first paper mill was built in 1918, and the Wisconsin Central Railroad depot on the south side was important to the city's growth.

The Mathias Mitchell Public Square-Main Street Historic District was listed on the National Register in 1986, and the Clark Street-Main Street Historic District in 2021.

Other National Register listings in Stevens Point include the Fox Theater (1982), Hotel Whiting (1990), the Hardware Mutual Insurance Companies Building (1994), Nelson Hall (2005), and the Sisters of St. Joseph Complex (2023).

The city's first water utility was founded in 1887.