We used data and science to identify which places in Wisconsin are total snoozefests.

This article is an opinion based on facts and is meant as infotainment. Don’t freak out.

Swipe left for slideshow. Article continues below.


There’s no denying it: there are plenty of places in Wisconsin that are downright beautiful and full of excitement.

Unfortunately, not all towns and cities in WI are so lucky.

Just like in all U.S. States, there are definitely some boring places within Wisconsin’s borders. You know the places: the ones where everyone has an AARP card and the most exciting thing they do all day is post a picture of their grandchild on Facebook.

Like Hobart, for instance. In our latest analysis, we found that this city was the most boring city in all of Wisconsin. But don’t feel bad if you’re a resident of Hobart. There are plenty of other boring, lackluster places in Wisconsin as well.

Here they are. Try not to jump out of your seat with excitement:

Hobart Mequon Richfield Muskego Caledonia Brookfield Pewaukee Elm Grove Suamico New Berlin

Before you get all upset if your city’s name is on the list, rest assured that we didn’t use personal opinion when it comes to what classifies a city or town as “boring” or “exciting”. We crunched actual numbers to figure out which towns are statistically more boring.

By the way, where are the most exciting places in Wisconsin? That would be Platteville, Madison, River Falls, Whitewater and La Crosse. That sounds about right.


How we determined the boring cities in the Badger State

To figure out how boring a place is, we rely on a complex algorithm that factors in things we generally think make people exciting, and then we figure out which cities have the least number of those exciting people. We used the U.S. Census data to gather the information. Here are some of the things people tend to think of as making a city’s population boring:

% of Population Over 35 (higher is more boring)

% of Married Household (higher is more boring)

Average Age (higher is more boring)

% of Households With Kids (higher is more boring)

% of Households with People Over 65 (higher is more boring)

Population density (lower is more boring)

Then, our algorithm generates several lists of the cities that have plenty of residents with high rankings in all of these categories. After a crunching of the numbers, a list of all of the cities magically appears listing them from most boring to most exciting.

For this list, we used every Wisconsin city that qualified for our rankings based on having a population of at least 5,000 residents. This keeps us from prejudicing our rankings by including very small pockets of retired people.

Grab your rocker and hold on.


1. Hobart

Population: 6,577

Average Age: 42.9

Married Households: 68.1%

Households With Kids: 42.2%

2. Mequon

Population: 23,231

Average Age: 48.0

Married Households: 64.7%

Households With Kids: 29.8%

3. Richfield

Source: Public Domain

Population: 11,334

Average Age: 45.7

Married Households: 68.7%

Households With Kids: 33.9%

4. Muskego

Source: Public Domain

Population: 24,279

Average Age: 42.6

Married Households: 64.4%

Households With Kids: 35.8%

5. Caledonia

Population: 24,698

Average Age: 43.6

Married Households: 61.6%

Households With Kids: 30.4%

6. Brookfield

Population: 37,975

Average Age: 47.0

Married Households: 64.5%

Households With Kids: 30.8%

7. Pewaukee

Source: Public Domain

Population: 13,455

Average Age: 43.6

Married Households: 65.5%

Households With Kids: 28.0%

8. Elm Grove

Source: Public Domain

Population: 5,943

Average Age: 47.3

Married Households: 61.5%

Households With Kids: 31.1%

9. Suamico

Source: Public Domain

Population: 11,475

Average Age: 41.2

Married Households: 72.1%

Households With Kids: 39.2%

10. New Berlin

Population: 39,671

Average Age: 45.6

Married Households: 62.1%

Households With Kids: 27.7%

Now That You’re Asleep

On a list like this, there are usually no winners, but since Indiana isn’t necessarily the most boring state in the United States (barely), the cities on this list can at least take solace that there are, in fact, more boring cities in the country.

Just not these places.

report this ad

City Rank Population Average Age Married Households Households With Kids Hobart 1 6,577 42.9 68.1% 42.2% Mequon 2 23,231 48.0 64.7% 29.8% Richfield 3 11,334 45.7 68.7% 33.9% Muskego 4 24,279 42.6 64.4% 35.8% Caledonia 5 24,698 43.6 61.6% 30.4% Brookfield 6 37,975 47.0 64.5% 30.8% Pewaukee 7 13,455 43.6 65.5% 28.0% Elm Grove 8 5,943 47.3 61.5% 31.1% Suamico 9 11,475 41.2 72.1% 39.2% New Berlin 10 39,671 45.6 62.1% 27.7% Delafield 11 7,117 41.8 60.0% 32.5% Germa 12 19,755 41.9 60.8% 35.7% Menomonee Falls 13 35,708 44.2 60.2% 28.6% Fox Point 14 6,697 43.8 65.4% 31.6% Pleasant Prairie 15 19,847 40.0 58.1% 35.7% Mount Pleasant 16 26,153 45.4 53.9% 25.3% Slinger 17 5,087 40.6 58.7% 33.5% Columbus 18 5,007 39.9 55.4% 32.6% Mukwonago 19 7,339 38.8 58.3% 36.9% Kronenwetter 20 7,260 37.5 60.6% 39.1% Richland Center 21 5,148 44.3 50.4% 25.2% Two Rivers 22 11,635 44.6 56.4% 25.4% Cedarburg 23 11,442 43.1 59.1% 32.2% Greendale 24 14,153 43.6 58.1% 27.9% Sturgeon Bay 25 9,108 43.7 52.2% 24.2% Berlin 26 5,470 41.5 52.2% 26.9% Franklin 27 35,649 40.2 55.1% 29.3% Waunakee 28 12,401 38.0 63.9% 45.8% Twin Lakes 29 6,015 38.8 51.1% 37.1% Lake Mills 30 5,730 39.1 54.2% 37.3% Plymouth 31 8,422 41.4 55.6% 29.4% Whitefish Bay 32 14,106 40.2 62.3% 39.6% Lake Hallie 33 6,496 34.6 60.4% 40.1% Weston 34 14,869 37.1 56.7% 33.4% Mayville 35 5,117 39.1 48.8% 35.9% Rice Lake 36 8,395 42.3 46.5% 23.6% Howard 37 17,939 36.3 58.4% 38.3% Sheboygan Falls 38 7,761 42.6 54.8% 28.1% Mount Horeb 39 7,172 38.9 55.2% 39.4% Grafton 40 11,496 41.8 54.0% 30.0% Prairie du Chien 41 5,866 42.6 44.1% 25.1% Allouez 42 13,996 40.5 53.7% 31.3% Rothschild 43 5,262 39.2 54.4% 28.9% McFarland 44 7,922 39.9 57.5% 34.9% Onalaska 45 17,973 38.4 58.5% 31.6% Oconomowoc 46 15,855 38.5 60.3% 35.6% Glendale 47 12,889 45.8 51.4% 22.4% Merrill 48 9,575 41.3 52.0% 28.0% Hales Corners 49 7,718 46.6 50.1% 23.2% Waupaca 50 6,044 40.7 42.8% 26.9% Sussex 51 10,553 37.5 58.9% 40.9% Lake Geneva 52 7,683 41.9 45.4% 26.9% Rhinelander 53 7,710 43.7 40.9% 24.9% Waterford 54 5,335 37.4 54.3% 35.0% Ashland 55 8,189 39.9 41.8% 26.7% Plover 56 12,132 35.5 56.0% 34.0% Antigo 57 8,153 42.8 43.1% 26.8% Ashwaubenon 58 17,047 40.7 52.5% 29.4% Delavan 59 8,464 34.6 53.4% 38.9% Verona 60 10,983 38.9 56.7% 37.0% Brown Deer 61 12,026 43.0 51.9% 25.3% Little Chute 62 10,471 39.5 58.4% 30.5% Hartland 63 9,137 38.0 57.0% 35.7% Hartford 64 14,209 36.3 57.7% 36.4% Shawano 65 9,236 41.4 44.4% 30.4% DeForest 66 9,106 34.7 58.8% 43.9% Cottage Grove 67 6,307 35.8 63.7% 39.2% Altoona 68 6,844 37.1 55.4% 27.0% Monroe 69 10,832 40.7 48.6% 28.3% Evansville 70 5,048 36.7 59.9% 41.2% Jefferson 71 7,977 38.3 47.5% 33.5% Jackson 72 6,723 38.4 55.8% 32.7% Manitowoc 73 33,548 42.8 49.6% 26.6% Marshfield 74 18,488 40.7 51.0% 25.3% Wisconsin Rapids 75 18,249 40.8 47.9% 26.5% Reedsburg 76 9,341 35.0 56.9% 35.0% Greenfield 77 36,873 44.3 46.9% 21.5% Oak Creek 78 34,580 37.7 55.1% 30.6% Pewaukee 79 8,191 44.3 43.7% 23.9% Oregon 80 9,412 36.8 56.9% 38.2% Tomah 81 9,221 35.4 49.9% 35.8% Monona 82 7,663 45.3 44.7% 20.0% Burlington 83 10,498 40.2 46.2% 31.6% New London 84 7,328 38.5 55.0% 28.8% Holmen 85 9,173 33.5 60.4% 37.3% St. Francis 86 9,446 45.5 38.9% 14.6% West Bend 87 31,340 37.0 52.9% 32.4% Marinette 88 10,927 41.8 43.3% 23.6% Stoughton 89 12,774 39.6 53.7% 29.5% Chippewa Falls 90 13,677 38.4 40.4% 28.8% Watertown 91 23,905 37.1 52.2% 31.0% Fitchburg 92 25,620 34.0 52.4% 33.3% Janesville 93 63,589 37.0 50.2% 33.9% Bellevue 94 14,733 35.9 53.7% 31.8% New Richmond 95 8,441 33.4 48.2% 38.9% Elkhorn 96 10,012 34.6 53.4% 37.8% Beaver Dam 97 16,275 39.2 49.2% 29.1% Wauwatosa 98 46,661 39.3 52.4% 28.3% Portage 99 10,251 37.0 44.6% 32.0% Baraboo 100 12,043 37.1 47.1% 32.1% Cudahy 101 18,299 40.1 46.6% 28.4% Kimberly 102 6,549 38.7 51.7% 28.2% Sparta 103 9,587 37.1 42.8% 33.0% Ripon 104 7,707 34.9 47.2% 28.5% Port Washington 105 11,310 37.8 51.7% 32.4% Edgerton 106 5,412 39.2 53.5% 26.4% Superior 107 27,053 36.4 41.6% 28.3% Waupun 108 11,334 36.7 45.6% 32.4% Neenah 109 25,647 37.1 54.3% 32.3% Fort Atkinson 110 12,429 37.9 49.5% 32.7% Milton 111 5,541 33.2 55.3% 32.2% South Milwaukee 112 21,163 40.6 45.6% 29.4% Wausau 113 39,207 38.1 45.9% 28.7% Kaukauna 114 15,552 34.5 53.4% 34.9% Fond du Lac 115 43,050 38.1 45.8% 29.2% Middleton 116 17,830 38.4 49.2% 27.4% Hudson 117 12,880 36.7 51.7% 29.0% Menasha 118 17,365 36.1 49.9% 32.1% Sun Prairie 119 29,880 33.5 53.1% 36.8% De Pere 120 24,019 33.9 48.3% 36.5% Appleton 121 72,923 35.8 49.4% 33.1% Beloit 122 36,921 34.1 40.9% 35.6% Sturtevant 123 6,958 34.8 38.2% 34.5% Sheboygan 124 49,069 36.4 47.8% 29.1% Kenosha 125 99,535 34.1 43.9% 37.7% Waukesha 126 70,775 34.0 49.8% 31.5% Shorewood 127 13,200 38.7 47.7% 23.4% Racine 128 78,548 33.6 41.0% 34.9% Green Bay 129 104,393 34.0 44.4% 30.8% West Allis 130 60,491 37.8 43.1% 25.1% Menomonie 131 16,185 23.4 29.7% 23.5% Milwaukee 132 596,459 30.6 30.5% 33.8% Oshkosh 133 66,315 33.0 35.8% 27.4% Eau Claire 134 66,551 30.1 38.9% 25.8% Stevens Point 135 26,694 26.3 33.9% 20.5% La Crosse 136 51,421 29.2 33.0% 21.2% Whitewater 137 14,570 21.9 25.8% 21.4% River Falls 138 15,052 24.2 33.8% 25.4% Madison 139 237,395 30.8 38.8% 23.0% Platteville 140 11,260 21.8 23.7% 21.2%

Share on Facebook