Taylor County is a county in Wisconsin, United States, in the north-central part of the state. It had a population of 19,913 at the 2020 census and covers 984 square miles (2,550 km2), with 975 square miles (2,530 km2) of land and 9.5 square miles (25 km2) of water, centred near 45°13′N 90°30′W.
Medford is the county seat; its postal code is 54451. The county has one city, four villages, 22 towns, and a scatter of unincorporated communities, and sits in the Central time zone.
Towns & Villages in Taylor County
Taylor County’s settlements split into one incorporated city, four incorporated villages, and a long list of unincorporated communities that give each civil town its local identity. Some names below belong to both a civil town and a same-named unincorporated place at its center. “CDP” marks a census-designated place with its own tabulated population; “Unincorp.” marks a community with no separate census count.
| Place | Type | Township | Pop. | ZIP |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medford | City · seat | Town of Medford | 4,349 | 54451 |
| Gilman | Village | — | — | 54433 |
| Lublin | Village | — | — | 54447 |
| Rib Lake | Village | Town of Rib Lake | — | 54470 |
| Stetsonville | Village | — | — | 54480 |
| Chelsea | CDP | Town of Chelsea | — | — |
| Jump River | CDP | Town of Jump River | — | — |
| Westboro | CDP | Town of Westboro | — | 54490 |
| Whittlesey | CDP | — | — | — |
| Little Black | Unincorp. | Town of Little Black | — | — |
| Goodrich | Unincorp. | Town of Goodrich | — | — |
| Maplehurst | Unincorp. | Town of Maplehurst | — | — |
| Bellinger | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Donald | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Hannibal | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Hughey | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Interwald | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Murat | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Perkinstown | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Polley | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
| Queenstown | Unincorp. | — | — | — |
Four of the unincorporated communities above — Chelsea, Little Black, Goodrich and Maplehurst — sit at the center of a civil town carrying the same name; that pairing is common across Taylor County and is not a sign of any boundary dispute.
Townships
| Township | Pop. (2020) | Main settlements |
|---|---|---|
| Medford | — | Surrounds the city of Medford |
| Chelsea | — | Chelsea |
| Rib Lake | — | Rib Lake village |
| Westboro | — | Westboro |
| Jump River | — | Jump River |
| Little Black | — | Little Black |
| Goodrich | — | Goodrich |
| Maplehurst | — | Maplehurst |
| Aurora | — | — |
| Browning | — | — |
| Cleveland | — | — |
| Deer Creek | — | Perkinstown |
| Ford | — | — |
| Greenwood | — | — |
| Grover | — | — |
| Hammel | — | — |
| Holway | — | — |
| McKinley | — | — |
| Molitor | — | — |
| Pershing | — | — |
| Roosevelt | — | — |
| Taft | — | — |
Wisconsin’s 2020 Decennial Census reports figures for cities, villages and CDPs individually but rolls most civil-town totals into county-level tables, so per-township 2020 counts are omitted above rather than estimated.
ZIP Codes
- 54451 — Medford (also serves the Town of Medford)
- 54470 — Rib Lake
- 54433 — Gilman
- 54480 — Stetsonville
- 54490 — Westboro
- 54447 — Lublin
Smaller unincorporated places such as Chelsea, Perkinstown, Little Black and Jump River are served by the nearest post office ZIP above rather than carrying their own code.
Geography
Taylor County lies on the western edge of Wisconsin’s northern highlands, a mix of glaciated moraine, pine and hardwood forest, and dairy farmland drained by the Black and Jump Rivers. Rib Lake, in the county’s east, is the largest natural lake and gives the village on its shore its name. County forestland and scattered parcels of the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest cover a substantial share of the county’s area.
Taylor County borders Price County to the north, Lincoln County to the east, Marathon County to the southeast, Clark County to the south, Chippewa County to the west, and Rusk County to the northwest.
Demographics
The county’s 2020 population was 19,913. Medford, with 4,349 residents, is by far the largest community; Rib Lake and Gilman are its next-largest villages, though the state does not tabulate their 2020 populations separately in the source used here. Median household income in Taylor County runs below the Wisconsin median of $74,631, consistent with a rural, agriculture- and forestry-based tax base. Population density across the county’s 975 land square miles works out to roughly 20 people per square mile, well under the statewide average.
Economy & Local Life
Logging, sawmilling and shingle-making built the county’s early economy, and forestry and wood-products manufacturing remain visible in Medford today alongside creameries, window and door manufacturing, plastics, and food processing. Dairy farming shaped the county’s rural towns for over a century and, while the number of working dairy farms has fallen sharply since the 1990s, agriculture still anchors much of the land outside Medford. Rib Lake and the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest lands draw fishing, hunting and snowmobiling visitors from across the region.
History
Taylor County was organized in 1875, carved from parts of Clark, Chippewa and Lincoln counties as logging pushed settlement north. It was probably named for William Robert Taylor, Wisconsin’s governor at the time of its creation. Medford was platted the same decade as a Wisconsin Central Railroad stop and grew into the county’s commercial and administrative center as the timber industry expanded, later diversifying into the manufacturing base that still employs much of the city today.
Getting There
Wisconsin highways 13, 64, 73, 97 and 102 cross the county, with STH-13 and STH-64 meeting at Medford as the main north-south and east-west routes.
- Wausau, Wisconsin — 45 miles southeast
- Eau Claire, Wisconsin — 60 miles southwest
- Rhinelander, Wisconsin — 55 miles northeast
- Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin — 55 miles west
The nearest commercial airport is Central Wisconsin Airport (CWA) near Mosinee, roughly 45 miles southeast of Medford.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Taylor County, Wisconsin?
It is in Wisconsin, in the north-central part of the state, roughly halfway between Wausau and Eau Claire, centred near 45°13′N 90°30′W.
What is the population of Taylor County?
19,913 people, per the 2020 census.
How big is Taylor County?
984 square miles (2,550 km2) total, including 9.5 square miles of water.
What is the county seat of Taylor County?
Medford is the county seat.
How many towns and villages are in Taylor County?
One city (Medford), four villages (Gilman, Lublin, Rib Lake and Stetsonville), 22 towns, and a number of smaller unincorporated communities.
What ZIP codes are in Taylor County?
Six: 54451 (Medford), 54470 (Rib Lake), 54433 (Gilman), 54480 (Stetsonville), 54490 (Westboro) and 54447 (Lublin).
What is Taylor County’s biggest lake?
Rib Lake, in the eastern part of the county, is its largest natural lake and gives the village of Rib Lake its name.
More counties in this state: Towns and villages in Wisconsin.