City · Chippewa County, Wisconsin

Cornell, Wisconsin

Cornell is a city in Chippewa County, Wisconsin, part of the Eau Claire, WI metro area. It has 1,307 residents. Cornell, Wisconsin has a quality-of-life score of 71 out of 100 (high), ranking #4,606 of 15,651 US cities and towns. Within Wisconsin it ranks #303 of 396 cities and towns. It ranks best on rent-burdened households (low), mammography screening (high) and unemployment rate (low). It ranks worst on adult obesity (high), broadband subscriptions (low) and distance to an airport (high).

71High

Quality-of-life score: #4,606 of 15,651 cities and towns
Wisconsin: #303 of 396 in WI
Population: 1,307 (2020-2024)
Land area: 4 mi²
Density: 345.1 /mi²
FIPS code: 5517100

Percentile-based score (100 is the best in the country) from 74 of 80 indicators, with the default “Explorer” weights.

Open in the map

Scores by category

Each category averages its indicators' percentile scores among US cities and towns.

Safety83#2,726/15,637
Economy44#8,717/15,631
Housing87#2,006/14,977
Health42#9,115/15,609
Healthcare67#5,240/15,650
Environment96#641/15,453
Education54#7,207/15,649
Infrastructure11#14,002/15,650
Community77#3,647/15,651
Leisure & amenities59#6,474/15,651

Strengths · Weaknesses

Indicators where Cornell, Wisconsin ranks highest and lowest among US cities and towns (score = percentile, 100 = best). Values marked “Chippewa County value” are the county’s: the source publishes no figure for this city or town, and the county holding most of its residents stands in.

Strengths

Rent-burdened households · low29.9%
100/100Wisconsin 43.7%United States 51.1%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25070
Mammography screening · high59.0%
98/100Wisconsin 53.0%United States 46.0%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteChippewa County value
Unemployment rate · low0.4%
95/100Wisconsin 3.2%United States 4.3%2020-2024U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Census table B23025High uncertainty
Restaurants and bars · high14.8 /10k
95/100Wisconsin 12.7 /10kUnited States 9.0 /10k2025U.S. Bureau of Labor StatisticsChippewa County value
Rent as share of income · low24.9%
94/100Wisconsin 27.2%United States 30.6%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B25071
Mental health care shortage · low0.0
91/100Wisconsin 4.6United States 9.9Oct 2026Health Resources and Services AdministrationChippewa County value

Weaknesses

Adult obesity · high43.0%
9/100Wisconsin 39.2%United States 38.2%2023University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteModel-based estimate
Broadband subscriptions · low82.8%
10/100Wisconsin 90.3%United States 91.0%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B28002
Distance to an airport · high93 mi
12/100Wisconsin 37 miUnited States 33 mi2025Federal Aviation Administration · Bureau of Transportation Statistics · U.S. Census BureauChippewa County value
New homes permitted · low0.0 /1k
13/100Wisconsin 4.4 /1kUnited States 4.2 /1k2025U.S. Census BureauPartial year
Bachelor's degree or higher · low14.1%
15/100Wisconsin 33.4%United States 35.7%2020-2024U.S. Census Bureau Census table B15003
Mental health providers · low106 /100k
15/100Wisconsin 282 /100kUnited States 348 /100k2025University of Wisconsin Population Health InstituteChippewa County value

Trends

The largest changes over about five years, next to the country's over the same periods.

PopulationFalling
1,781 (2015-2019) → 1,307 (2020-2024)
−27%5 yearsCensus table B01003US 328,329,953 → 340,003,797
Rent-burdened householdsImproving
53.8% (2015-2019) → 29.9% (2020-2024)
−24 pts5 yearsCensus table B25070US 49.6% → 51.1%
Broadband subscriptionsImproving
69.4% (2015-2019) → 82.8% (2020-2024)
+13 pts5 yearsCensus table B28002US 82.7% → 91.0%
Rent as share of incomeImproving
35.5% (2015-2019) → 24.9% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B25071US 29.8% → 30.6%
Child poverty rateImproving
26.1% (2015-2019) → 15.5% (2020-2024)
−11 pts5 yearsCensus table B17001US 16.8% → 15.5%
Home price to income ratioWorsening
2.1× (2015-2019) → 2.8× (2020-2024)
+37%5 yearsCensus table B25077US 3.5× → 4.1×

What changed in five years

How each measure moved between two periods about five years apart, read against whether more or less is better, the published margin of error and the same change in other places.

Over about five years, Cornell, Wisconsin improved on 3 of 12 measures with a comparison and declined on 0. 9 moved within the margin of error and 0 barely changed.

Earlier (2015-2019)
Latest (2020-2024)
Lower standingHigher standing

Position is the place's standing among cities and towns: further right is better, whichever way the measure counts.

Improved3

Rent burden−24 points53.8% → 29.9%
Property tax−0.5 points1.49% → 1.03%
Broadband+13 points69.4% → 82.8%

Declined0

No measure declined by more than its margin of error.

All 12 measures

Change of every measure of Cornell, Wisconsin between two periods about five years apart
Measure	Before	After	Change	Reading	Favourable vs peers
Average commute time	27.1 min2015-2019	27.0 min2020-2024	−0.1 min	Within the margin of error	48%
Bachelor's degree or higher	9.0%2015-2019	14.1%2020-2024	+5.1 points	Within the margin of error	68%
Broadband subscriptions	69.4%2015-2019	82.8%2020-2024	+13 points	Improved	74%
Effective property tax rate	1.49%2015-2019	1.03%2020-2024	−0.5 points	Improved	88%
High school diploma or higher	87.6%2015-2019	92.6%2020-2024	+5 points	Within the margin of error	82%
Home price to income ratio	2.1×2015-2019	2.8×2020-2024	+0.8×	Within the margin of error	32%
Income inequality (Gini index)	0.5022015-2019	0.4242020-2024	−0.078	Within the margin of error	92%
Median household income	$47,2642015-2019	$55,1922020-2024	+17%	Within the margin of error	27%
Poverty rate	20.2%2015-2019	13.4%2020-2024	−6.8 points	Within the margin of error	86%
Public transit commuters	0.0%2015-2019	0.0%2020-2024	0 points	Within the margin of error	60%
Rent as share of income	35.5%2015-2019	24.9%2020-2024	−11 points	Within the margin of error	94%
Rent-burdened households	53.8%2015-2019	29.9%2020-2024	−24 points	Improved	96%

“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 14640 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.

Sources: American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates. Values are the latest and the one five years earlier of the same publisher dataset; datasets that changed publisher in between are never compared.

Survey estimates (American Community Survey) compare the two most recent 5-year windows that do not share years, so the margin of error of the difference holds. The 2015-2019 window predates the pandemic and 2020-2024 includes it.
A change counts only when it is larger than 1.645 times the square root of the two standard errors squared, summed (a 90% margin). Measures published without a margin must change by at least 5% to count.
“Against peers” compares the change with the same change in the 15651 cities and towns that have the same two periods. It describes how common a change is, not why it happened.
Standing is a percentile among the same places: 0 is the lowest value on the measure (or the worst when lower is better), 100 the best.

Cities and towns like Cornell, Wisconsin five years ago that improved

The places whose measures looked most like those of Cornell, Wisconsin in the earlier period, ranked by how many measures improved beyond the margin of error, minus how many declined. A comparison of published data, not a forecast and not advice.

For comparison, Cornell, Wisconsin itself moved +17.5 points in standing on average over the same 10 measures (standings of all places average about zero).

How the ranking works

Similarity is the root-mean-square difference of standings in the earlier period over the measures most places have. Places are ranked by measures that improved beyond the margin of error minus those that declined (a count that estimation noise in small places cannot inflate), then by the mean change of standing over the measures a place has in both periods. Only places with more improvements than declines and a rise in standing are listed. Standings are relative, so a place can improve in absolute terms and still lose standing.

Who lives here

Age, race and education of residents, from the American Community Survey. Shares are of all residents (age), residents of every origin (race) or adults 25 and over (education).

Age and sex

1,307 residents (±167)

Men
Women

80 and over†
70–79†
60–69†

Income

How household income is spread, not just the middle: each bar is the share of households in that income range.

Household income

592 households (±58)

Cornell, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

Under $25k17%103
$25k–50k28%165
$50k–75k18%†107

Homes

Who owns and who rents, what homes cost, and what the housing stock looks like.

Owners and renters

592 households (±58)

Cornell, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

Own71%420
Rent29%172

No change since 2015–2019 is larger than the margin of error.

Table view

Getting to work

How workers travel to their job and how long it takes them.

How people get to work

657 workers (±102)

Cornell, Wisconsin
Wisconsin share

Drive alone81%535
Carpool7.9%†52
Public transit0.0%0

Jobs and pay

What the largest occupations here pay, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes pay by metro area, not by county or city. The metro area page lists its largest occupations and lets you look up any job.

Pay in the Eau Claire, WI

Local businesses

Employer businesses and sole proprietors by industry, per resident and against the state and the nation. Counts of businesses next to counts of people, not a measure of demand.

The Census Bureau publishes business counts by county, not by city, so these are the figures of Chippewa County, the county holding most of Cornell's residents.

Chippewa County has 1,660 employer establishments, 248 for every 10,000 residents (1.00× the US rate of 248; 1.02× Wisconsin's), with 22,890 paid employees at an average annual pay of $56,749. The Census Bureau also counts 4,609 nonemployer businesses, mostly sole proprietors.

Establishments: 1,660; 4,609 nonemployers
Per 10,000 residents: 248; US 248 · Wisconsin 244
Paid employees: 22,890
Average annual pay: $56,749; US $68,342

Employer establishments, employees, average pay and nonemployers of Chippewa County by industry, with the density per resident against the nation

Specialty trade contractors	161	24	1.55×More than typical	1,164	$74,088	453
Restaurants and other eating places	100	14.9	0.81×About typical	1,361	$18,544	24
Truck transportation	88	13.1	2.60×More than typical	626	$61,904	143
Ambulatory health care services	85	12.7	0.61×Fewer than typical	930	$88,671	154
Full-service restaurants	54	8.1	1.05×About typical	656	$18,651	11
Drinking places (alcoholic beverages)	51	7.6	6.28×More than typical	258	$13,291	18
Religious organizations	49	7.3	1.32×More than typical	243	$20,366	—
Foundation, structure and building exterior contractors	48	7.2	2.28×More than typical	308	$78,506	90
Construction of buildings	47	7	0.93×About typical	216	$52,880	199
Building equipment contractors	46	6.9	1.14×About typical	534	$70,457	73
Services to buildings and dwellings	46	6.9	1.02×About typical	258	$41,035	229
Automotive repair and maintenance	42	6.3	1.25×About typical	212	$54,024	118

Rank places for an industry Open Chippewa County

County Business Patterns (2023); Nonemployer Statistics (2024)

Per-resident figures divide by the population estimate of 2023: 66,949 residents here, 336,755,052 in the United States. County Business Patterns counts establishments in 2023; the Nonemployer Statistics count businesses in 2024.
“More than typical” is a density at least 1.25 times the nation's per resident, “fewer” at most 0.8 times, with at least 10 establishments. It compares counts of businesses with counts of people: it says nothing about demand, incomes, size, quality or profit, and visitors and commuters are not residents.
The Census Bureau adds noise to employment and payroll to protect confidentiality, and withholds some figures: an industry with few establishments can show employees or pay as unavailable.
Industries overlap: a narrower industry (full-service restaurants) is part of a broader one (restaurants), so the rows do not add up.
Industries follow the North American Industry Classification System; the two surveys use different editions (NAICS 2017 and 2022), which this page matches industry by industry.

Federal contracts performed here

In FY2026, an estimated $0 of federal contract obligations were for work performed in Cornell, Wisconsin: $0 per resident (US $1,994).

Obligations: $0; −100% vs FY2025
Per resident: $0; US $1,994
Sole-source: —; US 30%
Single offer: —; US 8.8%

A signal is a reason to look closer, not evidence of wrongdoing: most sole-source awards are lawful and justified.

Top buying agencies

Top recipients

Spending by fiscal year

9.5KFY2017
2.2KFY2018
745FY2019
2.5KFY2020
6.8KFY2021
10.7KFY2022
11.4KFY2023
5KFY2024
4.5KFY2025

What was bought

Source: Federal contract transactions (Federal Procurement Data System) (U.S. Department of the Treasury, USAspending.gov), data current to Oct 3, 2026, loaded Oct 3, 2026.

How this is estimated

Agencies report each contract action's place of performance as a county and a ZIP code. A ZIP code's money is split among the cities it covers by the share of its land inside each (Census 2020 ZIP code tabulation areas); the part outside city limits stays with the county.

The place of performance is what the contracting agency reports, often the contractor's office rather than where the work happens.
Shares are of land, not of people or businesses: a ZIP code that is mostly rural land but has its offices in town gives the town less than it should.
ZIP codes that are not mapped areas (post office boxes, the unique ZIP codes of large federal sites and companies) stay with their county, unless one city covers nearly all of it.
Counts of actions and awards include those only partly in Cornell, Wisconsin, so they do not add up across cities.

Cornell, Wisconsin's figures are part of those of Chippewa County, WI ($14.6M in FY2026), never added to them: 0.0% of that total.

Grants and other federal assistance are counted by county here, not split among cities: Cornell is mostly in Chippewa County.

See federal money in Chippewa County

Representation in Congress

Members serving today, with their record in the current Congress (party-unity votes cast with their caucus, roll calls missed). Not a grade.

Cornell, Wisconsin is split between congressional districts: each representative is shown with the share of its residents in their district (current boundaries).

House

Senate

County

A city can lie in several counties. Some indicators are published for counties only: the page marks them.

Chippewa County88100% of residents

Metro area

The metro or micro area the city belongs to.

Eau Claire, WI94

Other cities and towns in Chippewa County

Largest first.

Similar cities and towns

Closest indicator profiles across the country (no model: score distances).

Data and sources

Latest published value of each indicator; periods differ by source. Values flagged by their publisher are marked.

PLACES: Local Data for Better HealthCenters for Disease Control and Prevention · release 2025
Local Area Unemployment StatisticsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics · release 2025
American Community Survey 5-Year EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2017-2024
Building Permits SurveyU.S. Census Bureau · release 2026-08
Population Estimates ProgramU.S. Census Bureau · release 2025
Small Area Health Insurance EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
Small Area Income and Poverty EstimatesU.S. Census Bureau · release 2024
County Health Rankings & RoadmapsUniversity of Wisconsin Population Health Institute · release 2022-2025+2026-03-supplement

JSON · /api/v1/places/5517100

Scores by category

Strengths · Weaknesses

Strengths

Weaknesses

Trends