Marathon County
139,432 people, served by 13 police agencies that report to the FBI.
How a case moves here
Marathon County follows Wisconsin law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.
- Who decides release first
For most misdemeanors, a police officer or the jail can take cash bail under the statewide misdemeanor bail schedule. For felonies, a circuit court commissioner or circuit judge sets bail at the initial appearance. Wisconsin bars paid bail bondsmen, so sureties must be unpaid people.
Wis. Stat. 969.07Wis. Stat. 969.065Wis. Stat. 969.12Wis. Stat. 757.69(1)(b)Wis. Stat. 968.075(2m), (5)- Time to see a judge
A person who is arrested must be taken before a judge within a reasonable time in the county where the offense is charged. Wisconsin law sets no number of hours.
Wis. Stat. 970.01(1)- Money bail
Wisconsin courts may set cash bail. A surety must be a state resident and an unpaid natural person, so commercial bail bonds are not allowed.
Wis. Stat. 969.12- Courts
The circuit court in each county hears every felony and misdemeanor. Many cities, towns, and villages have a municipal court, but it hears only local ordinance violations punished by fines, not crimes.
Wis. Const. art. VII, secs. 6-7Wis. Stat. 755.045- Judges and magistrates
Voters elect circuit judges to six-year terms on a ballot with no party label. The chief judge of each judicial district appoints circuit court commissioners, who can hold initial appearances and set bail and must have been licensed lawyers for three years. Municipal judges are elected to terms of up to four years.
Wis. Const. art. VII, sec. 7Wis. Stat. 5.60(1)Wis. Stat. 757.68Wis. Stat. 757.69SCR ch. 75Wis. Stat. 755.01-.02
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Municipal courts are left out of limited_courts because they hear only ordinance forfeiture cases. wispd.org returned errors, so the defense section rests on statute. Whether municipal judges must be lawyers was not checked; it doesn't affect criminal cases.
What this county does differently
- Pretrial practice
Advancing Pretrial lists it as a Public Safety Assessment site since 2021.
Advancing Pretrial Policy and Research, PSA sites list (page modified 2026-06-03)
Cities and towns
- Wausau39,996
- Marshfield18,700
- Weston village15,749
- Kronenwetter village8,395
- Rib Mountain village7,289
- Rothschild village5,600
- Mosinee4,498
- Maine village2,602
- Stettin town2,572
- Mosinee town2,536
- Wausau town2,229
- Schofield2,120
- McMillan town2,117
- Abbotsford2,024
- Texas town1,984
- Colby1,907
- Spencer village1,686
- Spencer town1,679
- Cleveland town1,595
- Knowlton town1,584
- Ringle town1,446
- Stratford village1,438
- Marathon City village1,422
- Edgar village1,409
- Easton town1,246
- Day town1,221
- Marathon town1,107
- Eau Pleine town1,088
- Reid town1,059
- Athens village1,055
- Norrie town1,047
- Emmet town1,023
- Cassel town1,020
- Bevent town978
- Rib Falls town959
- Berlin town918
- Wien town894
- Holton town883
- Dorchester village879
- Johnson town878
- Hull town832
- Hamburg town828
- Rietbrock town820
- Bergen town784
- Weston town780
- Plover town699
- Elderon town682
- Brighton town677
- Birnamwood village643
- Halsey town626
- Bern town603
- Hatley village542
- Frankfort town537
- Green Valley town525
- Franzen town514
- Hewitt town511
- Harrison town391
- Unity village378
- Guenther town342
- Elderon village135
- Fenwood village92
Every city, village, town, and township with any of its land in Marathon County, largest first. Population, the whole place's: Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2020 to 2024.
Police agencies
- Marathon County Sheriff's OfficeSheriff or county police53,706 served
- Wausau Police DepartmentCity police department40,318 served
- Mountain Bay Metropolitan Police DepartmentCity police department23,875 served
- Marshfield Police DepartmentCity police department18,980 served
- No name WI0370900City police department15,900 served
- Kronenwetter Police DepartmentCity police department8,451 served
- Mosinee Police DepartmentCity police department4,549 served
- Colby-Abbotsford Police DepartmentCity police department4,406 served
- No name WI0370200City police department2,328 served
- Spencer Police DepartmentCity police department1,810 served
- Marathon City Police DepartmentCity police department1,544 served
- Edgar Police DepartmentCity police department1,427 served
- Athens Police DepartmentCity police department1,064 served
Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.
Crime
The crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Wisconsin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crime | 307 | 274 | 374 | 233 | 207 | 200 | 297 |
| Murder | 4 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 3.6 | 5 |
| Rape | 82 | 86 | 95 | 71 | 49 | 55 | 40 |
| Robbery | 9 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 5.9 | 41 |
| Aggravated assault | 212 | 177 | 260 | 148 | 149 | 136 | 212 |
| Property crime | 1,329 | 1,094 | 1,270 | 781 | 803 | 758 | 1,285 |
| Burglary | 159 | 128 | 106 | 87 | 72 | 79 | 143 |
| Larceny | 1,071 | 882 | 1,080 | 646 | 674 | 625 | 937 |
| Motor vehicle theft | 99 | 84 | 84 | 48 | 57 | 53 | 206 |
| Arson | 9 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 4 | 4.7 | 7 |
Outside the crime index
| Offense | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | Per 100k | Wisconsin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All offenses outside the crime index | 3,318 | 3,033 | 3,513 | 2,207 | 2,617 | 2,109 | 2,474 |
| Simple assault and intimidation | 478 | 472 | 614 | 404 | 448 | 347 | 571 |
| Vandalism | 572 | 419 | 470 | 274 | 338 | 298 | 422 |
| Fraud | 390 | 421 | 450 | 234 | 337 | 263 | 262 |
| Drug abuse violations | 1,425 | 1,225 | 1,458 | 925 | 1,077 | 877 | 834 |
| Weapons: carrying, possessing, etc. | 100 | 100 | 128 | 90 | 130 | 79 | 198 |
| Stolen property: buying, receiving, possessing | 35 | 19 | 27 | 14 | 18 | 16 | 23 |
| Forgery and counterfeiting | 98 | 118 | 81 | 62 | 73 | 62 | 37 |
| Embezzlement | 12 | 17 | 22 | 15 | 13 | 11 | 12 |
| Sex offenses (except rape and prostitution) | 115 | 124 | 122 | 92 | 84 | 77 | 47 |
| Prostitution and commercialized vice | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 4.9 | |
| Other Group A offenses | 90 | 118 | 139 | 96 | 97 | 78 | 63 |
| Manslaughter by negligence (not in the total) | 4 | 3 | 2 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 1.4 | ||
| Human trafficking (not in the total) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 10 | Too few for a rate: the count is under 20. | 1.8 |
Offenses agencies in Marathon County reported to the FBI in incident detail (NIBRS), each year, the second table by the arrest class each offense falls in. Per 100k: offenses per 100,000 people the reporting agencies police, 2021 to 2025 added together, beside Wisconsin's rate over the same years. Agencies that reported part of a year are counted with their people, as the state's rates count them. – means too few for a rate: the count is under 20.
Source: FBI NIBRS national master files, each agency's offenses and the FBI's population for it. Wisconsin: the crime index: FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, CrimeDB's chosen value per year (the state page's figures); outside it: FBI NIBRS, agencies that sent incident detail.