Vernon County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,714. Its county seat is Viroqua.

History

Vernon County was renamed from Bad Ax County on March 22, 1862. Bad Ax County had been created on March 1, 1851, from territory that had been part of Richland and Crawford counties. The name ''Vernon'' was chosen to reflect the county's green fields of wheat and to evoke Mount Vernon.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (3.0%) is water.

Major highways

U.S. Highway 14 U.S. Route 14 (abbreviated U.S. 14 or US 14), an east–west route, is one of the original United States highways of 1926. It currently has a length of 1,398 miles (2,250 km), but it had a peak length of 1,429 miles (2,300 km). For ...

U.S. Highway 61 U.S. Route 61 or U.S. Highway 61 (U.S. 61) is a major United States highway that extends between New Orleans, Louisiana and the city of Wyoming, Minnesota. The highway generally follows the course of the Mississippi River and is designated ...

Highway 27 (Wisconsin) State Trunk Highway 27 (often called Highway 27, STH-27 or WIS 27) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The highway spans a length of and is generally two-lane local road with the exception of urban multilane arterials within some ...

* Highway 33 (Wisconsin) * Highway 35 (Wisconsin) *

Highway 56 (Wisconsin) State Trunk Highway 56 (often called Highway 56, STH-56 or WIS 56) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs east–west in southwest Wisconsin from just north of Richland Center to Genoa. On some maps, it is listed as endi ...

Highway 80 (Wisconsin) State Trunk Highway 80 (abbreviated as Highway 80, STH-80 or WIS 80) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs north–south in southwest and west central Wisconsin from just south of Marshfield, near the geographic center ...

Highway 82 (Wisconsin) State Trunk Highway 82 (often called Highway 82, STH-82 or WIS 82) is a state highway in Wisconsin, United States. It runs east–west in southwest and south central Wisconsin from the Iowa border near Lansing, IA to Oxford. This highway is ...

Highway 131 (Wisconsin) State Trunk Highway 131 (also called Highway 131, STH-131 or WIS 131) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The highway is located in Wisconsin's Driftless Area, passing through Crawford, Vernon, Richland, and Monroe counti ...

Highway 162 (Wisconsin) State Trunk Highway 162 (often called Highway 162, STH-162 or WIS 162) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It runs in north–south in southwest Wisconsin from Stoddard to Four Corners. Route description The highway starts at ...

Railroads

* BNSF

Buses

* Scenic Mississippi Regional Transit * List of intercity bus stops in Wisconsin

Airports

Viroqua Municipal Airport Viroqua Municipal Airport, is a city owned public use airport located 2 miles (3 km) north of the central business district of Viroqua, Wisconsin, a city in Vernon County, Wisconsin, United States. It is included in the Federal Aviati ...

(Y51) serves the county and surrounding communities. * The

Joshua Sanford Field Joshua Sanford Field was a public use airport located one nautical mile (2 km) northeast of the central business district of Hillsboro, a city in Vernon County, Wisconsin, United States. It was owned by the City of Hillsboro. The ai ...

airport (~~KHBW~~) closed on November 10, 2016.

Adjacent counties

La Crosse County La Crosse County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 120,784. Its county seat is La Crosse. La Crosse County is included in the La Crosse-Onalaska, WI-MN Metropolitan Statistical Area with ...

- northwest *

Monroe County Monroe County may refer to seventeen counties in the United States, all named for James Monroe: * Monroe County, Alabama *Monroe County, Arkansas * Monroe County, Florida * Monroe County, Georgia *Monroe County, Illinois *Monroe County, Indian ...

- north * Juneau County - northeast * Sauk County - east * Richland County - southeast * Crawford County - south * Allamakee County, Iowa - southwest * Houston County, Minnesota - west

Demographics and religion statistics

2020 census

As of the census of 2020, the population was 30,714. The population density was . There were 13,813 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 95.4% White, 0.4% Black or African American, 0.3% Asian, 0.2% Native American, 0.8% from other races, and 2.9% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 1.5% Hispanic or Latino of any race.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, there were 28,056 people, 10,825 households, and 7,501 families residing in the county. The population density was 35 people per square mile (14/km²). There were 12,416 housing units at an average density of 16 per square mile (6/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 98.81% White, 0.06% Black or African American, 0.15% Native American, 0.21% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.27% from other races, and 0.48% from two or more races. 0.66% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 38.3% were of Norwegian, 26.9% German, 6.4% Irish and 6.1% English ancestry. 90.9% spoke English, 3.5% German, 1.8% Norwegian, 1.2%

Pennsylvania Dutch The Pennsylvania Dutch ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ), also known as Pennsylvania Germans, are a cultural group formed by German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries. They emigrated primarily from German-spe ...

and 1.0% Spanish as their first language. There were 10,825 households, out of which 31.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.70% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...

living together, 6.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.70% were non-families. 26.70% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.70% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.55 and the average family size was 3.11. In the county, the population was spread out, with 27.40% under the age of 18, 6.80% from 18 to 24, 25.30% from 25 to 44, 23.50% from 45 to 64, and 17.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 97.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.60 males. In 2017, there were 434 births, giving a general fertility rate of 90.5 births per 1000 women aged 15–44, the fourth highest rate out of all 72 Wisconsin counties. Of these births, 123 occurred at home, second only to Clark County which had 184 home births. In 2010, the largest religious groups by reported number of adherents were ELCA Lutheran at 6,735 adherents, Catholic at 3,060 adherents, Amish at 2,786 adherents, United Methodist at 1,533 adherents, Wisconsin Synod Lutheran at 1,402 adherents, and Non-denominational Christian at 766 adherents.

Economy

The county is home to the headquarters of Organic Valley, the world's largest cooperative of family farmers.

Parks

Vernon County is home to multiple county and state parks. The Kickapoo Valley Reserve, an 8600-acre natural reserve, is between the villages of La Farge and Ontario. Wildcat Mountain State Park is also in the county.

County Parks and Forests

* Blackhawk Park * Duck Egg County Forest * Esofea/Rentz Memorial Park * Jersey Valley Park * Kooyumjian - Lost Creek County Forest * Runge Hollow Recreation Area * Sidie Hollow Park * Wayside Park & Coon Prairie Trail

Communities

Cities

* Hillsboro * Viroqua (county seat) * Westby

Villages

* Chaseburg *

Coon Valley Coon Valley is a village in Vernon County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 765 at the 2010 census. Coon Valley was hit by the floods ravaging Wisconsin in 2018. Geography Coon Valley is located at (43.701628, -91.014083). Accord ...

* De Soto (partly in Crawford County) * Genoa * La Farge * Ontario * Readstown * Stoddard * Viola (mostly in Richland County)

Towns

* Bergen * Christiana *

Clinton Clinton is an English toponymic surname, indicating one's ancestors came from English places called Glympton or Glinton.Hanks, P. & Hodges, F. ''A Dictionary of Surnames''. Oxford University Press, 1988 Clinton has frequently been used as a given ...

Coon Coon may refer to: Fauna Butterflies * Coon, common name of the butterfly ''Astictopterus jama'' * Coon, species group of the butterfly genus ''Atrophaneura'', now genus ''Losaria'' * Coon, common name of the butterfly '' Psolos fuligo'' Ma ...

* Forest * Franklin * Genoa *

Greenwood Green wood is unseasoned wood. Greenwood or Green wood may also refer to: People * Greenwood (surname) Settlements Australia * Greenwood, Queensland, a locality in the Toowoomba Region * Greenwood, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth C ...

* Hamburg *

Harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

* Hillsboro * Jefferson *

Kickapoo Kickapoo may refer to: People * Kickapoo people, a Native American nation ** Kickapoo language, spoken by that people ** Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas, a federally recognized tribe of Kickapoo people ** Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma, a federally recog ...

* Liberty * Stark *

Sterling Sterling may refer to: Common meanings * Sterling silver, a grade of silver * Sterling (currency), the currency of the United Kingdom ** Pound sterling, the primary unit of that currency Places United Kingdom * Stirling, a Scottish city w ...

* Union * Viroqua *

Webster Webster may refer to: People *Webster (surname), including a list of people with the surname *Webster (given name), including a list of people with the given name Places Canada *Webster, Alberta *Webster's Falls, Hamilton, Ontario United State ...

* Wheatland * Whitestown

Unincorporated communities

* Avalanche * Bloomingdale * Bud *

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

* Dilly * Esofea *

Fargo Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...

* Folsom *

* Kickapoo Center * Liberty * Liberty Pole * Mount Tabor * Newry *

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

* Pleasant Valley *

Purdy Purdy may refer to: People Surname *Al Purdy (1918–2000), Canadian poet *Amy Purdy (born 1979), American actress, model and Paralympic snowboarder * Ashley Purdy, Black Veil Brides bassist * Bill Purdy (born 1946), American rower * Brock Purdy ( ...

* Red Mound * Retreat * Rockton * Romance *

Ross Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sou ...

* Springville * Sugar Grove * Trippville * Tunnelville (partial) * Valley * Victory * West Prairie *

White City White City may refer to: Places Australia * White City, Perth, an amusement park on the Perth foreshore * White City railway station, a former railway station * White City Stadium (Sydney), a tennis centre in Sydney * White City FC, a football clu ...

Gallery

Image:RoundBarnHillsboroWisconsin.jpg, Round barn near Hillsboro Image:VernonCountyWisconsinCountrysideWIS80.jpg, Farm and countryside near Hillsboro, along Wisconsin Highway 80

Politics

Vernon County had been a Democratic-leaning county since the 1988 presidential election, but Republican Donald Trump won a plurality of the vote in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and a majority of the vote in

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

References

External links

Vernon County

Vernon County map
from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation
Vernon County Health and Demographic Data

Vernon County Broadcaster
{{authority control Wisconsin counties on the Mississippi River 1851 establishments in Wisconsin Populated places established in 1851