Raymond, WI

Raymond is one of Racine County's original rural towns. The village's history page dates it to 1846, says it was named after Elisha Raymond, and describes a community that has historically been agricultural and has more recently worked to allow economic development along the I-94 corridor on its eastern border while keeping its rural character west of it.

The big recent change was legal, not physical. In 2019, voters approved turning the Town of Raymond into the Village of Raymond. TMJ4 reported at the time that a special state law tied to the Foxconn development in neighboring Mount Pleasant let towns next to that project incorporate without meeting the usual requirements, and that village status protects Raymond's borders from annexation by neighboring municipalities. Wikipedia adds that the village hired its first administrator four years later.

For a buyer, village status matters in three ways. Raymond now writes its own zoning code instead of following Racine County's. Its borders are fixed, so land along I-94 cannot be annexed away by Caledonia or another neighbor. And the village board, not the county, decides whether and where sewer and denser development come.

Raymond is big and lightly settled. The Census Bureau's 2024 gazetteer gives it 35.7 square miles of land and about 0.14 square miles of water. The Department of Revenue's 2025 Town, Village and City Taxes report counts 3,975 residents as of January 1, 2025, and a full value of $904,957,400. That works out to roughly 110 residents per square mile.

Addresses here are misleading. The Village Hall at 2255 76th Street uses a Franksville 53126 address, and homes in Raymond carry Franksville, Caledonia 53108 and Union Grove 53182 mailing addresses. Two of the most expensive listings I checked on October 5, 2026 had Caledonia addresses and listing pages labeled Caledonia, yet the Census geocoder and their school district both place them in Raymond. The tax bill names the municipality.

The tax base is mostly homes but has a real commercial share. The Department of Revenue's 2025 equalized values show residential property at $705.3 million of the $905.0 million total, about 78%. Commercial property is $94.5 million, about 10%, manufacturing $18.4 million, and the "other" class, which covers farm buildings and the homesites on farms, $72.0 million. Agricultural land itself carries only $4.9 million because Wisconsin taxes it at use value.

The Village Board meets on the fourth Monday of each month at 7 p.m., per the village's board page, and the Plan Commission the same Monday at 6:30 p.m. A Stormwater Utility District, created in 2007, handles drainage issues and meets monthly, according to its page.

Large lots are written into Raymond's code. BizTimes reported on February 3, 2026 that until recently the village had a 5-acre minimum lot size for single-family homes. The current zoning chapter, Chapter 25 of the village code as updated in June 2026, keeps most of that structure and adds smaller options where sewer is planned.

The rural districts set the pattern. The A-1 Farmland Preservation District requires 35 acres and 250 feet of frontage. The A-2 Rural Home District, which allows homes whether or not they are tied to a farm, requires 5 acres, 250 feet of frontage and 200 feet of lot width. The AD-5 Agricultural Density District allows cluster subdivisions: overall density stays at one home per 5 acres, but each lot can be 2 to 5 acres, with the rest of the land kept as preserved farmland or natural area. The code's own example is 100 acres yielding 20 lots.

The residential districts step down from there. R-1 Countryside Estate lots need 3 acres and 200 feet of width and are intended for areas without municipal sewer. R-2 Suburban Residential lots need 5 acres and 175 feet of width. R-3 Suburban Residential lots need 20,000 square feet and are intended for areas served by municipal sewer, which is why the I-94 sewer plan matters so much.

Outbuildings and animals are part of the appeal. The R-1 district permits agricultural uses, including private stables, on parcels of at least 3 acres: one head of livestock or 20 poultry for the first 3 acres, plus one more head or 20 more poultry for each additional acre, with barns and poultry houses at least 50 feet from the neighboring property line. The A-2 and A-1 districts allow agricultural buildings with height tied to their distance from the lot line. Coming from Lake County, Illinois, where a 5-acre lot with a barn is rare inside a 60-minute drive of Vernon Hills, the zoning is often the first thing that surprises people about Raymond.

The AD-5 district comes with strings that a buyer should read. Its preserved lands must be approved by the Plan Commission and Village Board, subdivisions must follow a conservation design with common open space, and the preserved land is protected by a deed restriction recorded with the Racine County Register of Deeds, or held in common by the lot owners, so the open field next to a cluster lot is meant to stay open.

Woods and wetlands have their own districts. The C-1 Lowland Resource Conservancy District covers mapped wetlands and shoreland wetlands drawn from the DNR's Wisconsin Wetland Inventory, and the C-2 Upland Resource Conservancy District protects significant woodlands and rough topography. C-2 allows one single-family house on at least 3 acres with 300 feet of frontage, and the code sets a minimum dwelling size there of 1,400 square feet with at least 1,000 on the first floor.

As with any rural Wisconsin purchase, I would confirm the parcel's current zoning on the village map, ask the zoning administrator whether a split or a pole building is allowed before buying for either, and remember that wetland and floodplain areas fall under separate conservancy districts.

Raymond is almost entirely owner-occupied detached houses. The Census Bureau's 2020-2024 American Community Survey counts 1,753 housing units, 1,643 of them detached single-family houses, about 94%. Of 1,702 occupied homes, 1,598, about 94%, are owner-occupied, one of the highest shares in the county.

The stock is older than Norway's and spread across eras. The median year built is 1972. About 244 homes (14%) were built before 1940, mostly farmhouses, 368 (21%) in the 1950s and 294 in the 1970s. The 1990s and 2000s added about 558 homes between them, and only about 64 have been built since 2010, which lines up with the village president's comment to the Racine County Eye in December 2025 that Raymond had added only 75 residents in five years.

Values are high for the county. The survey's median owner-estimated value is $389,700, against $251,400 for Racine County, with a wide margin of error. About 35% of owner-occupied homes, 557 of 1,598, are valued at $500,000 or more, and the survey estimates 44 at $1 million or more, with margins that make the top end uncertain.

In practice, Raymond housing falls into three groups: older farmhouses and the ranches built on road frontage in the 1950s through 1970s, larger 1990s and 2000s houses on 3 to 25 acres, and a small number of newer custom homes on acreage. There are almost no condominiums or townhouses.

Zillow's home value index, which tracks a typical mid-tier home, put Raymond at $513,171 in August 2026, up 7.1% from $479,242 in August 2025 and 9.5% from $468,477 in August 2024. For comparison in the same month, the Village of Yorkville to the south was $542,069, the Town of Norway to the west $551,417, the Village of Caledonia to the east $390,636, Union Grove $341,532 and Racine County $318,751.

Sales are thin, and the listings on Movoto's Raymond page on October 5, 2026 show why the index is only a guide. Below $500,000, a 1960 three-bedroom ranch of 1,060 square feet on two-thirds of an acre on 7 Mile Road was pending at $379,900, and a 1960 ranch of 1,480 square feet on about an acre on 5 1/2 Mile Road was listed at $460,000. Above $1 million, three estate properties on 12 to 25 acres were listed or pending, which I cover in the next section.

The middle of the market barely appeared that day, which is typical of a village with about 1,750 homes. I would price a Raymond house on its land first: acreage, frontage, wetlands, outbuildings, and whether the parcel could ever be split. Then the house, the well and the septic. Zillow's index tells you direction, and the comparable sales tell you price.

Raymond is not a lake market. Its water area is about 0.14 square miles, and the pond frontage on several estate listings is private. For lake frontage in this part of Racine County, the Town of Norway to the west has Wind Lake, Waubeesee Lake and part of Lake Denoon.

Raymond's top tier is acreage with a large house, not lakefront, and it tops out below $2 million. On October 5, 2026, the highest-priced listing in the village was a 1991 house of 5,340 square feet with five bedrooms on about 24.7 acres with a pond and water views on 108th Street, zoned A-2, pending at $1,595,000 with a 2025 tax bill of $11,800. A 2019 house of 4,320 square feet on about 12.6 acres with a pond on 27th Street was pending at $1,363,500, with a $9,715 bill. A 1995 house of 4,700 square feet on about 18.3 acres on West 7 Mile Road was listed at $1,249,500, with a $10,277 bill.

Those three sit in the Raymond #14 school district, and their taxes run about 0.7% to 0.8% of list price, which is useful for anyone comparing them with Lake County, Illinois estate homes in the same price range.

Vacant land shows the per-acre range. The same page listed 30 acres on West 7 Mile Road at $949,900, about $31,700 an acre. Three parcels on 100th Street were listed at $825,000 for 16 acres, $469,900 for about 11.5 acres and $375,000 for about 9 acres, roughly $41,000 to $52,000 an acre. Smaller parcels cost more per acre: about 6.5 acres on Waukesha Road at $575,000 and about 5.3 acres at $450,000, both near $86,000 to $88,000 an acre, and about 9.1 acres on County K at $349,900, roughly $38,600 an acre.

Two things move a Raymond land price more than the house does. One is whether the parcel can be divided under the A-2, AD-5 or R-1 rules. The other is distance from I-94: land inside the proposed sewer corridor, described in the next section, is expected to be priced for development, while land west of 43rd Street stays rural. Several of the land listings had been on the market for 200 days or more, so asking price and selling price may differ.

The census figures match what the listings show. The ACS estimates 44 owner-occupied homes valued at $1 million or more, and 10 at $2 million or more, with wide margins. Raymond is an estate-acreage market around $1 million to $1.6 million, not a $2 million-plus one.

Raymond's interstate frontage is mostly undeveloped. BizTimes' February 3, 2026 report described Xtreme Fireworks as one of the few commercial developments along Raymond's stretch of I-94 and said the village's finances had grown increasingly strained, pushing leaders toward development there.

The proposal is a tax incremental financing district with sewer. At a joint workshop of the Village Board and the Raymond School Board on December 1, 2025, the village president proposed a TIF district stretching roughly from County Road G north to the county line and from I-94 west to 43rd Street, according to the Racine County Eye. It would let the village borrow up to $27 million, the legal limit, to build sewer to support commercial and residential development, repaid from the increase in property value inside the district.

The boundary matters most to buyers. The president said the plan is to put sewer and water about one mile west of the interstate, up to 43rd Street, and that "everything from 43rd west stays the way it is." A school board member raised concerns about the sewer route along the frontage road from Milwaukee. I could not find a report that the TIF had been created as of October 5, 2026, so I treat it as a proposal.

The village has already written design rules for that strip. Chapter 25 includes a Design Guide Overlay District, added by ordinance in October 2024, that applies to the "gateway properties along Interstate 94" and is meant to guide the design of new buildings there and avoid monotony. That overlay is the clearest sign in the code of where the village expects commercial building to go.

Commercial building has already started at the edges. BizTimes reported in April 2025 that the village had approved a 53,000-square-foot building for Milwaukee Powersports at the northwest corner of County Highway K and I-94.

The regional backdrop is Mount Pleasant, east of Raymond's southern half. Microsoft's first data center there, Fairwater, is operating and a second is under construction, with more than 550 workers on the campus, according to WPR on September 29, 2026.

For a buyer, the practical step is a map check. A house east of 43rd Street could someday back up to new commercial or sewered residential development; a house west of it, if the plan holds, stays rural. Before an offer, I would locate the parcel against that line and read the most recent Village Board and Plan Commission minutes.

Raymond's taxes are low for Racine County. The Department of Revenue's 2025 report puts the village's effective full-value rate at 0.966%, against 1.546% for the county as a whole, 1.497% in Caledonia, 1.566% in Mount Pleasant, 1.256% in Yorkville and 0.944% in the Town of Norway.

The rate depends on the school district. Racine County's 2025 mill rate sheet lists four net rates per $1,000 of assessed value for Raymond: $10.55 in Raymond #14 with Union Grove High, $12.01 in Norway J7 with Waterford High, $12.21 in North Cape with Waterford High, and $13.03 in Yorkville J2 with Union Grove High. DOR's apportionment puts about 88% of the village's value in Raymond #14, about 5% in Norway J7, about 4% in North Cape and about 2% in Yorkville J2.

Those are rates on assessed value, and Raymond assessed at about 90% of market value for 2025, according to the same DOR report. A worked example at Zillow's typical August 2026 value of $513,171: the assessment would be about $461,854, and at $10.55 the 2025 bill would be about $4,872 before credits, roughly 0.95% of value. The same house in the Yorkville J2 part of the village would be about $6,017. The lottery and gaming credit, for a primary residence only, and the first dollar credit, which DOR's guide for property owners says applies to parcels with improvements, come off those figures.

Farmland changes the picture on acreage. Wisconsin taxes agricultural land at use value, which is why all of Raymond's farm acres carry only $4.9 million of the 2025 equalized value. A home on a parcel that is partly farmed may have a much lower bill than its price suggests; ask whether the land is in agricultural use and what happens to the assessment if that use stops.

Two more costs. Wisconsin's real estate transfer fee is $0.30 per $100 of value, about $4,785 on a $1,595,000 sale. And the village's treasurer page says taxes are paid at Village Hall in December and January, while any payment after February 1 goes to the Racine County Treasurer. This is general information, not tax advice; your bill depends on the parcel, its school district, its land use, your credits and the assessor.

Most of Raymond is on wells and septic today. The R-1 Countryside Estate district is written for areas not intended to have municipal sewer, and the I-94 TIF proposal exists because the village needs to build sewer to support denser development, according to the Racine County Eye. On any Raymond purchase I would write a well water test and a septic inspection into the inspection period, and on older farmhouses I would ask about the age of the system.

Roads are split between the village and the county. The village's public works page says the village maintains all village roads except Highways K, U and G, Highway 45 and the frontage roads, and sends drivers to the regional I-94 construction site for road updates. The Stormwater Utility District handles drainage concerns, which matter on flat farmland with ditches and culverts.

Trash is self-haul. The village's trash page lists the Waste Management Metro Landfill on 8 Mile Road east of Highway 45 for household trash, recycling, brush, metal and cardboard, one trip a week with a valid ID, and free electronics recycling at a Sturtevant recycler. If curbside pickup matters to you, ask the seller which private hauler serves the road.

Fire and rescue are a village department. The fire page describes a paid-per-call department of about 28 members, including EMTs, with one station housing 10 emergency vehicles and covering 36 square miles, with 911 calls dispatched by the Racine County Sheriff at Ives Grove. Since January 1, 2026, the Village Hall itself is rented only to Raymond residents, while the outdoor pavilion is open to non-residents, per the rentals page.

Almost all of the village is in the Raymond #14 School District, a one-school K4 through 8 district, and the Union Grove Union High School district. The DOR's 2025 apportionment puts about $796.2 million of the village's $905.0 million in Raymond #14.

The edges of the village are in other districts. Parts are in Norway J7 (Drought Elementary) or North Cape (North Cape Elementary), both feeding Waterford High, and a small part is in Yorkville J2 (Yorkville Elementary), which feeds Union Grove High.

The Raymond building is under review. A district facilities task force met for the first time on April 29, 2026 to assess the aging building and how to pay for improvements, with a facilities referendum next April among the options, according to the Racine County Eye. A referendum would change the Raymond #14 tax rate, so I would watch for it.

Assignment follows the parcel, not the mailing address. Confirm the district for any property on the tax bill, which names it.

Raymond's location is its practical advantage. I-94 runs along the village's eastern edge, with an interchange at County K, and Highway 45 runs along the west.

I ran free-flow routes on the OSRM routing engine, which uses OpenStreetMap roads and no traffic, from the Village Hall on October 5, 2026. Treat these as best-case estimates. I-94 at County K is about 4 miles and 10 minutes. Downtown Milwaukee is about 21 miles and 32 minutes, and Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport about 14 miles and 23 minutes. Vernon Hills is about 47 miles and 59 minutes. Downtown Chicago is about 73 miles and 91 minutes, and O'Hare about 70 miles and 102 minutes.

Closer in, Union Grove is about 12 miles and 19 minutes, downtown Racine about 15 miles and 26 minutes, the Village of Waterford about 13 miles and 21 minutes, and Kenosha about 25 miles and 37 minutes. Lake Geneva is about 33 miles and 55 minutes.

For Lake County, Illinois buyers, Raymond is within an hour of Vernon Hills in free flow, closer than Norway and about the same as some western Lake County drives to the Loop. Downtown Chicago and O'Hare sit just past 90 minutes, so a daily Illinois commute is a stretch, while a weekly one is realistic. I-94 construction or a Friday afternoon can change any of these numbers.

Raymond has no rail service, but two stations are close. I counted trains in Amtrak's schedule data for Wednesday, October 7, 2026, and in Metra's schedule data for the week of October 12, 2026.

Amtrak's Sturtevant station is about 13 road miles and 21 minutes from the Village Hall by the same free-flow router. It had six Hiawatha trains to Chicago Union Station that weekday, with rides of 76 minutes on five of them and 84 on the first, plus one Borealis train. The first departure was 7:43 a.m., arriving at 9:07 a.m. The Milwaukee Airport station, about 14 miles and 23 minutes away, is served by the same trains with rides of 89 to 101 minutes.

Metra's Kenosha station, the end of the Union Pacific North line, is about 25 road miles and 36 minutes away. It had 10 weekday trains to Ogilvie, with rides of 92 to 102 minutes.

A train commute to the Loop from Raymond runs close to two hours door to door. For a hybrid schedule, the Hiawatha from Sturtevant is the faster option.

Raymond is working farmland, so most of its recreation is close by rather than inside the village. The village itself offers the Village Hall pavilion, an outdoor shelter with picnic tables and a small kitchen that non-residents can rent seasonally for $150 a day plus a $100 deposit, per the rentals page, and a directory of local farm stands on its website.

For water, the closest lakes are in the Town of Norway to the west. Wind Lake, 919 acres according to the DNR, has two public boat landings and a walleye and bass fishery, and Waubeesee Lake is the deeper, slower option. Lake Michigan is about 26 minutes east in Racine by the same free-flow router I used for the commute times.

Milwaukee's amenities are the other draw. Downtown Milwaukee is about 32 minutes away and Mitchell International Airport about 23, which puts the city's lakefront, arenas and restaurants within a normal evening drive. Union Grove, about 19 minutes south, is the nearest small downtown.

Three decisions will shape Raymond over the next two years. The first is whether the I-94 TIF district and sewer line move from proposal to adoption, and exactly where the boundary lands relative to 43rd Street. The second is the Raymond School's facilities decision, with a referendum possible in April 2027. The third is how fast development along I-94 in Raymond, Caledonia and Mount Pleasant continues to fill in around the County K and County G interchanges.

The zoning code is moving too. Chapter 25 shows amendments in October 2024, July 2025 and October 2025 in its history notes, and the 20,000-square-foot R-3 district is written for sewered areas that do not yet exist in most of the village. If you are buying land to hold, read the latest amendments before relying on any lot size.

The Village Board and Plan Commission meet on the fourth Monday of each month, and the village posts agendas and minutes on its website. For a buyer, the practical step is a map check: locate the parcel relative to I-94, 43rd Street, County K and County G, and read the most recent Plan Commission minutes for anything proposed nearby.

The Village of Raymond's website does not list a village police department; it links residents to the Racine County Sheriff's Office, which also dispatches the village's 911 calls, according to the village's fire page. Fire and rescue come from the village's own Raymond Fire & Rescue Department. I don't characterize the safety of any town or neighborhood. If you want the data, ask the Sheriff's Office, or look up any agency on the FBI's Crime Data Explorer.

Its 2025 effective tax rate of 0.966% is among the lowest in Racine County.

The trade-offs are just as specific. Raymond is not a lake market, and its top tier tops out around $1.6 million. Homes are on wells and septic. Few homes are listed at any one time, so pricing depends on a handful of sales. And the I-94 sewer plan, if adopted, will change the eastern mile of the village from farmland to development over time.

The one thing I would never skip here is the line check: which side of 43rd Street the parcel sits on, which school district the tax bill names, and what the zoning allows before you count on a split or a barn.