Town of Burlington, WI

The Town of Burlington wraps around the City of Burlington in southwestern Racine County. The Census Bureau's 2024 gazetteer gives the town 32.865 square miles of land and 1.348 square miles of water. The town's land use plan, dated March 24, 2025, describes the borders: Kenosha County to the south and southeast, the Town of Dover to the northeast, Walworth County to the west and the Village of Rochester to the north, with the city in the north-central part of the town. The Fox River runs through the town from north to south.

The Department of Revenue counted 6,449 people in the town for 2025; the 2020 census counted 6,465. Most of them live around the two lakes. The Census Bureau draws a Browns Lake place east of the city, which had 1,879 people in 2020, and a Bohners Lake place south of it, which had 2,374. Both are unincorporated parts of the town, not villages.

The town and the city share the Burlington 53105 mailing address, which is the source of most confusion. The town has its own board, its own tax rate, a police contract with the Racine County Sheriff and county zoning; the city has its own police, municipal water and city zoning. When I look at a listing that says "Burlington," the tax bill tells me which one it is.

I split the town into four kinds of places, because price, lot size, sewer and lake rights change between them.

Browns Lake sits just east of the city. The shoreline is built up on nearly every side, with streets such as Lake Street, Cedar Drive, Browns Lake Drive, Caldwell Drive and Knollcrest Drive holding most of the town's highest-assessed homes, according to the town's 2025 assessment roll. Hall's Point on Forest Drive sits on a channel off the main lake, and Cedar Park, an unincorporated community on the south side near Fischer County Park, has smaller cottages with association beach access.

Bohners Lake sits about 5 road miles south of downtown Burlington. It is smaller, with a ring of mostly older cottages and houses on Lakeshore Drive and the side streets around it, subdivisions such as Oakwood Hills with lake access, and Winkler Elementary on Fulton Street.

The lake-access streets around both lakes are the middle tier. Many listings there carry deeded or association access to a beach or launch without private frontage, at prices well below the shoreline.

The countryside covers the rest of the town: farm fields, wetlands, DNR wildlife land and houses on 1 to 10 acres or more along roads like Bushnell Road, Fish Hatchery Road, Karcher Road and Durand Avenue. The 2025 roll lists 380 parcels of 10 acres or more.

The town is mostly owner-occupied detached houses. The 2020-2024 American Community Survey counts 3,036 housing units (plus or minus 226), of which 2,542, about 84%, are detached houses. Of 2,626 occupied homes, 2,280, about 87%, are owner-occupied. About 341 homes (plus or minus 192) are held for seasonal or recreational use, nearly all of them at the lakes.

The age profile is older than the countryside suggests, because the lakes started as cottage colonies. The median town home was built in 1972. The 1950s is the biggest single decade, with about 519 homes, and about 538 homes date to the 1940s or earlier. About 729 were built since 2000. At Bohners Lake the median home dates to 1963; at Browns Lake, 1977.

The ACS puts the town's median owner value at $302,800 (plus or minus $28,641), above Racine County's $251,400. The Browns Lake place is higher at $334,200 and the Bohners Lake place lower at $266,800. The survey estimates about 37 owner homes worth $750,000 to $999,999, 36 worth $1 million to $1.5 million and 15 worth $2 million or more, though the margins on those small counts are nearly as large as the counts.

The DOR's 2025 equalized values show how residential the town is: $1.186 billion of its $1.291 billion in real estate is residential, about 92%. Land is about 30% of that residential value, high for a Racine County town, which is what lake frontage does to the numbers.

Each kind of house has its own inspection list. On a pre-1950 lake cottage I look at the foundation, how and when it was winterized, and how close it sits to the water under today's setback rules. On a 1960s to 1970s house it is the roof, windows and mechanicals. In the countryside, the well and septic often matter more than the house.

Browns Lake is the town's main lake. The Wisconsin DNR lists it at 397 acres with a maximum depth of 44 feet, a mean depth of 8 feet and a bottom that is 80% muck. The town's land use plan gives 5.53 miles of shoreline including islands, with about 660 feet open to the public at Fischer County Park and the rest developed for homes and businesses. The DNR rates the water moderately clear and lists largemouth bass and northern pike as abundant.

Public access is at Fischer County Park, 30526 Durand Avenue. The Browns Lake Sanitary District says the park's launch has two lanes, with daily and annual fees based on boat size, and the dredging project site counted 2,651 public launches in 2022. A busy public launch on a 397-acre lake means summer weekends are busy on the water.

The town writes the lake rules and runs a marine patrol in the boating season. The town's marine page lists the Browns Lake ordinances: no speed above slow-no-wake within the shore zone, a 50 mph limit, and no speed above slow-no-wake from sunset until 10 a.m. Towing must run counterclockwise, with no more than two people towed and an observer on board, and is not allowed between 2 and 4 p.m. on Sundays and legal holidays from Memorial Day to Labor Day.

Water quality is the item I'd watch. TMJ4 reported on July 15, 2026 that Racine County closed the Fischer Park beach for probable blue-green algae. The sanitary district lists zebra mussels, Eurasian water-milfoil, curly-leaf pondweed and other invasive species in the lake, runs a weed harvester and pays a bounty on carp. The dredging project in the next section is the district's answer to the sediment.

If you are buying on Browns Lake in 2026, the dredging project is the first thing to understand, because it affects both the lake and the tax bill. The DNR approved the permit in December 2023, and DredgeWire reported in February 2024 that the project could cost $7 million and dredge more than 100 acres, mainly along the eastern, northern and southern shores. The project site puts the volume at an estimated 380,000 to 400,000 cubic yards of soft sediment, pumped to a sediment pond along the bypass that the district says is built to hold 400,000 cubic yards.

The work is nearly done. The district's dredging page and updates show dredging began in July 2025. By November 18, 2025 the contractor had finished the bay near Fischer Park and about half of Waterfront Bay, with seven feet of clear water where it had dredged. The goal is to dredge to about 15 to 20 feet from shore, but the district said some Waterfront Bay areas had hard bottom at about three feet, about 50 feet out, that cannot be dredged. On August 3, 2026 the district said the project was ahead of schedule and that the shoreline pass would start the last week of August, and asked owners to pull their piers first. The June 2026 update expected all dredging to be finished by November.

The money matters to a buyer. The sanitary district's ordinance page lists a September 12, 2024 resolution for a special assessment to dredge Browns Lake, and the district's January 2025 update said lake parcels had already prepaid almost $1 million and that owners can pay off the assessment in full at any time. The project site says the town board committed $2.5 million, and the district reported in March 2026 that it had received all of a $5 million state grant, which it is holding until dredging ends and plans to use, with the town, to reduce costs and repay owners who prepaid.

So on any Browns Lake parcel, I'd ask three questions before an offer: how much of the dredging special assessment is still owed, whether it shows on the tax bill as an installment, and how the sale contract splits it. The district also drilled a high-capacity well, which it says will be kept to help hold the lake level and gives the fire department a hydrant.

Bohners Lake (the first syllable rhymes with "bone") is the town's smaller lake. The DNR lists it at 135 acres with a maximum depth of 30 feet, a mean depth of 9 feet and a bottom that is 45% sand, with one public boat landing. The town's land use plan calls it a kettle lake held at its level by a dam with a two-foot head on the north-shore outlet, with 1.9 miles of shoreline, about 240 feet of it public town parkland and the rest developed for homes.

An OpenStreetMap extract I pulled on October 5, 2026 places Julius Aukes Beach Park, Louis Fago Park and Herb Leach Park around the lake, and the John Margis Jr. Wildlife Area on Fish Hatchery Road just east of it. Several subdivisions around the lake hold their own private beaches and launches for lot owners; a listing in Oakwood Hills described one across the street.

The town's Bohners Lake ordinances are stricter than Browns Lake's on speed and hours: a 40 mph limit, counterclockwise travel for every boat above slow-no-wake, no towing in the shore zone, no more than two people towed and no speed above slow-no-wake from 7 p.m. to 10 a.m. The Bohners Lake Sanitary District runs its own weed harvesting schedule.

For a buyer comparing the two lakes, the trade is size and price. Bohners is less than half the size of Browns, with shorter boating hours and a lower price per foot of frontage, and its homes are older on average.

The town is where Burlington's $1 million-plus lake market lives, and Browns Lake is the top of it. The best public sale I found in 2026 was a Lake Street house on Browns Lake that sold for $1,718,000 on June 17, 2026, against a $1,750,000 list price: five bedrooms, about 5,618 square feet, built in 2010, on a 0.47-acre lot with 89 feet of level frontage per the listing. Its listed annual tax was $18,107, about 1.05% of the sale price.

Ten days earlier, on June 7, 2026, a 1989 ranch on South Browns Lake Drive with lake views across from Browns Lake Golf Course sold for $1,400,000, with a listed tax of $9,596. Below that tier, a 1940 house on Forest Drive near the lake sold for $550,000 on June 15, 2026. On October 5, 2026, a 1935 Cape Cod in Hall's Point on Forest Drive with 101 feet of channel frontage and a pier was listed at $799,900, and a 1915 bluff-top cabin on the same road with a lake view was listed at $649,900.

The assessment roll shows how deep that top tier is. In the town's 2025 roll, 58 residential parcels in the Browns Lake district were assessed at $1 million or more and two at $2 million or more, the highest at $2,437,800 on Cedar Drive. With the town assessed at about 82% of market in 2025, a $1 million assessment points to roughly $1.2 million of market value. The median residential parcel in the Browns Lake district was assessed at $240,450, which shows how wide the spread is between frontage and the streets behind it.

Bohners Lake is a different price level. Its highest 2025 residential assessment was $1,385,300, and only one Bohners Lake district home was assessed above $1 million. A 1945 cottage on West Lakeshore Drive with 39 feet of frontage and an extra 0.58-acre lot with a garage sold for $335,000 on May 31, 2026, and a 2001 A-frame in Oakwood Hills, across the street from a private beach and launch, sold for $569,900 on July 8, 2026.

I separate three tiers on any lake. Lakefront means your own frontage and pier rights. Lake access means a deeded or association right to reach the water. Off-lake means you drive to a public launch. On both of these lakes the three can sit within a block of each other, and listing language blurs them, so I read the deed, the plat and any access easement before I trust the word "lake" in a listing.

Off the lakes, the town is farmland and open land, and the land use plan keeps it that way. The 2050 land use plan sets four residential and farm densities. The Suburban Residential district, which needs sanitary sewer, allows lots of at least 20,000 square feet and one home per 25,000 square feet. Low Density Residential, unsewered, needs at least 40,000 square feet and one home per 1.5 acres. The Agricultural Estate district allows one home per 5 acres, and the Agricultural Preservation district requires 35 acres. The plan says much of the town is prime farmland protected under the Racine County Zoning Ordinance.

That is why acreage listings are scarce and land deals take time. On October 5, 2026, the largest listing in the town was nearly 80 acres in three parcels on Fish Hatchery Road near Bohners Lake, listed at $4,995,000 as a development site. The listing says the seller's preliminary studies show room for up to 118 lots, subject to town and county approvals, which is exactly where the land use plan's density limits and the sewer rules below come in.

Smaller acreage is more common. The same day, a 1996 house on 2.5 acres on Karcher Road was listed at $599,000, a 1948 house on 8 acres on Durand Avenue at $500,000, and a 2005 house of about 4,228 square feet on an acre on Horseshoe Road at $899,500. Two Rustic Roads, Honey Lake Road and the Wheatland, Hoosier Creek and Brever road route, run through the town, per the plan.

New homes come slowly. The land use plan counts 9 new-home building permits in 2022 and 14 in 2023. The town's building fees for a new one- or two-family home are $0.37 per square foot plus a $250 plan review, with inspections contracted to SAFEbuilt.

If a parcel's future use matters to you, I would read the land use plan map for that parcel and any neighbor's rezoning or land division application at the Plan Commission before an offer.

Zillow does not publish a Town of Burlington series. The closest index is the Burlington 53105 ZIP code, which covers the city, the town and parts of several neighbors. Zillow's ZIP index put the typical 53105 home at $402,015 in August 2026, up 5.3% in a year, and Zillow's top-tier index for the ZIP, which tracks the upper third of homes, at $637,491. For comparison, Zillow's typical home in Lake County, Illinois was $399,526.

Redfin's public data does track the two lake places. The Browns Lake place had 32 sales in the 12 months from June 2025 through May 2026, against 31 the year before, with monthly medians between $278,900 and $476,500. The Bohners Lake place had 43 sales, down from 48, with monthly medians between $175,000 and $429,900. Redfin's data runs only through May 2026, so it does not yet include the June 2026 Browns Lake sales above $1 million.

The listing and sale mix in Movoto's MetroMLS-sourced pages on October 5, 2026 shows the lower and middle tiers. Around Bohners Lake, summer 2026 sales included a 1955 house on Hillcrest Drive at $307,000 (June 14), a 1940 cottage on Oakwood Drive at $249,000 (July 21) and a 1950 house on Bohner Road at $330,000 (August 26). Near Browns Lake, a new 2026 house on Emma Street sold for $555,000 (June 15), and listings included a 1950 cottage in Cedar Park Estates with association beach access at $249,700 and a 1978 house on Meadow Drive at $360,000.

With two to four sales a month at each lake, a single frontage closing moves a monthly median by hundreds of thousands of dollars, so I price a town house from its own comparables: frontage against frontage on the same lake, access against access, acreage against acreage. If you're running numbers, my guide to how much house you can afford in 2026 is a good place to start.

Wisconsin taxes run on assessed value times a mill rate, and the town's assessments are behind the market right now. The DOR's 2025 report puts the Town of Burlington at an assessment level of 0.82, and the DOR's major class comparison shows residential property assessed at 83.12% of the state's value in 2025, down from 86.41% in 2024 and 94.71% in 2023, with a notice of non-compliance recorded. The town's assessment page says the 2026 roll was not complete in May, so the Board of Review was adjourned to September 3, 2026, after an August 5 open book.

What that means for a buyer: the tax on a town listing is usually a 2025 bill on an assessment that lags the market, and 2026 assessments may change it. A reassessment doesn't raise the total levy by itself; it shifts who pays what. I'd look up the parcel's 2026 assessment before trusting the listing's tax line.

The rate itself is moderate for Racine County. For taxes levied in 2025, the DOR gives the town a gross rate of 1.199% of full value and a net rate of 1.068% after the school levy credit. About 56% of the levy goes to the Burlington Area School District, 23% to Racine County, 14% to the town and 4% to Gateway Technical College. Divided by the 0.82 assessment level, the net rate is about $13.02 per $1,000 of assessed value.

A worked example. A $500,000 primary residence assessed at the 2025 level would carry about $410,000 of assessed value and a net bill of about $5,339. The lottery and gaming credit, a $27,000 credit value times the school tax rate, comes to roughly $223 by my estimate, for a net near $5,117, or about 1.02% of value. A second home gets no lottery credit.

The lakes add their own charges. The Browns Lake Sanitary District bills a flat $153.82 a quarter per sewer connection, and the Bohners Lake Sanitary District $120 a quarter, both charged even when a cottage is closed for winter. Browns Lake parcels may also carry the dredging special assessment. Wisconsin's real estate transfer fee is $0.30 per $100. This is general information, not tax advice; your bill depends on the parcel, its assessment, its districts and your credits.

Sewer depends on which part of the town you're in. The land use plan says the Browns Lake and Bohners Lake sanitary districts are the only two parts of the town with public sanitary sewer, and both send their sewage to the City of Burlington's treatment plant. Everywhere else, plan on a private septic system. Water is private wells throughout the town, including at the lakes.

The Bohners Lake Sanitary District says it was formed in 1990 and runs about 18 miles of gravity and force mains and 10 lift stations. Its current connection fee for new construction is $4,382. In both districts the homeowner owns and repairs the line from the house to the road and any grinder pump, and the district owns the main. On a lake house with a grinder pump, I'd ask the age of the pump and for any service records.

Extending sewer is not simple. The land use plan says land outside the sewer service area needs approval from a sanitary district, the City of Burlington and the regional planning commission, and must be annexed into one of the two districts. It also bars holding tanks for new homes.

On a well-and-septic purchase, I'd write a well water test and a septic inspection into the inspection period and ask for the septic permit and pumping records. The town's FAQ points owners to Racine County's public health division for well test kits.

Fire service comes from the Town of Burlington Fire Department, with three stations (the Town Hall on Bushnell Road, Browns Lake and Bohners Lake) staffed by about 24 volunteer firefighters. The town lists an ISO public protection classification of 05/10, effective January 1, 2026 per the ISO report, where Class 10 applies to areas beyond five road miles of a recognized fire station. Insurers price by that class, so I'd get a homeowner's insurance quote early on a rural parcel.

The town does not write its own zoning code; the land use plan says the Racine County Zoning Ordinance and the town's land division ordinance enforce it, and that the town accepted the county code's current revision on March 8, 1971. On the lakes, the county's shoreland rules sit on top of the state minimums in Wisconsin's NR 115.

Under NR 115, buildings must be set back 75 feet from the ordinary high-water mark. Where an existing development pattern exists, a new principal structure can match the average setback of the homes on each side, but never closer than 35 feet. New lots need at least 65 feet of width and 10,000 square feet with sewer, or 100 feet and 20,000 square feet without. Many cottages on both lakes predate those numbers, which is why rebuilding or expanding an older lake house usually starts with a call to the county zoning office.

Piers have their own rules. The DNR's 2026 Pier Planner says piers first placed before April 2012 are exempt, that only the waterfront owner may place one, and that a new pier is allowed two boat slips for the first 50 feet of shoreline plus one for each additional full 50 feet. The town adds its own pier permit, with a $70 fee and a drawing of length, width, lifts and distance to each property line.

For a frontage buyer, the practical list is short: the survey and the ordinary high-water mark, the county's record of any past variances, whether the existing pier is a legacy pier, and what a rebuild would be allowed to cover.

The town sits entirely in the Fox River watershed, drained by the Fox and White rivers and Honey, Spring Brook, Eagle and Hoosier creeks, per the land use plan. That matters in a wet spring. On April 17, 2026, TMJ4 reported that Hoosier Creek Road and Brever Road were closed, that water covered parts of Wheatland Road and Lakeshore Drive, and that the Fox River south of the area sat just below major flood stage.

In July 2026, TMJ4 reported that FEMA denied public infrastructure aid to Racine County for the April storms, while homeowners with uninsured losses could still apply for individual assistance.

The town's 2025 assessment roll also shows two drainage districts, Hoosier Creek on 276 parcels and Eagle Creek on 8. On any house near the river, a creek or low ground, I'd check the FEMA flood map, get a flood insurance quote early and ask the seller in writing about water in April 2026.

The whole town is in one district. The DOR's 2025 apportionment puts all $1.29 billion of the town's value in the Burlington Area School District, and every parcel on the 2025 roll carries it, so there is no split-district question here.

The other elementary schools are in the city: Dyer, Waller and Cooper Montessori.

From Fischer County Park on Browns Lake, the high school is about 2 road miles and 6 minutes by the free-flow router I used; from Bohners Lake it is about 6 miles and 13 minutes. Elementary assignment follows the address, so I confirm it with the district office before an offer. My City of Burlington guide has more on the district, including the 2024 referendum and school closing.

The town has no interstate. The Burlington Bypass carries WIS 11, 36 and 83 around the city, WIS 36 runs toward Milwaukee, WIS 83 toward the Illinois line and WIS 142 toward Kenosha and I-94. I ran free-flow routes on the OSRM routing engine, which uses OpenStreetMap roads and no traffic, on October 5, 2026, from both lakes. Treat these as best-case estimates.

From Fischer County Park on Browns Lake, Vernon Hills is about 50 road miles and 66 minutes. Downtown Chicago is about 76 miles and 99 minutes, and downtown Milwaukee about 34 miles and 52 minutes. Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport is about 29 miles and 47 minutes. O'Hare is about 73 miles, and the router gave 110 minutes, which looks long against the Loop time.

From Bohners Lake, Vernon Hills is about 41 miles and 68 minutes, downtown Chicago about 76 miles and 103 minutes and downtown Milwaukee about 39 miles and 62 minutes. Lake Geneva is closer, about 12 miles and 23 minutes, against 31 minutes from Browns Lake.

For rail, Amtrak's Hiawatha stops at Sturtevant, about 20 miles and 32 minutes from Browns Lake. In Amtrak's published schedule feed for the week of October 4, 2026, it has six weekday trains to Chicago Union Station, the first at 7:43 a.m., taking 76 to 84 minutes, plus one daily Borealis train. On the Illinois side, Metra's GTFS data for service through October 4, 2026 shows Antioch (about 32 minutes from either lake) with seven weekday trains each way and no weekend service, and Fox Lake (about 40 minutes from Browns Lake) with 16 weekday trains each way and nine on weekends.

That puts both lakes just over an hour from Vernon Hills, comfortably inside the 90-minute ring the Lake County buyers I talk to use for a weekend place, and close enough to Milwaukee for a daily drive.

The town's land use plan lists three Racine County parks in the town. Fischer Park, on the southeast shore of Browns Lake, has a large sand beach, a beach house with a concession stand, picnic areas, a softball diamond and the boat launch with two docking piers. Bushnell Park, at 32100 Bushnell Road just southeast of the city, has picnic shelters, lighted ball and soccer fields, horseshoe courts, a hiking trail and fishing on the Fox River. The John Margis Jr. Wildlife Area is at 7516 Fish Hatchery Road near Bohners Lake, and the Wehmhoff Wildlife and Woodland Preserve is on Honey Lake Road.

Public land fills much of the rest. The plan names the DNR's Karcher Marsh and Honey Creek Wildlife Area as the largest state holdings in the town, and the Richard Bong State Recreation Area lies just over the Kenosha County line to the southeast. In summer, the Browns Lake Aquaducks water-ski team performs free Thursday evening shows at Fischer Park, per DredgeWire's 2024 report.

Two smaller lakes round it out. Rockland Lake, south of Durand Avenue near Browns Lake, is 40 acres and 28 feet deep, reached through a City of Burlington park. Long Lake, on the Rochester line, covers 101.5 acres but is only 5 feet deep at most, with no public frontage, per the plan.

Golf, groceries and restaurants are a short drive into the city. Browns Lake Golf Course sits on the west side of Browns Lake inside the city limits, and downtown Burlington is about 6 minutes from Browns Lake and 13 from Bohners Lake.

The town has no police department of its own; the town's police page says patrol and enforcement are contracted through the Racine County Sheriff's Office. The town runs its own marine patrol on both lakes in the boating season and a municipal court, and in 2026 it began forming a Bohners Lake and Browns Lake public safety committee with two members from each lake district. I don't characterize any town or neighborhood. Anyone who wants the data can ask the Sheriff's Office or look up any agency on the FBI's Crime Data Explorer.

Browns Lake gives you a 397-acre, 44-foot-deep lake with a $1 million-plus frontage tier and a freshly dredged bottom. Bohners Lake gives you a smaller lake at a much lower price per foot. The countryside gives you farm and acreage parcels, though the land use plan keeps them scarce.

The trade-offs are specific. Assessments lag the market and the DOR has flagged the town, so today's tax lines may change. Browns Lake parcels may carry a dredging special assessment, and both lakes add a quarterly sewer charge. The water is private wells everywhere, and septic away from the lakes. Browns Lake's public launch makes summer weekends busy, and the beach closed for algae in July 2026. Parts of the town flooded in April 2026. And the rural fire class reaches 10 beyond five road miles of a station.

The one thing I would never skip here is pulling the tax bill, the sanitary district account and the dredging assessment status for the exact parcel before anyone falls for a view.