Rice Lake is the largest primary retail community between Eau Claire (60 miles south), Superior/Duluth (100 miles north), and Minneapolis/St. Paul (100 miles west). It serves a prime population retail trade area of approximately 120,000 and an area of more than 2,000 square miles. Rice Lake has two exits from U.S. Highway 53 -- to the south, County Hwy. O (exit 140); to the north, State Hwy. 48 (exit 143). State Hwy. 48 runs east and west; county SS runs north and south on Main Street.