Best Places53001, WI Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 53001, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.

See the map of best neighborhoods

53001 ranks 4,249th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.

#4,249
of 33,110 zip codes
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 33,110 zip codes
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in 53001

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 53001 area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.

53001's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Cheap car insurance
Top 5%Low crime
Top 10%Heat safety
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 53001 with other zip codes.

Where 53001 ranks high

  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of zip codes
  • Crime safetyBetter than 96% of zip codes
  • Heat safetyBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 81% of zip codes
  • Healthcare accessBetter than 80% of zip codes

Where 53001 ranks low

  • Internet speedBetter than only 16% of zip codes
  • Air qualityBetter than only 22% of zip codes
  • BikingBetter than only 24% of zip codes
  • Low property taxBetter than only 27% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than only 29% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 53001

A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 53001 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $95,902, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$74,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,716
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $268,747 home
Median rent
$901
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,370
Property tax$257
Homeowners insurance$90

Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses 53001's effective rate of 1.15%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.

Renting versus buying

At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in 53001

53001 runs older than the country.

Median age
47
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
21%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.5
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1820%
18 to 3416%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6422%
65 and older21%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 53001.


Who works in 53001, and how

Work in 53001 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
12%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.1%
below the national average
Job growth
+3.0%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Manufacturing31%
Health care & social14%
Construction10%
Retail trade8%
Agriculture & forestry5%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 84%
  • Work from home 12%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 4%

Life in 53001

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 53001.


What the weather is like in 53001, month by month

53001 sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January29°22°17°
April55°43°35°
July81°70°61°
October59°49°42°

Flying in and out of 53001

General Mitchell International sits about 46 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
MKE
General Mitchell International, about 46 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
58th-busiest in the US, 66 nonstop destinations
Average drive
66 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 53001

Schools across 53001 average a B−, better than 59% of zip codes.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 53001 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


53001 measure by measure

Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare 53001 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Common questions about living in 53001

Is 53001 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 53001 ranks 4,249th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low crime, and heat safety, and lowest on internet speeds and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 53001 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $268,747. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $95,902 median income, cost of living beats 81% of zip codes.

Is 53001 safe?

Yes, 53001 is safer than 96% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $154 per resident a year.


Compare 53001 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 53001. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 53001 represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.

53001 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 53001: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 53001: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 53001: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 53001: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

53001 detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.