Best Places53181, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 53181, 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.
53181 ranks 5,984th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 53181
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.
53181's strengths and weaknesses
Where 53181 ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of zip codes
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of zip codes
- Crime safetyBetter than 88% of zip codes
Where 53181 ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 16% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 23% of zip codes
- Nice weatherabout 69 pleasant days a year, better than only 23% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 53181
A household needs to earn about $87,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 53181 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $101,393, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
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 53181's effective rate of 1.44%, 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.
Who lives in 53181
53181 runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 53181.
Who works in 53181, and how
Work in 53181 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in 53181
53181 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 53181 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 53181, month by month
53181 sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 24° | 17° |
| April | 58° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 60° |
| October | 62° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of 53181
General Mitchell International sits about 34 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 53181
Schools across 53181 average a B−, better than 50% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Trevor-wilmot GradeB+ · 53% proficient
- Randall Consolidated SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Lakewood ElementaryC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bednarcik Junior High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Wilmot HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 53181 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
53181 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 53181 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 53181
Is 53181 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 53181 ranks 5,984th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on fast internet, civic engagement, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on air quality and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 53181 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $304,599. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $101,393 median income, cost of living beats 80% of zip codes.
Is 53181 safe?
Yes, 53181 is safer than 88% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $203 per resident a year.
Compare 53181 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 53181. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 53181 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.
53181 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 53181: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 53181: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 53181: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 53181: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
53181 detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- 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.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.