Best Places53208, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 53208, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
53208 ranks 23,178th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 53208
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.
53208's strengths and weaknesses
Where 53208 ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of zip codes
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of zip codes
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than 90% of zip codes
Where 53208 ranks low
- School gradeF, better than only 1% of zip codes
- QuietBetter than only 4% of zip codes
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 53208
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 53208 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,975, 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 53208's effective rate of 1.84%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in 53208
53208 runs younger 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 53208.
Who works in 53208, and how
Work in 53208 centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in 53208
53208 has more parkland per resident than 91% of zip codes. That concentrates in some parts of 53208 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 53208, month by month
53208 sees roughly 95 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 24° | 18° |
| April | 55° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of 53208
General Mitchell International sits about 8 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 53208
Schools across 53208 average an F, better than 1% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Wauwatosa Montessori SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Woodlands SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Milwaukee French ImmersionD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Longfellow MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- East HighB+ · 54% proficient
- Pathways HighD− · 14% proficient
- Milwaukee High School Of The ArtsF · 9% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 53208 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
53208 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 53208 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Who 53208 suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Common questions about living in 53208
Is 53208 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 53208 ranks 23,178th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and cell coverage, and lowest on the schools and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 53208 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $168,040. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $55,975 median income, cost of living beats 25% of zip codes.
Is 53208 safe?
53208 is safer than 4% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,056 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in 53208?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 30 with lows near 18. That works out to about 95 pleasant days a year, more than 60% of zip codes.
Is 53208 good for families?
Schools beat 1% of zip codes, crime safety beats 4%, and childcare runs $1,303 a month.
Compare 53208 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 53208. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 53208 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.
53208 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 53208: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 53208: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 53208: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 53208: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
53208 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.