Best Places53220, WI Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 53220, 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

53220 ranks 8,007th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.

#8,007
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 53220

Map of the best neighborhoods in the 53220 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.

53220's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Transit
Top 10%Few empty homes
Top 10%Low disaster risk
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare 53220 with other zip codes.

Where 53220 ranks high

  • TransitBetter than 97% of zip codes
  • Low vacancyBetter than 94% of zip codes
  • Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of zip codes
  • WalkabilityBetter than 93% of zip codes
  • Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of zip codes

Where 53220 ranks low

  • Low property taxBetter than only 5% of zip codes
  • QuietBetter than only 11% of zip codes
  • Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 16% of zip codes
  • School gradeC−, better than only 18% of zip codes
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 34% of zip codes

What it costs to buy a home in 53220

A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 53220 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,371, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.

Income to buy the median home
$69,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$1,603
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $228,927 home
Median rent
$1,060
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$1,167
Property tax$359
Homeowners insurance$76

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 53220's effective rate of 1.88%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. 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 53220

53220's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
40
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
19%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.3
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1821%
18 to 3423%
35 to 4920%
50 to 6417%
65 and older19%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 53220.


Who works in 53220, and how

Work in 53220 centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
11%
below the national average
Unemployment
2.0%
below the national average
Job growth
+3.6%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social18%
Manufacturing16%
Retail trade10%
Transportation & warehousing7%
Education7%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 83%
  • Work from home 11%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in 53220

53220 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 81% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 53220 and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
125
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 46.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 66% of zip codes
Coffee shops
16
about 6.0 per 10,000 residents, more than 72% of zip codes
Parkland
173 acres
about 6.5 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 81% of zip codes
Open past 10pm
~29
food and drink venues open late, about 10.7 per 10,000 residents, more than 70% of zip codes

What the weather is like in 53220, month by month

53220 sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January34°26°18°
April58°46°36°
July85°74°65°
October65°55°45°

Flying in and out of 53220

General Mitchell International sits about 5 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 5 miles
Airport size
Medium hub
58th-busiest in the US, 66 nonstop destinations
Average drive
8 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around 53220

Schools across 53220 average a C−, better than 18% 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 53220 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


53220 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 53220 against the other 33,109 zip codes.


Who 53220 suits

Families

Schools land around the 18th percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

Health care access beats 66%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in 53220

Is 53220 a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 53220 ranks 8,007th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on transit, few empty homes, and low disaster risk, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is 53220 expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $228,927. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $73,371 median income, cost of living beats 51% of zip codes.

Is 53220 safe?

53220 is safer than 51% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in 53220?

July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 18. That works out to about 79 pleasant days a year, more than 43% of zip codes.

Is 53220 good for families?

Schools beat 18% of zip codes, crime safety beats 51%, and childcare runs $1,303 a month.


Compare 53220 with other zip codes


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 53220. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 53220 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.

53220 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for 53220: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in 53220: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of 53220: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in 53220: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

53220 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.