Best Places53549, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 53549, 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.
53549 ranks 7,187th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 53549
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.
53549's strengths and weaknesses
Where 53549 ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 97% of zip codes
- Voter turnoutBetter than 87% of zip codes
- Crime safetyBetter than 87% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 79% of zip codes
- WalkabilityBetter than 78% of zip codes
Where 53549 ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 11% of zip codes
- Air qualityBetter than only 28% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 29% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 30% of zip codes
- Nice weatherabout 74 pleasant days a year, better than only 33% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 53549
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 53549 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,950, 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 53549's effective rate of 1.55%, 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 53549
53549 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 53549.
Who works in 53549, and how
Work in 53549 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in 53549
53549 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 95% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 53549 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 53549, month by month
53549 sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 15° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of 53549
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 29 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 46 miles away.
The best schools in and around 53549
Schools across 53549 average a C+, better than 40% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Barrie ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Sullivan ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Rockwell ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fort Atkinson MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Jefferson MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Lake Mills MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Lake Mills HighC · 33% proficient
- Fort Atkinson HighC · 31% proficient
- Jefferson HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 53549 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
53549 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 53549 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 53549
Is 53549 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 53549 ranks 7,187th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, civic engagement, and low crime, and lowest on property taxes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 53549 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $257,608. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $86,950 median income, cost of living beats 79% of zip codes.
Is 53549 safe?
Yes, 53549 is safer than 87% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $209 per resident a year.
Compare 53549 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 53549. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 53549 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.
53549 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 53549: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 53549: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 53549: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 53549: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
53549 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.