Best Places54016, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 54016, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
54016 ranks 2,076th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 54016
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.
54016's strengths and weaknesses
Where 54016 ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of zip codes
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of zip codes
Where 54016 ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 21% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of zip codes
- Local economyBetter than only 38% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 38% of zip codes
- State infrastructureBetter than only 42% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 54016
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 54016 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $117,658; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 54016's effective rate of 1.14%, 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 54016
54016 runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for 54016.
Who works in 54016, and how
Work in 54016 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in 54016
54016 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 96% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 54016 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 54016, month by month
54016 sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of 54016
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 26 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 54016
Schools across 54016 average a B+, better than 77% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Houlton ElementaryA+ · 77% proficient
- Hudson Prairie ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- North Hudson ElementaryA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hudson MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- New Richmond MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Saint Croix Central MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Hudson HighB · 46% proficient
- Saint Croix Central HighB− · 42% proficient
- River Falls HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 54016 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
54016 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 54016 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Who 54016 suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 94% of zip codes, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 62% of zip codes and health care access beats 92%.
Common questions about living in 54016
Is 54016 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 54016 ranks 2,076th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on civic engagement, heat safety, and what local pay buys, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 54016 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $445,613. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $117,658 median income, cost of living beats 94% of zip codes.
Is 54016 safe?
Yes, 54016 is safer than 82% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $249 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in 54016?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 24 with lows near 9. That works out to about 99 pleasant days a year, more than 62% of zip codes.
Is 54016 good for families?
Schools beat 77% of zip codes, crime safety beats 82%, and childcare runs $948 a month.
Compare 54016 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 54016. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 54016 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.
54016 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 54016: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 54016: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 54016: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 54016: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
54016 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.