Best Places54138, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 54138, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
54138 ranks 14,339th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 54138
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.
54138's strengths and weaknesses
Where 54138 ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of zip codes
- Tree shadeBetter than 98% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of zip codes
- Crime safetyBetter than 84% of zip codes
Where 54138 ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than only 11% of zip codes
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 54138
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 54138 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,166, 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 54138's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 54138
54138 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 54138.
Who works in 54138, and how
Work in 54138 centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in 54138
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 54138.
What the weather is like in 54138, month by month
54138 sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 7° |
| April | 52° | 39° | 28° |
| July | 80° | 67° | 54° |
| October | 57° | 45° | 35° |
Flying in and out of 54138
The nearest airport, Ford, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 166 miles away.
The best schools in and around 54138
Schools across 54138 average a D+, better than 16% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Wabeno ElementaryD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Wabeno HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 54138 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
54138 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 54138 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 54138
Is 54138 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 54138 ranks 14,339th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on health care access, tree cover, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on cell coverage and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 54138 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $237,247. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $77,166 median income, cost of living beats 68% of zip codes.
Is 54138 safe?
Yes, 54138 is safer than 84% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $212 per resident a year.
Compare 54138 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 54138. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 54138 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.
54138 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 54138: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 54138: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 54138: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 54138: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
54138 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.