Best Places54650, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 54650, 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.
54650 ranks 3,438th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 54650
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.
54650's strengths and weaknesses
Where 54650 ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of zip codes
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of zip codes
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Internet speedBetter than 94% of zip codes
Where 54650 ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 16% of zip codes
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of zip codes
- TransitBetter than only 35% of zip codes
- Big-city accessBetter than only 36% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 54650
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 54650 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $97,409, 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 54650's effective rate of 1.41%, 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 54650
54650 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 54650.
Who works in 54650, and how
Work in 54650 centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in 54650
54650 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 67% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 95% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 54650 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 54650, month by month
54650 sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 59° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of 54650
The nearest airport, La Crosse Regional, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around 54650
Schools across 54650 average a B−, better than 53% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Prairie View ElementaryB+ · 54% proficient
- Eagle Bluff ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Pertzsch ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- West Salem MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Holmen MiddleB · 44% proficient
- Onalaska MiddleB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- West Salem HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Onalaska HighC · 34% proficient
- Holmen HighC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 54650 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
54650 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 54650 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Who 54650 suits
Families
Schools land around the 53rd percentile and crime safety beats 88%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 84% of zip codes, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 57% of zip codes and health care access beats 95%.
Common questions about living in 54650
Is 54650 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 54650 ranks 3,438th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, health care access, and civic engagement, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 54650 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $305,482. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $97,409 median income, cost of living beats 84% of zip codes.
Is 54650 safe?
Yes, 54650 is safer than 88% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $202 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in 54650?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 14. That works out to about 92 pleasant days a year, more than 57% of zip codes.
Is 54650 good for families?
Schools beat 53% of zip codes, crime safety beats 88%, and childcare runs $1,303 a month.
Compare 54650 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 54650. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 54650 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.
54650 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 54650: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 54650: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 54650: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 54650: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
54650 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.