Best Places54853, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 54853, 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.
54853 ranks 14,595th of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on health care access, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in 54853
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.
54853's strengths and weaknesses
Where 54853 ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of zip codes
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than 78% of zip codes
- Heat safetyBetter than 78% of zip codes
- Voter turnoutBetter than 77% of zip codes
Where 54853 ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 16% of zip codes
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of zip codes
- Cell coverageBetter than only 22% of zip codes
- Short commute30.1 minutes each way, better than only 28% of zip codes
- School gradeC, better than only 33% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 54853
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 54853 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,488, 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 54853's effective rate of 1.03%, 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 54853
54853 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 54853.
Who works in 54853, and how
Work in 54853 centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in 54853
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across 54853.
What the weather is like in 54853, month by month
54853 sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 15° | 7° |
| April | 54° | 41° | 31° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 58° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 38° |
Flying in and out of 54853
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 60 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 54853
Schools across 54853 average a C, better than 33% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Saint Croix Falls ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Frederic ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
- Unity ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Saint Croix Falls MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- Unity MiddleB− · 42% proficient
- Grantsburg MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Saint Croix Falls HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Luck HighC− · 27% proficient
- Grantsburg HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 54853 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
54853 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 54853 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 54853
Is 54853 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 54853 ranks 14,595th of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on health care access, cheap car insurance, and low disaster risk, and lowest on empty homes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 54853 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $241,435. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $77,488 median income, cost of living beats 54% of zip codes.
Is 54853 safe?
Yes, 54853 is safer than 73% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $245 per resident a year.
Compare 54853 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 54853. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 54853 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.
54853 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 54853: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 54853: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 54853: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 54853: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
54853 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.