Best PlacesBarron County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Barron County, 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.
Barron County ranks 1,220th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Barron County
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.
The best areas in Barron County
The parts of Barron County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Rice Lake
Fewer homes sit empty, more households have young kids, and commutes are shorter.
Barron & Cameron
More residents vote, though tree cover is thinner.
Chetek
It is noisier and prices have run up more.
Cumberland
More adults hold degrees, though advertised internet is slower.
Scores across Barron County run from about the 19th to the 76th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Barron County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barron County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 85% of counties
Where Barron County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of counties
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 22% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 30% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 32% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Barron County
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barron County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,966, 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 Barron County's effective rate of 1.25%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Barron County
Barron County 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 Barron County.
Who works in Barron County, and how
Work in Barron County 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 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Barron County
Barron County has more parkland per resident than 90% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 70% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Barron County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Barron County growing, and who is moving in?
Barron County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Washburn County, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Barron County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Barron County, month by month
Barron County sees roughly 85 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 54° | 42° | 33° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Barron County
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 78 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barron County
Schools across Barron County average a C+, better than 48% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- New Auburn ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Prairie Farm ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Chetek-weyerhaeuser Roselawn ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chetek-weyerhaeuser MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Rice Lake MiddleB · 47% proficient
- Cameron MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Cameron HighC · 33% proficient
- Cumberland HighC− · 28% proficient
- Rice Lake HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barron County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barron County 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 Barron County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Barron County suits
Families
Schools land around the 48th percentile and crime safety beats 85%.
Common questions about living in Barron County
Is Barron County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barron County ranks 1,220th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, health care access, and heat safety, and lowest on an overheated housing market and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Barron County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $221,153. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $66,966 median income, cost of living beats 32% of counties.
Is Barron County safe?
Yes, Barron County is safer than 85% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Barron County?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 25 with lows near 10. That works out to about 85 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Barron County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Rice Lake, Barron & Cameron, and Chetek. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Barron County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barron County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barron County 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.
Barron County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barron County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barron County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barron County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barron County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barron County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.