Best PlacesBarron, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Barron, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Barron ranks 29,155th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Barron
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.
Barron's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barron ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 83% of towns
Where Barron ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- Household income$54,216 median, better than only 18% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Barron
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barron home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,216, 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's effective rate of 1.33%, 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 5 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
Barron 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.
Who works in Barron, and how
Work in Barron centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Barron
Barron has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Barron and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Barron, month by month
Barron sees roughly 84 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
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 41 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barron
Schools across Barron average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Prairie Farm ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Cameron ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Hilltop ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rice Lake MiddleB · 47% proficient
- Cameron MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Prairie Farm MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Cameron HighC · 33% proficient
- Rice Lake HighC− · 27% proficient
- Prairie Farm HighD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barron school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barron 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Barron
Is Barron a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barron ranks 29,155th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, few empty homes, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on a weak job market and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Barron expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $144,695. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $54,216 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Barron safe?
Barron is safer than 47% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $320 per resident a year.
Compare Barron with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barron. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barron 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barron: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barron: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barron: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barron: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barron 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.