Best PlacesBeaver Dam, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Beaver Dam, 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.
Beaver Dam ranks 11,276th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Beaver Dam
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.
Beaver Dam's strengths and weaknesses
Where Beaver Dam ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
- BikingBetter than 87% of towns
Where Beaver Dam ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 29% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Beaver Dam
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Beaver Dam home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,007, 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 Beaver Dam's effective rate of 1.57%, 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 Beaver Dam
Beaver Dam 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 Beaver Dam.
Who works in Beaver Dam, and how
Work in Beaver Dam centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Beaver Dam
Beaver Dam has more restaurants and bars per resident than 79% of towns and more parkland per resident than 93% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Beaver Dam and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Beaver Dam, month by month
Beaver Dam sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 20° | 14° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 36° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Beaver Dam
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 59 miles away.
The best schools in and around Beaver Dam
Schools across Beaver Dam average a C, better than 40% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Horicon Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Wilson ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Prairie View ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Horicon Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Beaver Dam MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Columbus MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Columbus HighC− · 28% proficient
- Randolph HighC− · 27% proficient
- Beaver Dam HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Beaver Dam school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Beaver Dam 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 Beaver Dam against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Beaver Dam suits
Families
Schools land around the 40th percentile and crime safety beats 80%.
Common questions about living in Beaver Dam
Is Beaver Dam a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Beaver Dam ranks 11,276th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, cheap car insurance, and few empty homes, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Beaver Dam expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $216,189. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $76,007 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Beaver Dam safe?
Yes, Beaver Dam is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $238 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Beaver Dam?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 27 with lows near 14. That works out to about 83 pleasant days a year, more than 51% of towns.
Is Beaver Dam good for families?
Schools beat 40% of towns, crime safety beats 80%, and childcare runs $948 a month.
Compare Beaver Dam with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Beaver Dam. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Beaver Dam 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.
Beaver Dam detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Beaver Dam: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Beaver Dam: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Beaver Dam: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Beaver Dam: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Beaver Dam 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.