Best PlacesBrookfield, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Brookfield, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Brookfield ranks 110th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Brookfield
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.
Brookfield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Brookfield ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 92% of cities
- Educational attainmentBetter than 92% of cities
Where Brookfield ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 8% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 29% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 31% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 35% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 42% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Brookfield
A household needs to earn about $126,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Brookfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $132,801, 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 Brookfield'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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Brookfield
Brookfield runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Brookfield.
Who works in Brookfield, and how
Work in Brookfield centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Brookfield
Brookfield has more restaurants and bars per resident than 83% of cities and more parkland per resident than 99% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Brookfield and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Brookfield, month by month
Brookfield sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 21° | 16° |
| April | 54° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 80° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Brookfield
General Mitchell International sits about 14 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Brookfield
Schools across Brookfield average an A−, better than 81% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Brookfield ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Tonawanda ElementaryA · 72% proficient
- Burleigh ElementaryA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kettle Moraine MiddleA · 64% proficient
- Pilgrim Park MiddleA · 64% proficient
- Wisconsin Hills MiddleA · 60% proficient
Top high schools
- Brookfield Central HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Kettle Moraine HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Brookfield East HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Brookfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Brookfield 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 Brookfield against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Brookfield suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 21% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 60% of cities and health care access beats 99%.
Common questions about living in Brookfield
Is Brookfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Brookfield ranks 110th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Brookfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $454,946. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $132,801 median income, cost of living beats 92% of cities.
Is Brookfield safe?
Yes, Brookfield is safer than 71% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $256 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Brookfield?
July highs average about 80 degrees, and January highs near 28 with lows near 16. That works out to about 99 pleasant days a year, more than 60% of cities.
Is Brookfield good for families?
Schools beat 81% of cities, crime safety beats 71%, and childcare runs $1,303 a month.
Compare Brookfield with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Brookfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Brookfield 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.
Brookfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Brookfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Brookfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Brookfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Brookfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Brookfield 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.