Best PlacesBuffalo City, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Buffalo City, 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.
Buffalo City ranks 21,062nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Buffalo City
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.
Buffalo City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Buffalo City ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 131 pleasant days a year, better than 85% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 71% of towns
Where Buffalo City ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 28% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 32% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Buffalo City
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Buffalo City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,393, 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 Buffalo City's effective rate of 1.17%, 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 Buffalo City
Buffalo City 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 Buffalo City.
Who works in Buffalo City, and how
Work in Buffalo City centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Buffalo City
Buffalo City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Buffalo City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Buffalo City, month by month
Buffalo City sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 57° | 46° | 37° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 64° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Buffalo City
The nearest airport, La Crosse Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around Buffalo City
Schools across Buffalo City average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cochrane-fountain City ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Cochrane-fountain City HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Buffalo City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Buffalo City 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 Buffalo City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Buffalo City
Is Buffalo City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Buffalo City ranks 21,062nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, health care access, and the weather, 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 Buffalo City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $182,100. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $78,393 median income, cost of living beats 61% of towns.
Is Buffalo City safe?
Yes, Buffalo City is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $251 per resident a year.
Compare Buffalo City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Buffalo City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Buffalo City 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.
Buffalo City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Buffalo City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Buffalo City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Buffalo City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Buffalo City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Buffalo City 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.