Best PlacesCenturia, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Centuria, 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.
Centuria ranks 20,990th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores best on cheap car insurance, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Centuria
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.
Centuria's strengths and weaknesses
Where Centuria ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 80% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 79% of towns
- BikingBetter than 79% of towns
Where Centuria ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 26% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Centuria
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Centuria home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,940, 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 Centuria's effective rate of 1.06%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Centuria
Centuria 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 Centuria.
Who works in Centuria, and how
Work in Centuria centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Centuria
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Centuria.
What the weather is like in Centuria, month by month
Centuria sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 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 | 56° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Centuria
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 52 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Centuria
Schools across Centuria average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Saint Croix Falls ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Unity ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Saint Croix Falls MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- Unity MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Saint Croix Falls HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Unity HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Centuria school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Centuria 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 Centuria against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Centuria
Is Centuria a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Centuria ranks 20,990th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, health care access, and walkability, and lowest on an overheated housing market and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Centuria expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $246,505. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $69,940 median income, cost of living beats 44% of towns.
Is Centuria safe?
Yes, Centuria is safer than 63% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $274 per resident a year.
Compare Centuria with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Centuria. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Centuria 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.
Centuria detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Centuria: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Centuria: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Centuria: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Centuria: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Centuria 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.