Best PlacesChetek, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chetek, 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.
Chetek ranks 22,875th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. An overheated housing market pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on cheap car insurance.
The best neighborhoods in Chetek
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.
Chetek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chetek ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 86% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 82% of towns
Where Chetek ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 11% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- Cheap childcare$947 a month, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chetek
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chetek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $75,158, 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 Chetek's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 Chetek
Chetek 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 Chetek.
Who works in Chetek, and how
Work in Chetek centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Chetek
Chetek has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Chetek and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Chetek, month by month
Chetek 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 Chetek
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 82 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chetek
Schools across Chetek average a C+, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jim Falls ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Chetek-weyerhaeuser Roselawn ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Cameron ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Chetek-weyerhaeuser MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Bruce MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Cameron MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Cameron HighC · 33% proficient
- Chippewa Falls HighC · 32% proficient
- Chetek-weyerhaeuser HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chetek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chetek 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 Chetek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chetek
Is Chetek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chetek ranks 22,875th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, civic engagement, and health care access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chetek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $232,214. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $75,158 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Chetek safe?
Yes, Chetek is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $238 per resident a year.
Compare Chetek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chetek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chetek 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.
Chetek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chetek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chetek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chetek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chetek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chetek 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.