Best PlacesChief Lake, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Chief Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Chief Lake ranks 36,018th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chief Lake
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.
Chief Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chief Lake ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute17.6 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
Where Chief Lake ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 11% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Chief Lake
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chief Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $50,278; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Chief Lake's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 Chief Lake
Chief Lake 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 Chief Lake.
Who works in Chief Lake, and how
Work in Chief Lake centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Chief Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Chief Lake.
What the weather is like in Chief Lake, month by month
Chief Lake sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 15° | 7° |
| April | 52° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 81° | 68° | 56° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Chief Lake
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 72 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 114 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chief Lake
Schools across Chief Lake average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hayward IntermediateB · 45% proficient
- Winter ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hayward MiddleC+ · 39% proficient
- Winter MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Hayward HighC · 33% proficient
- Winter HighD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chief Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chief Lake 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 Chief Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Chief Lake
Is Chief Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chief Lake ranks 36,018th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, short commutes, and clean air, and lowest on crime and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chief Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $216,275. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $50,278 median income, cost of living beats 11% of towns.
Is Chief Lake safe?
Chief Lake is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $595 per resident a year.
Compare Chief Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chief Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chief Lake 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.
Chief Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chief Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chief Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chief Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chief Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chief Lake 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.