Best PlacesChippewa County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Chippewa County, 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.
Chippewa County ranks 559th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Chippewa County
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.
The best areas in Chippewa County
The parts of Chippewa County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Lake Hallie & Eau Claire
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and more households have young kids.
Chippewa Falls
Fewer homes sit empty and commutes are shorter.
Bloomer
It is quieter.
Stanley & Cadott
Fewer residents vote and fewer adults hold degrees.
Cornell
Tree cover is thicker, though health outcomes score lower.
Scores across Chippewa County run from about the 29th to the 90th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Chippewa County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chippewa County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 87% of counties
Where Chippewa County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 22% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 29% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 30% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 32% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 42% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Chippewa County
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chippewa County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,856, 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 Chippewa County's effective rate of 1.02%, 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 Chippewa County
Chippewa County 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 Chippewa County.
Who works in Chippewa County, and how
Work in Chippewa County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Chippewa County
Chippewa County has more parkland per resident than 95% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Chippewa County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Chippewa County growing, and who is moving in?
Chippewa County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Eau Claire, WI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Chippewa County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Chippewa County, month by month
Chippewa County sees roughly 114 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° | 18° | 10° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Chippewa County
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 93 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chippewa County
Schools across Chippewa County average a C+, better than 53% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Stillson ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Cornell ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Jim Falls ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Elk Mound MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
- Stanley-boyd MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Chetek-weyerhaeuser MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Fall Creek HighB− · 43% proficient
- North HighC+ · 39% proficient
- Altoona HighC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chippewa County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chippewa County 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 Chippewa County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Chippewa County suits
Families
Schools land around the 53rd percentile and crime safety beats 91%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 70% of counties and health care access beats 83%.
Common questions about living in Chippewa County
Is Chippewa County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chippewa County ranks 559th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low disaster risk, and low crime, and lowest on childcare costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chippewa County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $255,626. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $79,856 median income, cost of living beats 67% of counties.
Is Chippewa County safe?
Yes, Chippewa County is safer than 91% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $239 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Chippewa County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 25 with lows near 10. That works out to about 114 pleasant days a year, more than 70% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Chippewa County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lake Hallie & Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, and Bloomer. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Chippewa County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chippewa County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chippewa County 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.
Chippewa County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chippewa County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chippewa County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chippewa County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chippewa County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chippewa County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.