Best PlacesClayton, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Clayton, 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.
Clayton ranks 23,425th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Clayton
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.
Clayton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Clayton ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 90% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 89% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 88% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
Where Clayton ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 25% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 26% of towns
- Cheap childcare$894 a month, better than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Clayton
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Clayton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,815, 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 Clayton'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 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 Clayton
Clayton runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Clayton.
Who works in Clayton, and how
Work in Clayton centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Clayton
Clayton has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Clayton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Clayton, month by month
Clayton sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 52° | 41° | 33° |
| July | 79° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Clayton
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 44 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 62 miles away.
The best schools in and around Clayton
Schools across Clayton average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Prairie Farm ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Amery IntermediateB · 49% proficient
- Turtle Lake ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Amery MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Clear Lake Junior HighB− · 40% proficient
- Prairie Farm MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Clear Lake HighD+ · 24% proficient
- Prairie Farm HighD+ · 24% proficient
- Amery HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Clayton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Clayton 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 Clayton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Clayton
Is Clayton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Clayton ranks 23,425th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, fast internet, and a strong job market, and lowest on an overheated housing market and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Clayton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $245,250. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $76,815 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is Clayton safe?
Clayton is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $368 per resident a year.
Compare Clayton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Clayton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Clayton 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.
Clayton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Clayton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Clayton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Clayton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Clayton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Clayton 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.