Best PlacesCooper Park, Milwaukee, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cooper Park, Milwaukee, 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.
Cooper Park, Milwaukee ranks 448th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cooper Park, Milwaukee
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.
Cooper Park, Milwaukee's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cooper Park, Milwaukee ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
Where Cooper Park, Milwaukee ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of neighborhoods
- Cell coverageBetter than only 16% of neighborhoods
- BikingBetter than only 23% of neighborhoods
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 38% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than only 41% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Cooper Park, Milwaukee
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cooper Park, Milwaukee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $102,648, 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 Cooper Park, Milwaukee's effective rate of 1.96%, 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 Cooper Park, Milwaukee
Cooper Park, Milwaukee runs younger 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 Cooper Park, Milwaukee.
Who works in Cooper Park, Milwaukee, and how
Work in Cooper Park, Milwaukee centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Cooper Park, Milwaukee
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cooper Park, Milwaukee.
What the weather is like in Cooper Park, Milwaukee, month by month
Cooper Park, Milwaukee sees roughly 97 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 24° | 18° |
| April | 55° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Cooper Park, Milwaukee
General Mitchell International sits about 10 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Cooper Park, Milwaukee
Schools across Cooper Park, Milwaukee average a C, better than 46% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Roosevelt ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Mckinley ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Wauwatosa Montessori SchoolA · 63% proficient
Top middle schools
- Longfellow MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- West HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Milwaukee School Of LanguagesD · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cooper Park, Milwaukee school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cooper Park, Milwaukee 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 Cooper Park, Milwaukee against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Cooper Park, Milwaukee
Is Cooper Park, Milwaukee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cooper Park, Milwaukee ranks 448th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on civic engagement, heat safety, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on property taxes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cooper Park, Milwaukee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $245,586. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $102,648 median income, cost of living beats 84% of neighborhoods.
Is Cooper Park, Milwaukee safe?
Yes, Cooper Park, Milwaukee is safer than 84% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $274 per resident a year.
Compare Cooper Park, Milwaukee with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cooper Park, Milwaukee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cooper Park, Milwaukee 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.
Cooper Park, Milwaukee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cooper Park, Milwaukee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cooper Park, Milwaukee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cooper Park, Milwaukee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cooper Park, Milwaukee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cooper Park, Milwaukee 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.