Best PlacesCross Plains, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cross Plains, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cross Plains ranks 2,206th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cross Plains
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.
Cross Plains' strengths and weaknesses
Where Cross Plains ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
Where Cross Plains ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 25% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 29% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cross Plains
A household needs to earn about $129,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cross Plains home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $120,650; 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 Cross Plains' effective rate of 1.39%, 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 Cross Plains
Cross Plains runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cross Plains.
Who works in Cross Plains, and how
Work in Cross Plains centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Cross Plains
Cross Plains has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Cross Plains and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cross Plains, month by month
Cross Plains sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 22° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Cross Plains
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 15 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cross Plains
Schools across Cross Plains average a B+, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sunset Ridge ElementaryA− · 62% proficient
- Park ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- West Middleton ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Glacier Creek MiddleA · 59% proficient
- Mount Horeb MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- Wisconsin Heights MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Middleton HighB+ · 52% proficient
- Wisconsin Heights HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Mount Horeb HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cross Plains school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cross Plains 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 Cross Plains against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cross Plains
Is Cross Plains a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cross Plains ranks 2,206th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on population health, cheap car insurance, and an educated workforce, 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 Cross Plains expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $456,624. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $120,650 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Cross Plains safe?
Yes, Cross Plains is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $247 per resident a year.
Compare Cross Plains with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cross Plains. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cross Plains 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.
Cross Plains detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cross Plains: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cross Plains: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cross Plains: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cross Plains: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cross Plains 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.