Best PlacesDeerfield, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Deerfield, 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.
Deerfield ranks 5,244th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on few empty homes by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Deerfield
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.
Deerfield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Deerfield ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of towns
Where Deerfield ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 24% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 31% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Deerfield
A household needs to earn about $101,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Deerfield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $103,546, 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 Deerfield's effective rate of 1.27%, 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 Deerfield
Deerfield's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Deerfield.
Who works in Deerfield, and how
Work in Deerfield centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Deerfield
Deerfield has more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Deerfield and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Deerfield, month by month
Deerfield 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 Deerfield
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 60 miles away.
The best schools in and around Deerfield
Schools across Deerfield average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cambridge ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Cottage Grove ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Deerfield ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Glacial Drumlin SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Nikolay MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Deerfield MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Stoughton HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Deerfield HighC− · 30% proficient
- Cambridge HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Deerfield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Deerfield 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 Deerfield against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Deerfield
Is Deerfield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Deerfield ranks 5,244th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on few empty homes, cheap car insurance, and cell coverage, 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 Deerfield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $364,773. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $103,546 median income, cost of living beats 84% of towns.
Is Deerfield safe?
Yes, Deerfield is safer than 70% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $244 per resident a year.
Compare Deerfield with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Deerfield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Deerfield 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.
Deerfield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Deerfield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Deerfield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Deerfield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Deerfield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Deerfield 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.