Best PlacesDodgeville, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dodgeville, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dodgeville ranks 15,274th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Dodgeville
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.
Dodgeville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dodgeville ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 91% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 129 pleasant days a year, better than 85% of towns
Where Dodgeville ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 23% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 23% of towns
- Short commute28.8 minutes each way, better than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dodgeville
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dodgeville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,074, 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 Dodgeville's effective rate of 1.58%, 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 Dodgeville
Dodgeville's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Dodgeville.
Who works in Dodgeville, and how
Work in Dodgeville centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Dodgeville
Dodgeville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Dodgeville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dodgeville, month by month
Dodgeville sees roughly 129 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 47° | 39° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Dodgeville
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 113 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dodgeville
Schools across Dodgeville average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Barneveld ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Mineral Point ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Iowa-grant Elementary/middleB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mineral Point MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- Dodgeville MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Highland Community MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Mineral Point HighC+ · 40% proficient
- River Valley HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Highland Community HighC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dodgeville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dodgeville 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 Dodgeville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dodgeville
Is Dodgeville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dodgeville ranks 15,274th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, cheap car insurance, and fast internet, and lowest on property taxes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dodgeville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,234. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $73,074 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Dodgeville safe?
Yes, Dodgeville is safer than 60% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $271 per resident a year.
Compare Dodgeville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dodgeville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dodgeville 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.
Dodgeville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dodgeville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dodgeville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dodgeville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dodgeville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dodgeville 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.