Best PlacesDoor County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Door County, 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.
Door County ranks 700th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Door County
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.
Door County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Door County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of counties
- Short commute16.9 minutes each way, better than 91% of counties
Where Door County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 15% of counties
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 22% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Door County
A household needs to earn about $92,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Door County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,384, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Door County's effective rate of 1.04%, 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 Door County
Door County runs older 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 Door County.
Who works in Door County, and how
Work in Door County centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Door County
Door County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of counties and more parkland per resident than 96% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Door County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Door County growing, and who is moving in?
Door County has grown about 11% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Green Bay, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Door County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Door County, month by month
Door County sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 22° | 16° |
| April | 50° | 41° | 35° |
| July | 79° | 70° | 62° |
| October | 58° | 51° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Door County
The nearest airport, Green Bay/Austin Straubel International, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 139 miles away.
The best schools in and around Door County
Schools across Door County average a B, better than 74% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sevastopol ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Gibraltar ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Southern Door ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Sevastopol MiddleA · 65% proficient
- Gibraltar MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Walker MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
Top high schools
- Gibraltar HighB− · 43% proficient
- Sturgeon Bay HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Sevastopol HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Door County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Door County 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 Door County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Door County suits
Retirees
The weather beats 72% of counties, health care access beats 100%, and it is quieter than 73%.
Common questions about living in Door County
Is Door County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Door County ranks 700th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, cheap car insurance, and low disaster risk, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Door County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $340,646. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $77,384 median income, cost of living beats 59% of counties.
Is Door County safe?
Yes, Door County is safer than 56% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $379 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Door County?
July highs average about 79 degrees, and January highs near 28 with lows near 16. That works out to about 117 pleasant days a year, more than 72% of counties.
Is Door County good for families?
Schools beat 74% of counties, crime safety beats 56%, and childcare runs $948 a month.
Compare Door County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Door County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Door County 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.
Door County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Door County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Door County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Door County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Door County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Door County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.