Best PlacesDouglas County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Douglas 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.
Douglas County ranks 810th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Douglas 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.
Douglas County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Douglas County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- TransitBetter than 94% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of counties
Where Douglas County ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 10% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 14% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 29% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 32% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Douglas County
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Douglas County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,402, 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 Douglas County's effective rate of 1.21%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Douglas County
Douglas 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 Douglas County.
Who works in Douglas County, and how
Work in Douglas County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Douglas County
Douglas County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of counties and more parkland per resident than 88% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Douglas County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Douglas County growing, and who is moving in?
Douglas County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Duluth, MN metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Douglas County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Douglas County, month by month
Douglas County sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 15° | 8° |
| April | 47° | 37° | 29° |
| July | 80° | 67° | 55° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Douglas County
The nearest airport, Duluth International, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 134 miles away.
The best schools in and around Douglas County
Schools across Douglas County average a C, better than 40% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Webster ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Great Lakes ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Moose Lake ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northwestern MiddleB · 47% proficient
- Hayward MiddleC+ · 39% proficient
- Superior MiddleC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Barnum SecondaryB− · 42% proficient
- Moose Lake SecondaryC+ · 40% proficient
- Northwestern HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Douglas County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Douglas 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 Douglas County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Douglas County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 74% of counties and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Douglas County
Is Douglas County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Douglas County ranks 810th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, transit, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on internet speeds and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Douglas County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,827. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $77,402 median income, cost of living beats 74% of counties.
Is Douglas County safe?
Douglas County is safer than 40% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $375 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Douglas County?
July highs average about 80 degrees, and January highs near 24 with lows near 8. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 44% of counties.
Is Douglas County good for families?
Schools beat 40% of counties, crime safety beats 40%, and childcare runs $1,055 a month.
Compare Douglas County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Douglas County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Douglas 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.
Douglas County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Douglas County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Douglas County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Douglas County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Douglas County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Douglas 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.