Best PlacesEau Claire County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Eau Claire 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.
Eau Claire County ranks 274th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on few empty homes and cheap car insurance. The weaker spots are childcare costs, noise, and property taxes.
The best neighborhoods in Eau Claire 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.
The best areas in Eau Claire County
The parts of Eau Claire County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Altoona
Advertised internet is faster, more adults hold degrees, and biking is better.
Fall Creek & Augusta
More households have young kids and it is quieter.
Eau Claire
Crime runs higher and local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Eau Claire County run from about the 22nd to the 96th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Eau Claire County's strengths and weaknesses
Eau Claire County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Few empty homes, cheap car insurance, and heat safety carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, noise, and property taxes hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Eau Claire County ranks high
- Low vacancyBetter than 96% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- BikingBetter than 93% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of counties
Where Eau Claire County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 6% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 8% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 32% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 46% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Eau Claire County
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Eau Claire County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,865, 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 Eau Claire County's effective rate of 1.31%, 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 Eau Claire County
Eau Claire County runs younger 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 Eau Claire County.
Who works in Eau Claire County, and how
Work in Eau Claire County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Eau Claire County
Eau Claire County has more parkland per resident than 97% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 77% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Eau Claire County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Eau Claire County growing, and who is moving in?
Eau Claire County has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Eau Claire, WI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Eau Claire County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Eau Claire County, month by month
Eau Claire County sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 18° | 10° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Eau Claire County
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Eau Claire County
Schools across Eau Claire County average a B−, better than 66% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Stanley ElementaryA− · 55% proficient
- Chippewa Valley Montessori Charter SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Meadowview ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Elk Mound MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
- Altoona MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Stanley-boyd MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Memorial HighB+ · 51% proficient
- Fall Creek HighB− · 43% proficient
- North HighC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Eau Claire County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Eau Claire 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 Eau Claire County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Eau Claire County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 13% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 72% of counties and health care access beats 80%.
Common questions about living in Eau Claire County
Is Eau Claire County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Eau Claire County ranks 274th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on few empty homes, cheap car insurance, and heat safety, and lowest on childcare costs and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Eau Claire County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $278,438. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $81,865 median income, cost of living beats 77% of counties.
Is Eau Claire County safe?
Yes, Eau Claire County is safer than 71% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Eau Claire County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 25 with lows near 10. That works out to about 116 pleasant days a year, more than 72% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Eau Claire County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Altoona, Fall Creek & Augusta, and Eau Claire. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Eau Claire County good for families?
Schools beat 66% of counties, crime safety beats 71%, and childcare runs $1,303 a month.
Is Eau Claire County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 87% of counties. About 13% of workers already work from home.
Compare Eau Claire County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Eau Claire County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Eau Claire 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.
Eau Claire County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Eau Claire County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Eau Claire County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Eau Claire County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Eau Claire County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Eau Claire 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.