Best PlacesElk Mound, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elk Mound, 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.
Elk Mound ranks 5,419th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Elk Mound
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.
Elk Mound's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elk Mound ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 84% of towns
Where Elk Mound ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cheap childcare$974 a month, better than only 26% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 27% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elk Mound
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elk Mound home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $91,479, 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 Elk Mound's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Elk Mound
Elk Mound runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Elk Mound.
Who works in Elk Mound, and how
Work in Elk Mound centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Elk Mound
Elk Mound has more parkland per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Elk Mound and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Elk Mound, month by month
Elk Mound sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 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° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Elk Mound
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 9 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 76 miles away.
The best schools in and around Elk Mound
Schools across Elk Mound average a B−, better than 59% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mound View ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Oaklawn ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Roosevelt ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Elk Mound MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
- Menomonie MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Delong MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Memorial HighB+ · 51% proficient
- Menomonie HighB− · 43% proficient
- North HighC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elk Mound school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elk Mound 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 Elk Mound against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elk Mound
Is Elk Mound a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elk Mound ranks 5,419th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, heat safety, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elk Mound expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,418. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $91,479 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Elk Mound safe?
Yes, Elk Mound is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $166 per resident a year.
Compare Elk Mound with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elk Mound. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elk Mound 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.
Elk Mound detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elk Mound: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elk Mound: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elk Mound: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elk Mound: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elk Mound 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.