Best PlacesEllison Bay, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ellison Bay, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ellison Bay ranks 8,872nd of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 Ellison Bay
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.
Ellison Bay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ellison Bay ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute14.1 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
Where Ellison Bay ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 23% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ellison Bay
A household needs to earn about $120,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ellison Bay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $78,857, 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 Ellison Bay's effective rate of 0.92%, 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 Ellison Bay
Ellison Bay 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 Ellison Bay.
Who works in Ellison Bay, and how
Work in Ellison Bay centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Ellison Bay
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ellison Bay.
What the weather is like in Ellison Bay, month by month
Ellison Bay sees roughly 108 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 51° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Ellison Bay
The nearest airport, Delta County, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 165 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ellison Bay
Schools across Ellison Bay average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gibraltar ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Gibraltar MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Gibraltar HighB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ellison Bay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ellison Bay 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 Ellison Bay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ellison Bay
Is Ellison Bay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ellison Bay ranks 8,872nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, cheap car insurance, and short commutes, 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 Ellison Bay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $451,000. The overall cost of living runs about 13% above the national average. Set against a $78,857 median income, cost of living beats 38% of towns.
Is Ellison Bay safe?
Yes, Ellison Bay is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $232 per resident a year.
Compare Ellison Bay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ellison Bay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ellison Bay 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.
Ellison Bay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ellison Bay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ellison Bay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ellison Bay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ellison Bay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ellison Bay 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.