Best PlacesEllsworth, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ellsworth, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ellsworth ranks 4,466th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ellsworth
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.
Ellsworth's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ellsworth ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 88% of towns
- Household income$102,518 median, better than 86% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 83% of towns
Where Ellsworth ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 29% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 40% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ellsworth
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ellsworth home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $102,518, 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 Ellsworth's effective rate of 1.29%, 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 Ellsworth
Ellsworth's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ellsworth.
Who works in Ellsworth, and how
Work in Ellsworth 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 87%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Ellsworth
Ellsworth has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of towns and more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ellsworth and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ellsworth, month by month
Ellsworth sees roughly 82 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Ellsworth
Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain sits about 37 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 17.5 million passengers in 2025, with 195 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Ellsworth
Schools across Ellsworth average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Malone ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Ellsworth ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Rocky Branch ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Prescott MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- Meyer MiddleB · 47% proficient
- Ellsworth MiddleB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Prescott HighB− · 42% proficient
- Ellsworth HighC+ · 38% proficient
- River Falls HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ellsworth school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ellsworth 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 Ellsworth against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ellsworth
Is Ellsworth a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ellsworth ranks 4,466th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, walkability, and what local pay buys, and lowest on property taxes and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ellsworth expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $307,103. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $102,518 median income, cost of living beats 88% of towns.
Is Ellsworth safe?
Yes, Ellsworth is safer than 80% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $222 per resident a year.
Compare Ellsworth with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ellsworth. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ellsworth 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.
Ellsworth detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ellsworth: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ellsworth: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ellsworth: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ellsworth: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ellsworth 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.