Best PlacesEmerald, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Emerald, 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.
Emerald ranks 10,930th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and walkability ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Emerald
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.
Emerald's strengths and weaknesses
Where Emerald ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 87% of towns
- Household income$96,675 median, better than 82% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 81% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 78% of towns
Where Emerald ranks low
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 24% of towns
- Short commute31.0 minutes each way, better than only 28% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Emerald
A household needs to earn about $86,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Emerald home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,675, 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 Emerald's effective rate of 1.01%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Emerald
Emerald runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Emerald.
Who works in Emerald, and how
Work in Emerald centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Emerald
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Emerald.
What the weather is like in Emerald, month by month
Emerald sees roughly 90 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Emerald
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 49 miles away.
The best schools in and around Emerald
Schools across Emerald average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Richmond Paperjack ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Glenwood City ElementaryC · 32% proficient
Top middle schools
- New Richmond MiddleA− · 54% proficient
- Glenwood City MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- New Richmond HighC · 31% proficient
- Glenwood City HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Emerald school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Emerald 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 Emerald against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Emerald
Is Emerald a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Emerald ranks 10,930th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, cheap car insurance, and high incomes, and lowest on walkability and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Emerald expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $318,650. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $96,675 median income, cost of living beats 77% of towns.
Is Emerald safe?
Emerald is safer than 51% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.
Compare Emerald with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Emerald. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Emerald 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.
Emerald detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Emerald: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Emerald: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Emerald: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Emerald: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Emerald 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.