Best PlacesFond du Lac County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Fond du Lac 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.
Fond du Lac County ranks 412th 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 cheap car insurance and low crime. The weaker spots are property taxes, childcare costs, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Fond du Lac 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 Fond du Lac County
The parts of Fond du Lac 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.
Waupun & Brandon
Local pay stretches further, it is quieter, and incomes run higher.
Campbellsport
More homes sit empty and streets are more car-dependent.
Ripon
Crime runs lower, though fewer households have young kids.
North Fond du Lac
Schools score lower and fewer adults hold degrees.
Fond Du Lac
Biking is better and homes cost less.
Scores across Fond du Lac County run from about the 17th to the 92nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Fond du Lac County's strengths and weaknesses
Fond du Lac County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Cheap car insurance is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Low crime and few empty homes follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Property taxes, childcare costs, and noise hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Fond du Lac County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 89% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 86% of counties
Where Fond du Lac County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 10% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 14% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 21% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 32% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 33% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Fond du Lac County
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fond du Lac County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,937, 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 Fond du Lac County's effective rate of 1.42%, 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 Fond du Lac County
Fond du Lac County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Fond du Lac County.
Who works in Fond du Lac County, and how
Work in Fond du Lac County 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 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Fond du Lac County
Fond du Lac County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 92% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fond du Lac County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Fond du Lac County growing, and who is moving in?
Fond du Lac County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Oshkosh, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Fond du Lac County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Fond du Lac County, month by month
Fond du Lac County sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 15° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 62° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Fond du Lac County
The nearest airport, Appleton International, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 64 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fond du Lac County
Schools across Fond du Lac County average a C+, better than 44% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kewaskum ElementaryA · 66% proficient
- Quest Charter SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Elkhart Lake Elementary/middleA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rosendale-brandon MiddleB+ · 52% proficient
- Kewaskum MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- New Holstein MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Fond Du Lac Stem AcademyB · 47% proficient
- Ripon HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Kewaskum HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fond du Lac County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fond du Lac 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 Fond du Lac County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Fond du Lac County suits
Families
Schools land around the 44th percentile and crime safety beats 90%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 72% of counties and health care access beats 83%.
Common questions about living in Fond du Lac County
Is Fond du Lac County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fond du Lac County ranks 412th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low crime, and few empty homes, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fond du Lac County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $230,835. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $79,937 median income, cost of living beats 82% of counties.
Is Fond du Lac County safe?
Yes, Fond du Lac County is safer than 90% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $264 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fond du Lac County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 15. That works out to about 117 pleasant days a year, more than 72% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fond du Lac County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Waupun & Brandon, Campbellsport, and Ripon. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Fond du Lac County good for families?
Schools beat 44% of counties, crime safety beats 90%, and childcare runs $1,055 a month.
Is Fond du Lac County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 82% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 70% of counties. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Fond du Lac County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fond du Lac County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fond du Lac 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.
Fond du Lac County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fond du Lac County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fond du Lac County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fond du Lac County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fond du Lac County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fond du Lac 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.