Best PlacesForward, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Forward, 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.
Forward ranks 8,910th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Forward
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.
Forward's strengths and weaknesses
Where Forward ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 90% of towns
Where Forward ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,184 a month, better than only 14% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Forward
A household needs to earn about $132,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Forward home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $108,604, 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 Forward's effective rate of 1.31%, 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 Forward
Forward runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Forward.
Who works in Forward, and how
Work in Forward centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Forward
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Forward.
What the weather is like in Forward, month by month
Forward sees roughly 94 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 17° |
| April | 58° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 82° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 61° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Forward
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 93 miles away.
The best schools in and around Forward
Schools across Forward average a B, better than 69% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Glarus ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Pecatonica ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mount Horeb MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- New Glarus MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Mount Horeb HighC+ · 35% proficient
- New Glarus HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Forward school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Forward 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 Forward against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Forward
Is Forward a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Forward ranks 8,910th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, health care access, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on internet speeds and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Forward expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $470,834. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $108,604 median income, cost of living beats 90% of towns.
Is Forward safe?
Yes, Forward is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $270 per resident a year.
Compare Forward with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Forward. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Forward 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.
Forward detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Forward: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Forward: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Forward: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Forward: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Forward 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.