Best PlacesGotham, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gotham, 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.
Gotham ranks 20,519th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Gotham
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.
Gotham's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gotham ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 111 pleasant days a year, better than 75% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 72% of towns
Where Gotham ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of towns
- Cheap childcare$936 a month, better than only 32% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 37% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gotham
A household needs to earn about $54,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gotham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,593, 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 Gotham's effective rate of 1.21%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gotham
Gotham 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 Gotham.
Who works in Gotham, and how
Work in Gotham 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 89%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Gotham
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gotham.
What the weather is like in Gotham, month by month
Gotham sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 21° | 14° |
| April | 59° | 47° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 63° | 51° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Gotham
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gotham
Schools across Gotham average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- River Valley ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Riverdale ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Richland Center Intermediate SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ithaca MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- Riverdale Junior HighC · 35% proficient
- River Valley MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Richland Center HighB− · 42% proficient
- River Valley HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Ithaca HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gotham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gotham 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 Gotham against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gotham
Is Gotham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gotham ranks 20,519th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low disaster risk, and low taxes, and lowest on an overheated housing market and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gotham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $194,544. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $70,593 median income, cost of living beats 47% of towns.
Is Gotham safe?
Yes, Gotham is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $240 per resident a year.
Compare Gotham with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gotham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gotham 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.
Gotham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gotham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gotham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gotham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gotham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gotham 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.