Best PlacesGurney, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gurney, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Gurney ranks 26,898th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gurney
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.
Gurney's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gurney ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of towns
Where Gurney ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gurney
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gurney home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,894, 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 Gurney's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Gurney
Gurney 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 Gurney.
Who works in Gurney, and how
Work in Gurney centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Gurney
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gurney.
What the weather is like in Gurney, month by month
Gurney sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 50° | 39° | 29° |
| July | 81° | 68° | 56° |
| October | 57° | 47° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Gurney
The nearest airport, Gogebic/Iron County, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 168 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gurney
Schools across Gurney average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hurley ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Lake Superior ElementaryD+ · 24% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ashland MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Hurley HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Ashland HighD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gurney school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gurney 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 Gurney against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gurney
Is Gurney a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gurney ranks 26,898th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, tree cover, and clean air, and lowest on internet speeds and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gurney expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $158,427. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $67,894 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Gurney safe?
Gurney is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $432 per resident a year.
Compare Gurney with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gurney. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gurney 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.
Gurney detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gurney: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gurney: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gurney: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gurney: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gurney 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.