Best PlacesHales Corners, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hales Corners, 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.
Hales Corners ranks 7,194th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hales Corners
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.
Hales Corners' strengths and weaknesses
Where Hales Corners ranks high
- BikingBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 95% of towns
Where Hales Corners ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 39% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hales Corners
A household needs to earn about $92,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hales Corners home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $79,087, 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 Hales Corners' effective rate of 1.77%, 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 Hales Corners
Hales Corners 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 Hales Corners.
Who works in Hales Corners, and how
Work in Hales Corners centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Hales Corners
Hales Corners has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hales Corners and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hales Corners, month by month
Hales Corners sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Hales Corners
General Mitchell International sits about 8 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hales Corners
Schools across Hales Corners average a B−, better than 64% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Edgerton ElementaryA− · 61% proficient
- Hales Corners ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Canterbury ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- Whitnall MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Greendale MiddleB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Greendale HighB− · 40% proficient
- Whitnall HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hales Corners school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hales Corners 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 Hales Corners against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hales Corners
Is Hales Corners a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hales Corners ranks 7,194th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, civic engagement, and transit, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hales Corners expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $310,365. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $79,087 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Hales Corners safe?
Hales Corners is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $336 per resident a year.
Compare Hales Corners with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hales Corners. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hales Corners 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.
Hales Corners detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hales Corners: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hales Corners: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hales Corners: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hales Corners: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hales Corners 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.