Best PlacesHighland, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Highland, 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.
Highland ranks 15,526th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Highland
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.
Highland's strengths and weaknesses
Where Highland ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 125 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 75% of towns
Where Highland ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 20% of towns
- School gradeC, better than only 29% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 35% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Highland
A household needs to earn about $60,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Highland home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,201, 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 Highland's effective rate of 0.94%, 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 Highland
Highland's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Highland.
Who works in Highland, and how
Work in Highland centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Highland
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Highland.
What the weather is like in Highland, month by month
Highland sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 16° |
| April | 58° | 47° | 39° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Highland
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 125 miles away.
The best schools in and around Highland
Schools across Highland average a C, better than 29% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Iowa-grant Elementary/middleB · 47% proficient
- River Valley ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Riverdale ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dodgeville MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Highland Community MiddleC · 35% proficient
- Riverdale Junior HighC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- River Valley HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Highland Community HighC · 34% proficient
- Dodgeville HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Highland school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Highland 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 Highland against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Highland
Is Highland a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Highland ranks 15,526th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low crime, and the weather, and lowest on civic engagement and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Highland expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $225,688. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $72,201 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Highland safe?
Yes, Highland is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $188 per resident a year.
Compare Highland with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Highland. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Highland 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.
Highland detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Highland: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Highland: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Highland: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Highland: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Highland 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.