Best PlacesIthaca, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ithaca, 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.
Ithaca ranks 17,607th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Ithaca
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.
Ithaca's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ithaca ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of towns
- Short commute21.5 minutes each way, better than 82% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 74% of towns
Where Ithaca ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 12% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 23% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ithaca
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ithaca home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,235, 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 Ithaca's effective rate of 1.00%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Ithaca
Ithaca runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ithaca.
Who works in Ithaca, and how
Work in Ithaca centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ithaca
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ithaca.
What the weather is like in Ithaca, month by month
Ithaca sees roughly 110 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 Ithaca
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 124 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ithaca
Schools across Ithaca average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ithaca ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ithaca MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Ithaca HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ithaca school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ithaca 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 Ithaca against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ithaca
Is Ithaca a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ithaca ranks 17,607th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, short commutes, and tree cover, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ithaca expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $216,486. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $80,235 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Ithaca safe?
Yes, Ithaca is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $239 per resident a year.
Compare Ithaca with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ithaca. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ithaca 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.
Ithaca detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ithaca: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ithaca: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ithaca: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ithaca: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ithaca 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.