Best PlacesJoel, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Joel, 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.
Joel ranks 21,636th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Joel
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.
Joel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Joel ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 78% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
Where Joel ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 25% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 29% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 31% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Joel
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Joel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,779, 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 Joel's effective rate of 1.09%, 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 Joel
Joel 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 Joel.
Who works in Joel, and how
Work in Joel centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Joel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Joel.
What the weather is like in Joel, month by month
Joel sees roughly 93 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 52° | 41° | 33° |
| July | 79° | 69° | 59° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Joel
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 58 miles away.
The best schools in and around Joel
Schools across Joel average a C, better than 35% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Amery IntermediateB · 49% proficient
- Turtle Lake ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
- Clayton ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Amery MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Turtle Lake MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
- Clayton MiddleD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Amery HighD · 23% proficient
- Turtle Lake HighD · 21% proficient
- Clayton HighF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Joel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Joel 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 Joel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Joel
Is Joel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Joel ranks 21,636th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, fast internet, and cheap car insurance, 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 Joel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $268,798. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $78,779 median income, cost of living beats 62% of towns.
Is Joel safe?
Joel is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $405 per resident a year.
Compare Joel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Joel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Joel 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.
Joel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Joel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Joel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Joel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Joel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Joel 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.