Best PlacesKaukauna, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Kaukauna, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Kaukauna ranks 1,838th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Kaukauna
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.
Kaukauna's strengths and weaknesses
Where Kaukauna ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 179 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 95% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of towns
Where Kaukauna ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,060 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 30% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Kaukauna
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Kaukauna home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $96,118, 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 Kaukauna's effective rate of 1.37%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Kaukauna
Kaukauna'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 Kaukauna.
Who works in Kaukauna, and how
Work in Kaukauna 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 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Kaukauna
Kaukauna has more restaurants and bars per resident than 73% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Kaukauna and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Kaukauna, month by month
Kaukauna sees roughly 179 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 21° | 16° |
| April | 54° | 44° | 36° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 59° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Kaukauna
The nearest airport, Appleton International, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Kaukauna
Schools across Kaukauna average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- New Directions Learning CommunityA− · 62% proficient
- Wrightstown ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Quinney ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wrightstown MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- Brillion MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Mapleview IntermediateA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Wrightstown HighB · 48% proficient
- Kimberly HighC+ · 37% proficient
- North HighC · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Kaukauna school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Kaukauna 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 Kaukauna against the other 50,332 towns.
Who Kaukauna suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 83% of towns, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 98% of towns and health care access beats 80%.
Common questions about living in Kaukauna
Is Kaukauna a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Kaukauna ranks 1,838th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, the weather, 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 Kaukauna expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $268,919. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $96,118 median income, cost of living beats 83% of towns.
Is Kaukauna safe?
Yes, Kaukauna is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $192 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Kaukauna?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 27 with lows near 16. That works out to about 179 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of towns.
Is Kaukauna good for families?
Schools beat 61% of towns, crime safety beats 91%, and childcare runs $1,060 a month.
Compare Kaukauna with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Kaukauna. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Kaukauna 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.
Kaukauna detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Kaukauna: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Kaukauna: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Kaukauna: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Kaukauna: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Kaukauna 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.