Best PlacesLa Crosse County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in La Crosse County, 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.
La Crosse County ranks 504th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on cheap car insurance and walkability. The weaker spots are noise, property taxes, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in La Crosse County
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.
The best areas in La Crosse County
The parts of La Crosse County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
West Salem
More households have young kids, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Holmen
Crime runs lower, though streets are more car-dependent.
Onalaska
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
La Crosse
Prices have run up more and tree cover is thinner.
French Island
Fewer adults hold degrees and schools score lower.
La Crosse County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 13% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
La Crosse County's strengths and weaknesses
La Crosse County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Cheap car insurance, walkability, and few empty homes carry most of that.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and childcare costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where La Crosse County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of counties
Where La Crosse County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 6% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 32% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 46% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in La Crosse County
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median La Crosse County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $79,306; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 La Crosse County's effective rate of 1.53%, 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 La Crosse County
La Crosse County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 La Crosse County.
Who works in La Crosse County, and how
Work in La Crosse County 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 81%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in La Crosse County
La Crosse County has more parkland per resident than 97% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 66% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of La Crosse County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is La Crosse County growing, and who is moving in?
La Crosse County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the La Crosse, WI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving La Crosse County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in La Crosse County, month by month
La Crosse County sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 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° | 48° | 39° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 63° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of La Crosse County
The nearest airport, La Crosse Regional, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around La Crosse County
Schools across La Crosse County average a C+, better than 49% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- School Of Technology And Arts IA− · 62% proficient
- Prairie View ElementaryB+ · 54% proficient
- Eagle Bluff ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Galesville-ettrick-trempealeau MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- West Salem MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Westby MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- West Salem HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Onalaska HighC · 34% proficient
- La Crosse Polytechnic SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every La Crosse County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
La Crosse County 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 La Crosse County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who La Crosse County suits
Families
Schools land around the 49th percentile and crime safety beats 70%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in La Crosse County
Is La Crosse County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, La Crosse County ranks 504th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, walkability, and few empty homes, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is La Crosse County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $278,420. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $79,306 median income, cost of living beats 72% of counties.
Is La Crosse County safe?
Yes, La Crosse County is safer than 70% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $322 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in La Crosse County?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 14. That works out to about 92 pleasant days a year, more than 54% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in La Crosse County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are West Salem, Holmen, and Onalaska. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is La Crosse County good for families?
Schools beat 49% of counties, crime safety beats 70%, and childcare runs $1,303 a month.
Is La Crosse County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 72% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 85% of counties. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare La Crosse County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to La Crosse County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in La Crosse County 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.
La Crosse County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for La Crosse County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in La Crosse County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of La Crosse County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in La Crosse County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
La Crosse County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.