Best PlacesLincoln County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lincoln County, 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.
Lincoln County ranks 1,153rd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lincoln 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.
Lincoln County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lincoln County ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of counties
Where Lincoln County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 19% of counties
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 22% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 25% of counties
- Local economyBetter than only 27% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lincoln County
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lincoln County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,110, 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 Lincoln County's effective rate of 1.26%, 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 Lincoln County
Lincoln County 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 Lincoln County.
Who works in Lincoln County, and how
Work in Lincoln County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Lincoln County
Lincoln County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 70% of counties and more parkland per resident than 97% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lincoln County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lincoln County growing, and who is moving in?
Lincoln County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Wausau, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lincoln County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lincoln County, month by month
Lincoln County sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 17° | 9° |
| April | 52° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 80° | 68° | 56° |
| October | 57° | 46° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Lincoln County
The nearest airport, Rhinelander/Oneida County, is about 26 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 175 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lincoln County
Schools across Lincoln County average a C+, better than 47% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Washington ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Kate Goodrich ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Tomahawk ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tomahawk MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Prentice MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
- Prairie River MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Rhinelander HighC · 32% proficient
- Merrill HighC− · 27% proficient
- Tomahawk HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lincoln County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lincoln 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 Lincoln County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lincoln County suits
Families
Schools land around the 47th percentile and crime safety beats 56%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 74% of counties and health care access beats 91%.
Common questions about living in Lincoln County
Is Lincoln County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lincoln County ranks 1,153rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low disaster risk, cheap car insurance, and civic engagement, and lowest on property taxes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lincoln County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $199,314. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $70,110 median income, cost of living beats 57% of counties.
Is Lincoln County safe?
Yes, Lincoln County is safer than 56% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $336 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lincoln County?
July highs average about 80 degrees, and January highs near 25 with lows near 9. That works out to about 119 pleasant days a year, more than 74% of counties.
Is Lincoln County good for families?
Schools beat 47% of counties, crime safety beats 56%, and childcare runs $948 a month.
Compare Lincoln County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lincoln County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lincoln 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.
Lincoln County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lincoln County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lincoln County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lincoln County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lincoln County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lincoln 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.