Best PlacesLower East Side, Milwaukee, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lower East Side, Milwaukee, 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.
Lower East Side, Milwaukee ranks 2,075th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lower East Side, Milwaukee
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.
Lower East Side, Milwaukee's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lower East Side, Milwaukee ranks high
- TransitBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- WalkabilityBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of neighborhoods
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of neighborhoods
Where Lower East Side, Milwaukee ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 1% of neighborhoods
- School gradeD−, better than only 6% of neighborhoods
- Air qualityBetter than only 23% of neighborhoods
- QuietBetter than only 23% of neighborhoods
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 33% of neighborhoods
What it costs to buy a home in Lower East Side, Milwaukee
A household needs to earn about $103,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lower East Side, Milwaukee home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $65,289, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Lower East Side, Milwaukee's effective rate of 2.30%, 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 Lower East Side, Milwaukee
Lower East Side, Milwaukee runs younger 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 Lower East Side, Milwaukee.
Who works in Lower East Side, Milwaukee, and how
Work in Lower East Side, Milwaukee centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 53%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 19%
Life in Lower East Side, Milwaukee
Lower East Side, Milwaukee has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of neighborhoods and more parkland per resident than 85% of neighborhoods. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lower East Side, Milwaukee and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lower East Side, Milwaukee, month by month
Lower East Side, Milwaukee sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Lower East Side, Milwaukee
General Mitchell International sits about 7 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Lower East Side, Milwaukee
Schools across Lower East Side, Milwaukee average a D−, better than 6% of neighborhoods.
Top elementary schools
- Maryland MontessoriB+ · 52% proficient
- Cass Street ElementaryF · 5% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lincoln MiddleF · 5% proficient
Top high schools
- Riverside HighF · 11% proficient
- North Division HighF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lower East Side, Milwaukee school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lower East Side, Milwaukee 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 Lower East Side, Milwaukee against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.
Common questions about living in Lower East Side, Milwaukee
Is Lower East Side, Milwaukee a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lower East Side, Milwaukee ranks 2,075th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on property taxes and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lower East Side, Milwaukee expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $328,526. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $65,289 median income, cost of living beats 45% of neighborhoods.
Is Lower East Side, Milwaukee safe?
Lower East Side, Milwaukee is safer than 54% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $511 per resident a year.
Compare Lower East Side, Milwaukee with other neighborhoods
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lower East Side, Milwaukee. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lower East Side, Milwaukee 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.
Lower East Side, Milwaukee detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lower East Side, Milwaukee: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lower East Side, Milwaukee: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lower East Side, Milwaukee: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lower East Side, Milwaukee: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lower East Side, Milwaukee 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.