Best PlacesMauston, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mauston, 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.
Mauston ranks 30,694th 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 Mauston
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.
Mauston's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mauston ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- BikingBetter than 84% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 81% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
Where Mauston ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 18% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 28% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mauston
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mauston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,118, 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 Mauston's effective rate of 1.59%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mauston
Mauston 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 Mauston.
Who works in Mauston, and how
Work in Mauston 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 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Mauston
Mauston has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Mauston and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Mauston, month by month
Mauston sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 57° | 44° | 33° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Mauston
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 58 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 124 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mauston
Schools across Mauston average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lyndon Station ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Grayside ElementaryB · 46% proficient
- Royall ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Webb MiddleB− · 39% proficient
- Wonewoc-center Junior HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Olson MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Reedsburg Area HighC+ · 38% proficient
- New Lisbon Junior High/highD− · 17% proficient
- Royall HighD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mauston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mauston 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 Mauston against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mauston
Is Mauston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mauston ranks 30,694th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, walkability, and biking, and lowest on property taxes and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mauston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $176,361. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $66,118 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Mauston safe?
Mauston is safer than 46% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $345 per resident a year.
Compare Mauston with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mauston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mauston 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.
Mauston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mauston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mauston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mauston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mauston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mauston 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.