Best PlacesMenasha, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Menasha, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Menasha ranks 706th of 2,098 U.S. cities 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 Menasha
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.
Menasha's strengths and weaknesses
Where Menasha ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of cities
- Nice weatherabout 197 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of cities
- Short commute20.5 minutes each way, better than 85% of cities
Where Menasha ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 18% of cities
- School gradeC−, better than only 21% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 29% of cities
- Health outlookBetter than only 31% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Menasha
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Menasha home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,511, 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 Menasha's effective rate of 1.69%, 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 Menasha
Menasha 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 Menasha.
Who works in Menasha, and how
Work in Menasha centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Menasha
Menasha has more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Menasha and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Menasha, month by month
Menasha sees roughly 197 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 Menasha
The nearest airport, Appleton International, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 92 miles away.
The best schools in and around Menasha
Schools across Menasha average a C−, better than 21% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Woodland SchoolA · 68% proficient
- North Greenville ElementaryA · 63% proficient
- Berry ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Woodland IntermediateA+ · 77% proficient
- Greenville MiddleA− · 57% proficient
- Hortonville MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Neenah HighB · 48% proficient
- Hortonville HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Kimberly HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Menasha school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Menasha 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 Menasha against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Menasha suits
Families
Schools land around the 21st percentile and crime safety beats 73%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 91% of cities and health care access beats 73%.
Common questions about living in Menasha
Is Menasha a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Menasha ranks 706th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, fast internet, and heat safety, 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 Menasha expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $239,403. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $82,511 median income, cost of living beats 48% of cities.
Is Menasha safe?
Yes, Menasha is safer than 73% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $277 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Menasha?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 27 with lows near 16. That works out to about 197 pleasant days a year, more than 91% of cities.
Is Menasha good for families?
Schools beat 21% of cities, crime safety beats 73%, and childcare runs $1,238 a month.
Compare Menasha with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Menasha. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Menasha 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.
Menasha detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Menasha: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Menasha: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Menasha: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Menasha: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Menasha 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.