Best PlacesMerrill, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Merrill, 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.
Merrill ranks 16,175th of 50,333 U.S. towns 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 Merrill
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.
Merrill's strengths and weaknesses
Where Merrill ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 84% of towns
- BikingBetter than 84% of towns
Where Merrill ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 13% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 14% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 22% of towns
- Cheap childcare$953 a month, better than only 29% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Merrill
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Merrill home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,730, 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 Merrill's effective rate of 1.41%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Merrill
Merrill 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 Merrill.
Who works in Merrill, and how
Work in Merrill 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 84%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Merrill
Merrill has more restaurants and bars per resident than 80% of towns and more parkland per resident than 97% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Merrill and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Merrill, month by month
Merrill 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 Merrill
The nearest airport, Central Wisconsin, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 174 miles away.
The best schools in and around Merrill
Schools across Merrill average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Washington ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Kate Goodrich ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Maine ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- John Muir MiddleB · 43% proficient
- D C Everest MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
- Prairie River MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- West HighC · 34% proficient
- Merrill HighC− · 27% proficient
- East HighC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Merrill school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Merrill 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 Merrill against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Merrill
Is Merrill a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Merrill ranks 16,175th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, walkability, and cheap car insurance, 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 Merrill expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $183,175. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $68,730 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is Merrill safe?
Merrill is safer than 37% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $368 per resident a year.
Compare Merrill with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Merrill. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Merrill 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.
Merrill detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Merrill: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Merrill: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Merrill: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Merrill: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Merrill 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.