Best PlacesMilwaukee County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Milwaukee County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Milwaukee County ranks 837th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on noise and property taxes. It does better on transit, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Milwaukee 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.
The best areas in Milwaukee County
The parts of Milwaukee County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Wauwatosa & West Allis
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and schools score higher.
Whitefish Bay, Shorewood & Fox Point
Incomes run higher, though homes cost more.
Franklin, Greendale & Hales Corners
Crime runs lower, though streets are more car-dependent.
Oak Creek, South Milwaukee & Cudahy
Prices have run up less, though fewer households have young kids.
Greenfield
Fewer homes sit empty, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Milwaukee
Health care is harder to reach and fewer residents vote.
Brown Deer
Health outcomes score lower.
Milwaukee County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Milwaukee County's strengths and weaknesses
Milwaukee County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Transit is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Walkability and cell coverage follow.
The one real hole is noise, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and childcare costs also cost it ground. That varies block to block rather than evenly, and the map below shows where.
Where Milwaukee County ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- BikingBetter than 95% of counties
Where Milwaukee County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 2% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 6% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 12% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Milwaukee County
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Milwaukee County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $71,689; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Milwaukee County's effective rate of 1.83%, 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 Milwaukee County
Milwaukee County 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 Milwaukee County.
Who works in Milwaukee County, and how
Work in Milwaukee County centers on health care & social 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 76%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Milwaukee County
Milwaukee County has more parkland per resident than 94% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 88% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Milwaukee County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Milwaukee County growing, and who is moving in?
Milwaukee County has lost about 4% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Milwaukee, WI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Milwaukee County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Milwaukee County, month by month
Milwaukee County sees roughly 87 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 Milwaukee County
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 Milwaukee County
Schools across Milwaukee County average a D+, better than 12% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Wauwatosa StemA+ · 82% proficient
- Lincoln ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Roosevelt ElementaryA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Whitefish Bay MiddleA+ · 72% proficient
- Bayside MiddleA+ · 69% proficient
- Muskego Lakes MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
Top high schools
- Eisenhower Middle/highA− · 61% proficient
- Whitefish Bay HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Reagan College Preparatory HighB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Milwaukee County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Milwaukee 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 Milwaukee County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Milwaukee County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 14% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Milwaukee County
Is Milwaukee County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Milwaukee County ranks 837th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and cell coverage, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Milwaukee County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,078. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $71,689 median income, cost of living beats 52% of counties.
Is Milwaukee County safe?
Milwaukee County is safer than 21% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $559 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Milwaukee County?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 34 with lows near 18. That works out to about 87 pleasant days a year, more than 48% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Milwaukee County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wauwatosa & West Allis, Whitefish Bay, Shorewood & Fox Point, and Franklin, Greendale & Hales Corners. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Milwaukee County good for families?
Schools beat 12% of counties, crime safety beats 21%, and childcare runs $1,303 a month.
Is Milwaukee County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 52% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 83% of counties. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Milwaukee County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Milwaukee County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Milwaukee 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.
Milwaukee County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Milwaukee County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Milwaukee County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Milwaukee County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Milwaukee County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Milwaukee 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.