Best PlacesMole Lake, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mole Lake, 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.
Mole Lake ranks 27,922nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mole Lake
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.
Mole Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mole Lake ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 84% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 84% of towns
Where Mole Lake ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mole Lake
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mole Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,038, 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 Mole Lake's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Mole Lake
Mole Lake 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 Mole Lake.
Who works in Mole Lake, and how
Work in Mole Lake centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Mole Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mole Lake.
What the weather is like in Mole Lake, month by month
Mole Lake sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 7° |
| April | 52° | 39° | 28° |
| July | 80° | 67° | 54° |
| October | 57° | 45° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Mole Lake
The nearest airport, Rhinelander/Oneida County, is about 27 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 182 miles away.
The best schools in and around Mole Lake
Schools across Mole Lake average a D+, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Elcho ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- Crandon ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crandon MiddleC− · 30% proficient
- Elcho MiddleF · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Elcho HighD− · 17% proficient
- Crandon HighF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mole Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mole Lake 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 Mole Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mole Lake
Is Mole Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mole Lake ranks 27,922nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, cheap car insurance, and tree cover, and lowest on biking 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 Mole Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $212,326. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $69,038 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Mole Lake safe?
Yes, Mole Lake is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $241 per resident a year.
Compare Mole Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mole Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mole Lake 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.
Mole Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mole Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mole Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mole Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mole Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mole Lake 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.