Best PlacesMonroe Center, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Monroe Center, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Monroe Center ranks 45,418th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Monroe Center
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.
Monroe Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Monroe Center ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 133 pleasant days a year, better than 86% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 79% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 77% of towns
Where Monroe Center ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of towns
- Household income$43,904 median, better than only 6% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Monroe Center
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Monroe Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $43,904; 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 Monroe Center's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Monroe Center
Monroe Center 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 Monroe Center.
Who works in Monroe Center, and how
Work in Monroe Center centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Monroe Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Monroe Center.
What the weather is like in Monroe Center, month by month
Monroe Center sees roughly 133 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Monroe Center
The nearest airport, Central Wisconsin, is about 49 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 130 miles away.
The best schools in and around Monroe Center
Schools across Monroe Center average a D, better than 5% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Necedah ElementaryC+ · 37% proficient
- Adams-friendship ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Humke ElementaryD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Necedah MiddleC · 32% proficient
- Alexander MiddleD+ · 27% proficient
- Adams-friendship MiddleD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Nekoosa HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Adams-friendship HighD− · 12% proficient
- Necedah HighF · 7% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Monroe Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Monroe Center 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 Monroe Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Monroe Center
Is Monroe Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Monroe Center ranks 45,418th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, the weather, and low disaster risk, and lowest on an overheated housing market and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Monroe Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $168,343. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $43,904 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Monroe Center safe?
Monroe Center is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $326 per resident a year.
Compare Monroe Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Monroe Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Monroe Center 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.
Monroe Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Monroe Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Monroe Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Monroe Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Monroe Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Monroe Center 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.