Best PlacesMontello, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Montello, 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.
Montello ranks 27,152nd 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 Montello
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.
Montello's strengths and weaknesses
Where Montello ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 82% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 117 pleasant days a year, better than 78% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 77% of towns
Where Montello ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 20% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 24% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 29% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Montello
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Montello home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,985, 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 Montello's effective rate of 1.12%, 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 Montello
Montello 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 Montello.
Who works in Montello, and how
Work in Montello centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Montello
Montello has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Montello and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Montello, month by month
Montello sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 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 | 55° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Montello
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 44 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 Montello
Schools across Montello average a C−, better than 31% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Endeavor ElementaryA · 68% proficient
- Forest Lane Community SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Markesan IntermediateB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wayne Bartels MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
- Westfield Area MiddleC · 33% proficient
- Pardeeville MiddleC− · 31% proficient
Top high schools
- Pardeeville HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Markesan HighC · 33% proficient
- Westfield Area HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Montello school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Montello 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 Montello against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Montello
Is Montello a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Montello ranks 27,152nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, walkability, and the weather, and lowest on an overheated housing market and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Montello expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $211,916. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $63,985 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Montello safe?
Yes, Montello is safer than 77% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $229 per resident a year.
Compare Montello with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Montello. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Montello 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.
Montello detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Montello: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Montello: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Montello: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Montello: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Montello 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.