Best PlacesNeillsville, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Neillsville, 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.
Neillsville ranks 19,796th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and the schools rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Neillsville
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.
Neillsville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Neillsville ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Short commute20.4 minutes each way, better than 86% of towns
- BikingBetter than 86% of towns
Where Neillsville ranks low
- School gradeC−, better than only 19% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 30% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Neillsville
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Neillsville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,041, 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 Neillsville's effective rate of 1.20%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Neillsville
Neillsville 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 Neillsville.
Who works in Neillsville, and how
Work in Neillsville centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Neillsville
Neillsville has more restaurants and bars per resident than 87% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Neillsville and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Neillsville, month by month
Neillsville sees roughly 118 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 34° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Neillsville
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 130 miles away.
The best schools in and around Neillsville
Schools across Neillsville average a C−, better than 19% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Greenwood ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Granton ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Pittsville ElementaryB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Osseo-fairchild MiddleB · 47% proficient
- Black River Falls MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
- Neillsville MiddleC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Greenwood HighC− · 30% proficient
- Lincoln Jr/sr High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Black River Falls HighD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Neillsville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Neillsville 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 Neillsville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Neillsville
Is Neillsville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Neillsville ranks 19,796th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, cheap car insurance, and low disaster risk, and lowest on the schools and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Neillsville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $168,583. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $67,041 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Neillsville safe?
Neillsville is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $335 per resident a year.
Compare Neillsville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Neillsville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Neillsville 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.
Neillsville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Neillsville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Neillsville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Neillsville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Neillsville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Neillsville 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.