Best PlacesNorwalk, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Norwalk, 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.
Norwalk ranks 18,482nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Norwalk
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.
Norwalk's strengths and weaknesses
Where Norwalk ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 111 pleasant days a year, better than 75% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 73% of towns
Where Norwalk ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 18% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 19% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 25% of towns
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Norwalk
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Norwalk home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $77,043, 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 Norwalk's effective rate of 1.02%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Norwalk
Norwalk runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Norwalk.
Who works in Norwalk, and how
Work in Norwalk 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 86%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Norwalk
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Norwalk.
What the weather is like in Norwalk, month by month
Norwalk sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 18° | 10° |
| April | 58° | 44° | 32° |
| July | 83° | 69° | 56° |
| October | 61° | 48° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Norwalk
The nearest airport, La Crosse Regional, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 148 miles away.
The best schools in and around Norwalk
Schools across Norwalk average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cashton ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Norwalk-ontario-wilton ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- La Grange ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tomah MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
- Sparta Meadowview MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Brookwood HighC− · 28% proficient
- Tomah HighD · 19% proficient
- Sparta HighD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Norwalk school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Norwalk 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 Norwalk against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Norwalk
Is Norwalk a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Norwalk ranks 18,482nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, heat safety, and low taxes, and lowest on internet speeds and civic engagement. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Norwalk expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $225,207. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $77,043 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is Norwalk safe?
Yes, Norwalk is safer than 73% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $236 per resident a year.
Compare Norwalk with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Norwalk. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Norwalk 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.
Norwalk detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Norwalk: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Norwalk: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Norwalk: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Norwalk: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Norwalk 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.