Best PlacesOconomowoc Lake, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oconomowoc Lake, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Oconomowoc Lake ranks 2,157th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oconomowoc 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.
Oconomowoc Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oconomowoc Lake ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 98% of towns
- Household income$149,864 median, better than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 95% of towns
Where Oconomowoc Lake ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 31% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 32% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oconomowoc Lake
A household needs to earn about $138,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oconomowoc Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $149,864, 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 Oconomowoc Lake's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Oconomowoc Lake
Oconomowoc Lake runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Oconomowoc Lake.
Who works in Oconomowoc Lake, and how
Work in Oconomowoc Lake centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Oconomowoc Lake
Oconomowoc Lake has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Oconomowoc Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Oconomowoc Lake, month by month
Oconomowoc Lake sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 21° | 16° |
| April | 54° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 80° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Oconomowoc Lake
General Mitchell International sits about 30 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Oconomowoc Lake
Schools across Oconomowoc Lake average a B+, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lake Country SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Summit ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Meadow View ElementaryA · 67% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kettle Moraine MiddleA · 64% proficient
- Silver Lake IntermediateA− · 52% proficient
- Nature Hill IntermediateB+ · 51% proficient
Top high schools
- Kettle Moraine HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Oconomowoc HighB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oconomowoc Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oconomowoc 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 Oconomowoc Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oconomowoc Lake
Is Oconomowoc Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oconomowoc Lake ranks 2,157th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, what local pay buys, and high incomes, and lowest on noise and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oconomowoc Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $515,095. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $149,864 median income, cost of living beats 98% of towns.
Is Oconomowoc Lake safe?
Yes, Oconomowoc Lake is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $287 per resident a year.
Compare Oconomowoc Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oconomowoc Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oconomowoc 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.
Oconomowoc Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oconomowoc Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oconomowoc Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oconomowoc Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oconomowoc Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oconomowoc 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.