Best PlacesOneida County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Oneida County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Oneida County ranks 1,109th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Oneida County
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.
Oneida County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oneida County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 90% of counties
Where Oneida County ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 13% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than only 17% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 17% of counties
- Cheap childcare$948 a month, better than only 22% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Oneida County
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oneida County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,221, 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 Oneida County's effective rate of 0.93%, 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 Oneida County
Oneida County 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 Oneida County.
Who works in Oneida County, and how
Work in Oneida County centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Oneida County
Oneida County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 82% of counties and more parkland per resident than 90% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Oneida County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Oneida County growing, and who is moving in?
Oneida County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Vilas County, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Oneida County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Oneida County, month by month
Oneida County sees roughly 111 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 9° |
| April | 51° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 81° | 68° | 56° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Oneida County
The nearest airport, Rhinelander/Oneida County, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 190 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oneida County
Schools across Oneida County average a C+, better than 48% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Northwoods Community ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Arbor Vitae-woodruff ElementaryB+ · 54% proficient
- Northland Pines Elementary-st GermainB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northland Pines MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Tomahawk MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Prentice MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
Top high schools
- Three Lakes HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Lakeland HighC · 33% proficient
- Rhinelander HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oneida County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oneida County 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 Oneida County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Oneida County suits
Families
Schools land around the 48th percentile and crime safety beats 73%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 10% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 68% of counties, health care access beats 98%, and it is quieter than 64%.
Common questions about living in Oneida County
Is Oneida County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oneida County ranks 1,109th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, low disaster risk, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on empty homes and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Oneida County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $251,635. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $70,221 median income, cost of living beats 47% of counties.
Is Oneida County safe?
Yes, Oneida County is safer than 73% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $294 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Oneida County?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 24 with lows near 9. That works out to about 111 pleasant days a year, more than 68% of counties.
Is Oneida County good for families?
Schools beat 48% of counties, crime safety beats 73%, and childcare runs $948 a month.
Compare Oneida County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oneida County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oneida County 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.
Oneida County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oneida County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oneida County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oneida County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oneida County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oneida County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.