Best PlacesOzaukee County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Ozaukee County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Ozaukee County ranks 27th of 3,144 U.S. counties 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 Ozaukee 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.
The best areas in Ozaukee County
The parts of Ozaukee County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Mequon
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.
Cedarburg & Thiensville
More adults hold degrees.
Grafton
Crime runs lower.
Port Washington
Homes cost less, though fewer residents vote.
Fredonia & Saukville
Fewer homes sit empty, though schools score lower.
Scores across Ozaukee County run from about the 54th to the 98th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Ozaukee County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ozaukee County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 98% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 98% of counties
Where Ozaukee County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 13% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 14% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 20% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 32% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Ozaukee County
A household needs to earn about $114,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ozaukee County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $109,199; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Ozaukee County's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 Ozaukee County
Ozaukee County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Ozaukee County.
Who works in Ozaukee County, and how
Work in Ozaukee County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Ozaukee County
Ozaukee County has more parkland per resident than 85% of counties and less late-night activity than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ozaukee County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Ozaukee County growing, and who is moving in?
Ozaukee County has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Milwaukee, WI metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Ozaukee County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Ozaukee County, month by month
Ozaukee County sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 17° |
| April | 55° | 43° | 35° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Ozaukee County
General Mitchell International sits about 26 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 Ozaukee County
Schools across Ozaukee County average an A−, better than 89% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Parkview ElementaryA+ · 80% proficient
- Thorson ElementaryA+ · 77% proficient
- Kennedy ElementaryA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Webster MiddleA · 66% proficient
- Lake Shore MiddleA · 66% proficient
- Cedar Grove-belgium MiddleA · 62% proficient
Top high schools
- Cedarburg HighA− · 60% proficient
- Homestead HighB+ · 53% proficient
- Grafton HighB · 47% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ozaukee County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ozaukee 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 Ozaukee County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Ozaukee County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 96% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 17% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 59% of counties and health care access beats 100%.
Common questions about living in Ozaukee County
Is Ozaukee County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ozaukee County ranks 27th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, civic engagement, and low crime, 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 Ozaukee County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $412,940. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $109,199 median income, cost of living beats 96% of counties.
Is Ozaukee County safe?
Yes, Ozaukee County is safer than 98% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $199 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Ozaukee County?
July highs average about 81 degrees, and January highs near 29 with lows near 17. That works out to about 99 pleasant days a year, more than 59% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Ozaukee County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Mequon, Cedarburg & Thiensville, and Grafton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Ozaukee County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ozaukee County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ozaukee 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.
Ozaukee County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ozaukee County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ozaukee County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ozaukee County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ozaukee County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ozaukee 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.