Best PlacesPaddock Lake, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Paddock Lake, 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.
Paddock Lake ranks 8,583rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Paddock 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.
Paddock Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Paddock Lake ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 94% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
Where Paddock Lake ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 14% of towns
- Short commute32.8 minutes each way, better than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Paddock Lake
A household needs to earn about $72,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Paddock Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,742, 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 Paddock Lake's effective rate of 1.36%, 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 Paddock Lake
Paddock Lake's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Paddock Lake.
Who works in Paddock Lake, and how
Work in Paddock Lake centers on construction and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Paddock Lake
Paddock Lake has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Paddock Lake and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Paddock Lake, month by month
Paddock Lake sees roughly 106 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 33, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 33° | 26° | 19° |
| April | 58° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 84° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 64° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Paddock Lake
General Mitchell International sits about 28 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 Paddock Lake
Schools across Paddock Lake average a B−, better than 55% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Brighton ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Salem ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Wilmot HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Central HighC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Paddock Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Paddock 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 Paddock Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Paddock Lake
Is Paddock Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Paddock Lake ranks 8,583rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, fast internet, and big-city access, and lowest on childcare costs and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Paddock Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $256,644. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $86,742 median income, cost of living beats 65% of towns.
Is Paddock Lake safe?
Yes, Paddock Lake is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $189 per resident a year.
Compare Paddock Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Paddock Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Paddock 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.
Paddock Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Paddock Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Paddock Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Paddock Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Paddock Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Paddock 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.