Best PlacesPark Ridge, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Park Ridge, 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.
Park Ridge ranks 7,213th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Park Ridge
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.
Park Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Park Ridge ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute15.9 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
Where Park Ridge ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 34% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Park Ridge
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Park Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,079, 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 Park Ridge's effective rate of 1.69%, 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 Park Ridge
Park Ridge'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 Park Ridge.
Who works in Park Ridge, and how
Work in Park Ridge centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Park Ridge
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Park Ridge.
What the weather is like in Park Ridge, month by month
Park Ridge sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 54° | 42° | 32° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Park Ridge
The nearest airport, Central Wisconsin, is about 19 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 136 miles away.
The best schools in and around Park Ridge
Schools across Park Ridge average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Washington ElementaryB− · 44% proficient
- Madison ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- P J Jacobs Junior HighB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Stevens Point Area Senior HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Park Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Park Ridge 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 Park Ridge against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Park Ridge
Is Park Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Park Ridge ranks 7,213th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, biking, and fast internet, and lowest on noise and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Park Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $227,407. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $72,079 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Park Ridge safe?
Park Ridge is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $322 per resident a year.
Compare Park Ridge with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Park Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Park Ridge 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.
Park Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Park Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Park Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Park Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Park Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Park Ridge 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.