Best PlacesPepin County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Pepin County, 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.
Pepin County ranks 831st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pepin 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.
Pepin County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pepin County ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 74% of counties
Where Pepin County ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 27% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 32% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Pepin County
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pepin County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,056, 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 Pepin County's effective rate of 1.17%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Pepin County
Pepin County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pepin County.
Who works in Pepin County, and how
Work in Pepin 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 79%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Pepin County
Pepin County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of counties and more parkland per resident than 99% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Pepin County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Pepin County growing, and who is moving in?
Pepin County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Minneapolis, MN.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Pepin County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Pepin County, month by month
Pepin County sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 56° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 58° | 48° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Pepin County
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 31 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 64 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pepin County
Schools across Pepin County average a C+, better than 54% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Elmwood ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Mondovi ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Pepin ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Elmwood MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Mondovi MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Durand Middle/highC · 34% proficient
- Pepin HighC · 34% proficient
- Mondovi HighD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pepin County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pepin 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 Pepin County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Pepin County
Is Pepin County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pepin County ranks 831st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on health care access, low crime, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on cell coverage and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Pepin County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $220,443. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $76,056 median income, cost of living beats 74% of counties.
Is Pepin County safe?
Yes, Pepin County is safer than 95% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $228 per resident a year.
Compare Pepin County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pepin County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pepin 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.
Pepin County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pepin County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pepin County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pepin County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pepin County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pepin 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.