Best PlacesPhipps, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Phipps, 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.
Phipps ranks 17,032nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Phipps
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.
Phipps' strengths and weaknesses
Where Phipps ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Short commute16.9 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
Where Phipps ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 29% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 30% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 32% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 34% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Phipps
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Phipps home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $66,627, 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 Phipps' effective rate of 0.81%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Phipps
Phipps 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 Phipps.
Who works in Phipps, and how
Work in Phipps 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 82%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Phipps
Phipps has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Phipps and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Phipps, month by month
Phipps sees roughly 119 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 15° | 7° |
| April | 52° | 40° | 30° |
| July | 81° | 68° | 56° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Phipps
The nearest airport, Duluth International, is about 67 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 118 miles away.
The best schools in and around Phipps
Schools across Phipps average a B−, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hayward IntermediateB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hayward MiddleC+ · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Hayward HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Phipps school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Phipps 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 Phipps against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Phipps
Is Phipps a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Phipps ranks 17,032nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, short commutes, and clean air, and lowest on an overheated housing market 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 Phipps expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $240,461. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $66,627 median income, cost of living beats 37% of towns.
Is Phipps safe?
Phipps is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $379 per resident a year.
Compare Phipps with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Phipps. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Phipps 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.
Phipps detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Phipps: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Phipps: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Phipps: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Phipps: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Phipps 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.