Best PlacesPoplar, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Poplar, 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.
Poplar ranks 13,264th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Poplar
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.
Poplar's strengths and weaknesses
Where Poplar ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 86% of towns
Where Poplar ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- Short commute32.0 minutes each way, better than only 24% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 26% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Poplar
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Poplar home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $86,947, 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 Poplar's effective rate of 1.03%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Poplar
Poplar runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Poplar.
Who works in Poplar, and how
Work in Poplar centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Poplar
Poplar has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Poplar and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Poplar, month by month
Poplar sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 17° | 10° |
| April | 45° | 37° | 32° |
| July | 78° | 68° | 61° |
| October | 55° | 48° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Poplar
The nearest airport, Duluth International, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 136 miles away.
The best schools in and around Poplar
Schools across Poplar average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northwestern ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northwestern MiddleB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Northwestern HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Poplar school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Poplar 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 Poplar against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Poplar
Is Poplar a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Poplar ranks 13,264th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, clean air, and heat safety, and lowest on internet speeds and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Poplar expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $219,101. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $86,947 median income, cost of living beats 75% of towns.
Is Poplar safe?
Yes, Poplar is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $268 per resident a year.
Compare Poplar with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Poplar. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Poplar 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.
Poplar detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Poplar: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Poplar: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Poplar: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Poplar: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Poplar 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.