Best PlacesPorcupine, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Porcupine, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Porcupine ranks 20,320th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Porcupine
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.
Porcupine's strengths and weaknesses
Where Porcupine ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 81% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 76% of towns
Where Porcupine ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Short commute33.6 minutes each way, better than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Porcupine
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Porcupine home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,750, 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 Porcupine's effective rate of 1.19%, 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 Porcupine
Porcupine 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 Porcupine.
Who works in Porcupine, and how
Work in Porcupine centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Porcupine
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Porcupine.
What the weather is like in Porcupine, month by month
Porcupine sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 84° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Porcupine
The nearest airport, Chippewa Valley Regional, is about 36 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 58 miles away.
The best schools in and around Porcupine
Schools across Porcupine average a C+, better than 49% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Caddie Woodlawn ElementaryB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Pepin HighC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Porcupine school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Porcupine 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 Porcupine against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Porcupine
Is Porcupine a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Porcupine ranks 20,320th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, cheap car insurance, and tree cover, and lowest on cell coverage and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Porcupine expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $250,000. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $82,750 median income, cost of living beats 73% of towns.
Is Porcupine safe?
Yes, Porcupine is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $228 per resident a year.
Compare Porcupine with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Porcupine. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Porcupine 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.
Porcupine detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Porcupine: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Porcupine: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Porcupine: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Porcupine: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Porcupine 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.