Best PlacesPort Washington, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Port Washington, 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.
Port Washington ranks 3,799th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Port Washington
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.
Port Washington's strengths and weaknesses
Where Port Washington ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 92% of towns
Where Port Washington ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 12% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Port Washington
A household needs to earn about $90,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Port Washington home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $82,124; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Port Washington's effective rate of 1.21%, 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 Port Washington
Port Washington'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 Port Washington.
Who works in Port Washington, and how
Work in Port Washington 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 81%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Port Washington
Port Washington has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Port Washington and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Port Washington, month by month
Port Washington sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 17° |
| April | 55° | 43° | 35° |
| July | 81° | 70° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Port Washington
General Mitchell International sits about 31 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Port Washington
Schools across Port Washington average a B+, better than 74% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Dunwiddie ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Woodview ElementaryA · 64% proficient
- Saukville ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
Top middle schools
- John Long MiddleA− · 58% proficient
- Thomas Jefferson MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Ozaukee MiddleA− · 53% proficient
Top high schools
- Grafton HighB · 47% proficient
- Port Washington HighC+ · 39% proficient
- Ozaukee HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Port Washington school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Port Washington 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 Port Washington against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Port Washington
Is Port Washington a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Port Washington ranks 3,799th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, few empty homes, and biking, and lowest on noise and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Port Washington expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $325,373. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $82,124 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Port Washington safe?
Yes, Port Washington is safer than 82% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $219 per resident a year.
Compare Port Washington with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Port Washington. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Port Washington 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.
Port Washington detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Port Washington: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Port Washington: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Port Washington: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Port Washington: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Port Washington 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.