Best PlacesPortage County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Portage 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.
Portage County ranks 581st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Portage 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.
The best areas in Portage County
The parts of Portage County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Plover
Biking is better, more adults hold degrees, and local pay stretches further.
Stevens Point
Fewer homes sit empty and streets are more walkable.
Amherst
Tree cover is thicker and it is quieter.
Junction City
Crime runs higher and incomes run lower.
Scores across Portage County run from about the 24th to the 90th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Portage County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Portage County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 97% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 89% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of counties
Where Portage County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 12% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 14% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 14% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 32% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Portage County
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Portage County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $78,644, 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 Portage County's effective rate of 1.36%, 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 Portage County
Portage County'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 Portage County.
Who works in Portage County, and how
Work in Portage 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 81%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Portage County
Portage County has more parkland per resident than 97% of counties and more late-night spots per resident than 88% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Portage County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Portage County growing, and who is moving in?
Portage County has grown about 2% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Wood County, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Portage County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Portage County, month by month
Portage County sees roughly 104 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 18° | 11° |
| April | 54° | 42° | 32° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 59° |
| October | 58° | 47° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Portage County
The nearest airport, Central Wisconsin, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 134 miles away.
The best schools in and around Portage County
Schools across Portage County average a C+, better than 50% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Auburndale ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Bannach ElementaryA− · 58% proficient
- Tomorrow River Virtual Charter School (trvcs)B · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waupaca MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Amherst MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Benjamin Franklin Junior HighB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Point Of Discovery SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Lincoln HighC · 34% proficient
- Waupaca HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Portage County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Portage 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 Portage County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Portage County suits
Families
Schools land around the 50th percentile and crime safety beats 69%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 73% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 63% of counties and health care access beats 90%.
Common questions about living in Portage County
Is Portage County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Portage County ranks 581st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, heat safety, and health care access, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Portage County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $243,062. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $78,644 median income, cost of living beats 73% of counties.
Is Portage County safe?
Yes, Portage County is safer than 69% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $308 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Portage County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 25 with lows near 11. That works out to about 104 pleasant days a year, more than 63% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Portage County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Plover, Stevens Point, and Amherst. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Portage County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Portage County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Portage 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.
Portage County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Portage County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Portage County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Portage County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Portage County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Portage 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.