Best PlacesPray, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Pray, 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.
Pray ranks 39,137th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and biking ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Pray
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.
Pray's strengths and weaknesses
Where Pray ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 77% of towns
Where Pray ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Pray
A household needs to earn about $45,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Pray home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,192, 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 Pray's effective rate of 0.98%, 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 Pray
Pray runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Pray.
Who works in Pray, and how
Work in Pray centers on agriculture & forestry and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Pray
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Pray.
What the weather is like in Pray, month by month
Pray sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 18° | 9° |
| April | 58° | 44° | 31° |
| July | 84° | 70° | 57° |
| October | 61° | 48° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Pray
The nearest airport, La Crosse Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Pray
Schools across Pray average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pittsville ElementaryB− · 41% proficient
- Red Creek ElementaryC · 32% proficient
- Neillsville ElementaryC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Black River Falls MiddleC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Lincoln Jr/sr High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Black River Falls HighD · 22% proficient
- Pittsville HighD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Pray school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Pray 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 Pray against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Pray
Is Pray a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Pray ranks 39,137th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, tree cover, and heat safety, and lowest on biking 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 Pray expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $169,227. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $62,192 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Pray safe?
Pray is safer than 36% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $357 per resident a year.
Compare Pray with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Pray. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Pray 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.
Pray detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Pray: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Pray: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Pray: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Pray: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Pray 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.