Best PlacesRetreat, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Retreat, 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.
Retreat ranks 34,336th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and empty homes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Retreat
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.
Retreat's strengths and weaknesses
Where Retreat ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 125 pleasant days a year, better than 83% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 82% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 70% of towns
Where Retreat ranks low
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 10% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Retreat
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Retreat home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,987, 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 Retreat's effective rate of 0.96%, 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 Retreat
Retreat 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 Retreat.
Who works in Retreat, and how
Work in Retreat centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Retreat
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Retreat.
What the weather is like in Retreat, month by month
Retreat sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 26, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26° | 19° | 13° |
| April | 56° | 45° | 37° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 63° |
| October | 58° | 49° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Retreat
The nearest airport, La Crosse Regional, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around Retreat
Schools across Retreat average a C+, better than 43% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Viroqua ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Prairie View ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Viroqua MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- De Soto MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Viroqua HighD+ · 25% proficient
- De Soto HighF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Retreat school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Retreat 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 Retreat against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Retreat
Is Retreat a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Retreat ranks 34,336th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, the weather, and health care access, and lowest on empty homes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Retreat expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,384. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $71,987 median income, cost of living beats 40% of towns.
Is Retreat safe?
Retreat is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $358 per resident a year.
Compare Retreat with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Retreat. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Retreat 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.
Retreat detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Retreat: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Retreat: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Retreat: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Retreat: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Retreat 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.