Best PlacesRiverside, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Riverside, 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.
Riverside ranks 17,659th 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 Riverside
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.
Riverside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Riverside ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 90% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 81% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 74% of towns
Where Riverside ranks low
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 17% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Riverside
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Riverside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,484, 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 Riverside's effective rate of 1.15%, 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 Riverside
Riverside 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 Riverside.
Who works in Riverside, and how
Work in Riverside centers on manufacturing and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Riverside
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Riverside.
What the weather is like in Riverside, month by month
Riverside sees roughly 83 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 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 | 58° | 47° | 38° |
| July | 82° | 73° | 65° |
| October | 61° | 52° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Riverside
The nearest airport, Dubuque Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Riverside
Schools across Riverside average a C, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Darlington Elementary/middleB · 48% proficient
- Black Hawk ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Black Hawk MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Darlington HighC− · 30% proficient
- Black Hawk HighD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Riverside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Riverside 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 Riverside against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Riverside
Is Riverside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Riverside ranks 17,659th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, a strong job market, and heat safety, and lowest on biking and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Riverside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $254,937. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $82,484 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Riverside safe?
Yes, Riverside is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $261 per resident a year.
Compare Riverside with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Riverside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Riverside 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.
Riverside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Riverside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Riverside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Riverside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Riverside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Riverside 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.