Best PlacesRomance, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Romance, 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.
Romance ranks 21,972nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Romance
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.
Romance's strengths and weaknesses
Where Romance ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 86% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 112 pleasant days a year, better than 75% of towns
Where Romance ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 15% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Romance
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Romance home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,098, 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 Romance'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 Romance
Romance runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Romance.
Who works in Romance, and how
Work in Romance centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Romance
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Romance.
What the weather is like in Romance, month by month
Romance sees roughly 112 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 Romance
The nearest airport, La Crosse Regional, is about 23 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 Romance
Schools across Romance average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Viroqua ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Stoddard ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Coon Valley ElementaryB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Viroqua MiddleB+ · 49% proficient
- Westby MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- De Soto MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Viroqua HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Westby HighD · 22% proficient
- De Soto HighF · 11% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Romance school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Romance 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 Romance against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Romance
Is Romance a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Romance ranks 21,972nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, heat safety, and health care access, and lowest on cell coverage and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Romance expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $244,631. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $88,098 median income, cost of living beats 71% of towns.
Is Romance safe?
Yes, Romance is safer than 71% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $289 per resident a year.
Compare Romance with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Romance. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Romance 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.
Romance detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Romance: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Romance: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Romance: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Romance: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Romance 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.