Best PlacesSand Bay, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sand Bay, 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.
Sand Bay ranks 39,807th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Sand Bay
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.
Sand Bay's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sand Bay ranks high
- Short commute13.2 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
Where Sand Bay ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 2% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sand Bay
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sand Bay home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $48,449, 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 Sand Bay's effective rate of 1.06%, 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 Sand Bay
Sand Bay runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sand Bay.
Who works in Sand Bay, and how
Work in Sand Bay centers on arts & entertainment and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Sand Bay
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sand Bay.
What the weather is like in Sand Bay, month by month
Sand Bay sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 25, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25° | 19° | 13° |
| April | 46° | 37° | 29° |
| July | 78° | 66° | 55° |
| October | 54° | 46° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Sand Bay
The nearest airport, Gogebic/Iron County, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 181 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sand Bay
Schools across Sand Bay average a D−, better than 2% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- William Kelley ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- La Pointe ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Bayfield ElementaryF · 9% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bayfield MiddleD− · 18% proficient
Top high schools
- Wm. M. Kelley SecondaryB− · 40% proficient
- Bayfield HighF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sand Bay school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sand Bay 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 Sand Bay against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sand Bay
Is Sand Bay a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sand Bay ranks 39,807th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, low disaster risk, and quiet, and lowest on cell coverage and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sand Bay expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $117,886. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $48,449 median income, cost of living beats 8% of towns.
Is Sand Bay safe?
Sand Bay is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $370 per resident a year.
Compare Sand Bay with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sand Bay. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sand Bay 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.
Sand Bay detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sand Bay: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sand Bay: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sand Bay: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sand Bay: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sand Bay 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.