Best PlacesSauk County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Sauk County, 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.
Sauk County ranks 542nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sauk County
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.
The best areas in Sauk County
The parts of Sauk County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Prairie Du Sac & Sauk City
Biking is better, incomes run higher, and advertised internet is faster.
La Valle
More households have young kids, though more homes sit empty.
Baraboo
It is noisier.
Reedsburg & Lake Delton
Prices have run up more.
Spring Green
Tree cover is thicker, though fewer residents vote.
Scores across Sauk County run from about the 20th to the 89th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Sauk County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sauk County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 90% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 88% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 85% of counties
Where Sauk County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 14% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 32% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 81 pleasant days a year, better than only 39% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Sauk County
A household needs to earn about $75,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sauk County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,056, 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 Sauk County's effective rate of 1.29%, 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 Sauk County
Sauk County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Sauk County.
Who works in Sauk County, and how
Work in Sauk County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sauk County
Sauk County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of counties and more parkland per resident than 98% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sauk County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Sauk County growing, and who is moving in?
Sauk County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Madison, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Sauk County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Sauk County, month by month
Sauk County sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 20° | 14° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 35° |
| July | 83° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 60° | 50° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Sauk County
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 34 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 105 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sauk County
Schools across Sauk County average a C+, better than 50% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- East ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Grand Avenue ElementaryB+ · 50% proficient
- Tower Rock ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Wisconsin Dells Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Webb MiddleB− · 39% proficient
- Ithaca MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- River Valley HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Reedsburg Area HighC+ · 38% proficient
- Sauk Prairie HighC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sauk County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sauk County 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 Sauk County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Sauk County suits
Families
Schools land around the 50th percentile and crime safety beats 88%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 73% of counties and 10% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Sauk County
Is Sauk County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sauk County ranks 542nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, heat safety, and health care access, and lowest on childcare costs and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sauk County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $268,686. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $83,056 median income, cost of living beats 73% of counties.
Is Sauk County safe?
Yes, Sauk County is safer than 88% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $258 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sauk County?
July highs average about 83 degrees, and January highs near 28 with lows near 14. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 39% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Sauk County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Prairie Du Sac & Sauk City, La Valle, and Baraboo. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Sauk County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sauk County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sauk County 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.
Sauk County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sauk County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sauk County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sauk County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sauk County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sauk County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.