Best PlacesSheboygan County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Sheboygan 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.
Sheboygan County ranks 302nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on cheap car insurance and walkability. The weaker spots are childcare costs, property taxes, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Sheboygan 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 Sheboygan County
The parts of Sheboygan 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.
Sheboygan Falls & Kohler
Crime runs lower, more residents vote, and biking is better.
Howards Grove
Fewer homes sit empty, though streets are more car-dependent.
Oostburg & Cedar Grove
Incomes run higher and schools score higher.
Elkhart Lake
It is quieter, though fewer households have young kids.
Random Lake & Cascade
Local pay stretches further and tree cover is thicker.
Plymouth
Advertised internet is faster and prices have run up less.
Sheboygan
Homes cost less, though fewer adults hold degrees.
Scores across Sheboygan County run from about the 34th to the 98th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Sheboygan County's strengths and weaknesses
Sheboygan County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Cheap car insurance is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Walkability and heat safety follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Childcare costs, property taxes, and noise hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Sheboygan County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of counties
- BikingBetter than 89% of counties
Where Sheboygan County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 14% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 19% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 21% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 32% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Sheboygan County
A household needs to earn about $66,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sheboygan County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,025, 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 Sheboygan County's effective rate of 1.30%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Sheboygan County
Sheboygan 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 Sheboygan County.
Who works in Sheboygan County, and how
Work in Sheboygan 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 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Sheboygan County
Sheboygan County has more parkland per resident than 95% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Sheboygan County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Sheboygan County growing, and who is moving in?
Sheboygan County has grown about 3% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Milwaukee, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Sheboygan County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Sheboygan County, month by month
Sheboygan County sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 23° | 17° |
| April | 54° | 43° | 35° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 61° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Sheboygan County
The nearest airport, Appleton International, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 54 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sheboygan County
Schools across Sheboygan County average a C+, better than 50% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Kohler ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Farmington ElementaryA+ · 73% proficient
- Kewaskum ElementaryA · 66% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oostburg MiddleA · 62% proficient
- Cedar Grove-belgium MiddleA · 62% proficient
- Kohler MiddleA · 62% proficient
Top high schools
- Elkhart Lake HighB · 50% proficient
- Kohler HighB · 47% proficient
- Oostburg HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sheboygan County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sheboygan 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 Sheboygan County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Sheboygan County suits
Families
Schools land around the 50th percentile and crime safety beats 82%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 80% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 69% of counties and health care access beats 87%.
Common questions about living in Sheboygan County
Is Sheboygan County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sheboygan County ranks 302nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, walkability, and heat safety, 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 Sheboygan County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $236,427. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $79,025 median income, cost of living beats 80% of counties.
Is Sheboygan County safe?
Yes, Sheboygan County is safer than 82% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $310 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sheboygan County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 30 with lows near 17. That works out to about 112 pleasant days a year, more than 69% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Sheboygan County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Sheboygan Falls & Kohler, Howards Grove, and Oostburg & Cedar Grove. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Sheboygan County good for families?
Schools beat 50% of counties, crime safety beats 82%, and childcare runs $1,055 a month.
Is Sheboygan County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 80% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 74% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Sheboygan County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sheboygan County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sheboygan 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.
Sheboygan County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sheboygan County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sheboygan County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sheboygan County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sheboygan County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sheboygan 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.