Best PlacesSt. Francis, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Francis, 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.
St. Francis ranks 15,363rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in St. Francis
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.
St. Francis' strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Francis ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 94% of towns
Where St. Francis ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 3% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- School gradeC−, better than only 17% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Francis
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Francis home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $63,961; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 St. Francis' effective rate of 1.99%, 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 St. Francis
St. Francis 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 St. Francis.
Who works in St. Francis, and how
Work in St. Francis centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in St. Francis
St. Francis has more restaurants and bars per resident than 72% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of St. Francis and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Francis, month by month
St. Francis sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 58° | 46° | 36° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 65° |
| October | 65° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of St. Francis
General Mitchell International sits about 2 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around St. Francis
Schools across St. Francis average a C−, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fernwood MontessoriB · 46% proficient
- Willow Glen Primary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Burdick ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Deer Creek IntermediateC · 34% proficient
- Cudahy MiddleC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Cudahy HighD− · 14% proficient
- Saint Francis HighD− · 12% proficient
- Bay View HighF · 5% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Francis school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Francis 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 St. Francis against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Francis
Is St. Francis a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Francis ranks 15,363rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, walkability, and biking, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. Francis expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $228,223. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $63,961 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is St. Francis safe?
St. Francis is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $335 per resident a year.
Compare St. Francis with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Francis. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Francis 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.
St. Francis detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Francis: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Francis: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Francis: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Francis: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Francis 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.