Best PlacesSt. Germain, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. Germain, 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. Germain ranks 24,707th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in St. Germain
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. Germain's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. Germain ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Short commute18.4 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 92% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 91% of towns
Where St. Germain ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 21% of towns
- Household income$60,696 median, better than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. Germain
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. Germain home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,696, so buying stretches a typical household.
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. Germain's effective rate of 0.68%, 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 St. Germain
St. Germain 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. Germain.
Who works in St. Germain, and how
Work in St. Germain centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in St. Germain
St. Germain has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of St. Germain and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in St. Germain, month by month
St. Germain sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 79 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 16° | 8° |
| April | 50° | 38° | 28° |
| July | 79° | 67° | 55° |
| October | 54° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of St. Germain
The nearest airport, Rhinelander/Oneida County, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 194 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. Germain
Schools across St. Germain average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Arbor Vitae-woodruff ElementaryB+ · 54% proficient
- Northland Pines Elementary-st GermainB+ · 53% proficient
- Minocqua ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northland Pines MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- James Williams MiddleC · 32% proficient
- Three Lakes Junior HighC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Three Lakes HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Lakeland HighC · 33% proficient
- Rhinelander HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. Germain school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. Germain 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. Germain against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. Germain
Is St. Germain a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. Germain ranks 24,707th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, health care access, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. Germain expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $283,670. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $60,696 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is St. Germain safe?
St. Germain is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $345 per resident a year.
Compare St. Germain with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. Germain. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. Germain 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. Germain detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. Germain: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. Germain: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. Germain: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. Germain: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. Germain 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.