Best PlacesSt. John, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around St. John, 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. John ranks 11,213th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in St. John
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. John's strengths and weaknesses
Where St. John ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 197 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 89% of towns
Where St. John ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 17% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in St. John
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median St. John home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $79,583; 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. John's effective rate of 1.13%, 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. John
St. John runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for St. John.
Who works in St. John, and how
Work in St. John centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in St. John
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across St. John.
What the weather is like in St. John, month by month
St. John sees roughly 197 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 21° | 16° |
| April | 54° | 44° | 36° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 63° |
| October | 59° | 50° | 43° |
Flying in and out of St. John
The nearest airport, Appleton International, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around St. John
Schools across St. John average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hilbert ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- River View SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Hilbert MiddleB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Kaukauna HighC− · 27% proficient
- Hilbert HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every St. John school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
St. John 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. John against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in St. John
Is St. John a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, St. John ranks 11,213th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, cheap car insurance, and heat safety, and lowest on an overheated housing market and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is St. John expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $313,000. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $79,583 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is St. John safe?
Yes, St. John is safer than 89% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $188 per resident a year.
Compare St. John with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to St. John. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in St. John 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. John detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for St. John: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in St. John: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of St. John: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in St. John: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
St. John 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.