Best PlacesStar Lake, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Star Lake, 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.
Star Lake ranks 16,161st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Star Lake
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.
Star Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Star Lake ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 99% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 88% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of towns
Where Star Lake ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Star Lake
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Star Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $75,750; 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 Star Lake's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Star Lake
Star Lake 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 Star Lake.
Who works in Star Lake, and how
Work in Star Lake centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment sits above the national rate, 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 Star Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Star Lake.
What the weather is like in Star Lake, month by month
Star Lake sees roughly 89 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 8° |
| April | 50° | 38° | 28° |
| July | 80° | 66° | 54° |
| October | 55° | 44° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Star Lake
The nearest airport, Rhinelander/Oneida County, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 203 miles away.
The best schools in and around Star Lake
Schools across Star Lake average a C+, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- North Lakeland ElementaryA− · 57% proficient
- Northland Pines Elementary-st GermainB+ · 53% proficient
- Northland Pines Elementary-land O' LakesD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northland Pines MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Lakeland HighC · 33% proficient
- Northland Pines HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Star Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Star Lake 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 Star Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Star Lake
Is Star Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Star Lake ranks 16,161st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, low disaster risk, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on distance from a big city and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Star Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $318,100. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $75,750 median income, cost of living beats 48% of towns.
Is Star Lake safe?
Yes, Star Lake is safer than 68% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $246 per resident a year.
Compare Star Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Star Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Star Lake 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.
Star Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Star Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Star Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Star Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Star Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Star Lake 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.