Best PlacesSullivan, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sullivan, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Sullivan ranks 6,782nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sullivan
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.
Sullivan's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sullivan ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 89% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 88% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 86% of towns
Where Sullivan ranks low
- Short commute33.5 minutes each way, better than only 18% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,056 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 25% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 30% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Sullivan
A household needs to earn about $94,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sullivan home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $101,108, 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 Sullivan's effective rate of 1.09%, 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 Sullivan
Sullivan runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sullivan.
Who works in Sullivan, and how
Work in Sullivan centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Sullivan
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Sullivan.
What the weather is like in Sullivan, month by month
Sullivan sees roughly 74 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 22° | 15° |
| April | 57° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 82° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 61° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Sullivan
General Mitchell International sits about 36 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 Sullivan
Schools across Sullivan average a C+, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Webster ElementaryB · 48% proficient
- Sullivan ElementaryB · 47% proficient
- Dousman ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Kettle Moraine MiddleA · 64% proficient
- Silver Lake IntermediateA− · 52% proficient
- Fort Atkinson MiddleB · 45% proficient
Top high schools
- Kettle Moraine HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Oconomowoc HighB− · 42% proficient
- Fort Atkinson HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sullivan school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sullivan 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 Sullivan against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Sullivan
Is Sullivan a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sullivan ranks 6,782nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low crime, and health care access, and lowest on long commutes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sullivan expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $346,872. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $101,108 median income, cost of living beats 86% of towns.
Is Sullivan safe?
Yes, Sullivan is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $171 per resident a year.
Compare Sullivan with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sullivan. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sullivan 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.
Sullivan detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sullivan: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sullivan: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sullivan: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sullivan: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sullivan 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.