Best PlacesSun Prairie, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Sun Prairie, 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.
Sun Prairie ranks 326th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Sun Prairie
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.
Sun Prairie's strengths and weaknesses
Where Sun Prairie ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 93% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of cities
Where Sun Prairie ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 16% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 31% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 31% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 35% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 39% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Sun Prairie
A household needs to earn about $111,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Sun Prairie home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $101,482; 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 Sun Prairie's effective rate of 1.65%, 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 Sun Prairie
Sun Prairie runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Sun Prairie.
Who works in Sun Prairie, and how
Work in Sun Prairie centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Sun Prairie
Sun Prairie has more restaurants and bars per resident than 65% of cities and more parkland per resident than 97% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Sun Prairie and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Sun Prairie, month by month
Sun Prairie sees roughly 81 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 30, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 30° | 22° | 14° |
| April | 60° | 46° | 34° |
| July | 85° | 73° | 62° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Sun Prairie
The nearest airport, Dane County Regional/Truax Field, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 70 miles away.
The best schools in and around Sun Prairie
Schools across Sun Prairie average a B−, better than 46% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Horizon ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Eastside ElementaryB+ · 53% proficient
- Royal Oaks ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Glacial Drumlin SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- De Forest MiddleB+ · 48% proficient
- Prairie View MiddleB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Sun Prairie East HighB · 49% proficient
- De Forest HighC · 34% proficient
- Columbus HighC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Sun Prairie school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Sun Prairie 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 Sun Prairie against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Sun Prairie suits
Families
Schools land around the 46th percentile and crime safety beats 88%.
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 70% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 20% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Sun Prairie
Is Sun Prairie a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Sun Prairie ranks 326th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, heat safety, and civic engagement, and lowest on property taxes and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Sun Prairie expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $379,365. The overall cost of living runs about 7% below the national average. Set against a $101,482 median income, cost of living beats 70% of cities.
Is Sun Prairie safe?
Yes, Sun Prairie is safer than 88% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $206 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Sun Prairie?
July highs average about 85 degrees, and January highs near 30 with lows near 14. That works out to about 81 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of cities.
Is Sun Prairie good for families?
Schools beat 46% of cities, crime safety beats 88%, and childcare runs $1,303 a month.
Compare Sun Prairie with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Sun Prairie. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Sun Prairie 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.
Sun Prairie detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Sun Prairie: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Sun Prairie: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Sun Prairie: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Sun Prairie: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Sun Prairie 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.