Best PlacesSuperior, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Superior, 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.
Superior ranks 1,090th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Superior
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.
The best areas in Superior
The parts of Superior, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
South Superior
Central Park
Billings Park
University, Park Place & Downtown
Scores across Superior run from about the 21st to the 88th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Superior's strengths and weaknesses
Where Superior ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of cities
- Short commute17.1 minutes each way, better than 96% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 94% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 88% of cities
Where Superior ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 26% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of cities
- School gradeC, better than only 27% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Superior
A household needs to earn about $52,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Superior home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,806, 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 Superior's effective rate of 1.31%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Superior
Superior's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Superior.
Who works in Superior, and how
Work in Superior centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Superior
Superior has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of cities and more parkland per resident than 94% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Superior and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Superior, month by month
Superior sees roughly 84 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° | 15° | 8° |
| April | 47° | 37° | 29° |
| July | 80° | 67° | 55° |
| October | 56° | 46° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Superior
The nearest airport, Duluth International, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 137 miles away.
The best schools in and around Superior
Schools across Superior average a C, better than 27% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Great Lakes ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Northwestern ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
- Bryant ElementaryB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Northwestern MiddleB · 47% proficient
- Superior MiddleC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Northwestern HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Superior HighC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Superior school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Superior 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 Superior against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Superior suits
Common questions about living in Superior
Is Superior a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Superior ranks 1,090th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, clean air, and short commutes, and lowest on internet speeds and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Superior expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $185,829. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $73,806 median income, cost of living beats 43% of cities.
Is Superior safe?
Superior is safer than 28% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $400 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Superior?
July highs average about 80 degrees, and January highs near 24 with lows near 8. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 48% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Superior?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are South Superior, Central Park, and Billings Park. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Superior with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Superior. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Superior 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.
Superior detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Superior: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Superior: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Superior: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Superior: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Superior 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.