Best PlacesTaylor County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Taylor County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Taylor County ranks 1,038th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Taylor County
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.
Taylor County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Taylor County ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 87% of counties
Where Taylor County ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 8% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 24% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 26% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Taylor County
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Taylor County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $70,100, 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 Taylor County's effective rate of 1.30%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Taylor County
Taylor County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Taylor County.
Who works in Taylor County, and how
Work in Taylor County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Taylor County
Taylor County has more parkland per resident than 96% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Taylor County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Taylor County growing, and who is moving in?
Taylor County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Wausau, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Taylor County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Taylor County, month by month
Taylor County sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 23, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 23° | 15° | 9° |
| April | 51° | 40° | 32° |
| July | 78° | 67° | 57° |
| October | 55° | 45° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Taylor County
The nearest airport, Central Wisconsin, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 139 miles away.
The best schools in and around Taylor County
Schools across Taylor County average a C, better than 40% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Stanley ElementaryA− · 55% proficient
- Rib Lake ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Thorp ElementaryB · 49% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rib Lake MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Stanley-boyd MiddleB+ · 51% proficient
- Medford MiddleB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Merrill HighC− · 27% proficient
- Medford HighD · 20% proficient
- Stanley-boyd HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Taylor County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Taylor County 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 Taylor County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Taylor County
Is Taylor County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Taylor County ranks 1,038th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, cheap car insurance, and low disaster risk, and lowest on cell coverage and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Taylor County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $200,746. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $70,100 median income, cost of living beats 58% of counties.
Is Taylor County safe?
Yes, Taylor County is safer than 84% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $260 per resident a year.
Compare Taylor County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Taylor County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Taylor County 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.
Taylor County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Taylor County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Taylor County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Taylor County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Taylor County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Taylor County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.