Best PlacesTomahawk, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Tomahawk, 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.
Tomahawk ranks 19,179th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Tomahawk
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.
Tomahawk's strengths and weaknesses
Where Tomahawk ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 89% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of towns
Where Tomahawk ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Tomahawk
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Tomahawk home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,628, 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 Tomahawk's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 Tomahawk
Tomahawk 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 Tomahawk.
Who works in Tomahawk, and how
Work in Tomahawk centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Tomahawk
Tomahawk has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Tomahawk and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Tomahawk, month by month
Tomahawk sees roughly 118 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 | 52° | 39° | 29° |
| July | 80° | 67° | 54° |
| October | 56° | 45° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Tomahawk
The nearest airport, Rhinelander/Oneida County, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Minneapolis-St Paul International/Wold-Chamberlain, about 176 miles away.
The best schools in and around Tomahawk
Schools across Tomahawk average a C+, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Northwoods Community ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Minocqua ElementaryB+ · 51% proficient
- Kate Goodrich ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tomahawk MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Prentice MiddleC+ · 37% proficient
- Prairie River MiddleC · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Lakeland HighC · 33% proficient
- Rhinelander HighC · 32% proficient
- Merrill HighC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Tomahawk school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Tomahawk 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 Tomahawk against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Tomahawk
Is Tomahawk a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Tomahawk ranks 19,179th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, civic engagement, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on distance from a big city and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Tomahawk expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $235,349. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $74,628 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Tomahawk safe?
Yes, Tomahawk is safer than 62% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $292 per resident a year.
Compare Tomahawk with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Tomahawk. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Tomahawk 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.
Tomahawk detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Tomahawk: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Tomahawk: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Tomahawk: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Tomahawk: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Tomahawk 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.