Best PlacesTownsend, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Townsend, 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.
Townsend ranks 15,628th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Townsend
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.
Townsend's strengths and weaknesses
Where Townsend ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 93% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 83% of towns
Where Townsend ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Townsend
A household needs to earn about $67,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Townsend home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,680, 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 Townsend's effective rate of 0.99%, 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 Townsend
Townsend 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 Townsend.
Who works in Townsend, and how
Work in Townsend centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 21%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Townsend
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Townsend.
What the weather is like in Townsend, month by month
Townsend sees roughly 105 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 24, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 24° | 16° | 7° |
| April | 52° | 39° | 28° |
| July | 80° | 67° | 54° |
| October | 57° | 45° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Townsend
The nearest airport, Ford, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 167 miles away.
The best schools in and around Townsend
Schools across Townsend average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lena ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Elcho ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
- Suring ElementaryC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lena MiddleC+ · 38% proficient
- White Lake MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Elcho MiddleF · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- White Lake HighD+ · 25% proficient
- Wabeno HighD · 23% proficient
- Elcho HighD− · 17% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Townsend school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Townsend 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 Townsend against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Townsend
Is Townsend a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Townsend ranks 15,628th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, low disaster risk, and cheap car insurance, and lowest on internet speeds and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Townsend expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $249,732. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $82,680 median income, cost of living beats 78% of towns.
Is Townsend safe?
Yes, Townsend is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $196 per resident a year.
Compare Townsend with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Townsend. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Townsend 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.
Townsend detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Townsend: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Townsend: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Townsend: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Townsend: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Townsend 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.