Best PlacesWaukau, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waukau, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Waukau ranks 18,735th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Waukau
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.
Waukau's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waukau ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 78% of towns
Where Waukau ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 30% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than only 40% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Waukau
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waukau home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,719, 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 Waukau's effective rate of 1.18%, 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 Waukau
Waukau 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 Waukau.
Who works in Waukau, and how
Work in Waukau centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Waukau
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Waukau.
What the weather is like in Waukau, month by month
Waukau sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 83 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 15. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 21° | 15° |
| April | 55° | 45° | 36° |
| July | 83° | 73° | 63° |
| October | 60° | 51° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Waukau
The nearest airport, Appleton International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waukau
Schools across Waukau average a C+, better than 42% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Clay Lamberton ElementaryB · 45% proficient
- Omro ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Omro MiddleB · 46% proficient
- Berlin MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Berlin HighD · 22% proficient
- Omro HighD− · 13% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waukau school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waukau 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 Waukau against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Waukau
Is Waukau a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waukau ranks 18,735th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, cheap car insurance, and health care access, and lowest on crime and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waukau expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $223,841. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $83,719 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Waukau safe?
Waukau is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $627 per resident a year.
Compare Waukau with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waukau. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waukau 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.
Waukau detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waukau: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waukau: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waukau: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waukau: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waukau 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.