Best PlacesWaukesha, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Waukesha, 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.
Waukesha ranks 632nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Waukesha
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.
Waukesha's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waukesha ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 88% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 84% of cities
Where Waukesha ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 27% of cities
- QuietBetter than only 28% of cities
- School gradeC, better than only 28% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 29% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,303 a month, better than only 31% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Waukesha
A household needs to earn about $95,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waukesha home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $97,801, 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 Waukesha'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 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 Waukesha
Waukesha'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 Waukesha.
Who works in Waukesha, and how
Work in Waukesha 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 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Waukesha
Waukesha has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities and more parkland per resident than 95% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Waukesha and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Waukesha, month by month
Waukesha sees roughly 99 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 80 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 21° | 16° |
| April | 54° | 44° | 35° |
| July | 80° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 50° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Waukesha
General Mitchell International sits about 18 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.9 million passengers in 2025, with 66 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Waukesha
Schools across Waukesha average a C, better than 28% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- South ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- White Rock SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Rose Glen ElementaryA · 66% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Shore MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
- Kettle Moraine MiddleA · 64% proficient
- Park View MiddleA− · 54% proficient
Top high schools
- Arrowhead HighB+ · 58% proficient
- Kettle Moraine HighB+ · 57% proficient
- Waukesha Engineering Preparatory AcademyB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waukesha school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waukesha 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 Waukesha against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Waukesha suits
Families
Schools land around the 28th percentile and crime safety beats 59%.
Retirees
The weather beats 60% of cities and health care access beats 85%.
Common questions about living in Waukesha
Is Waukesha a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waukesha ranks 632nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on heat safety, cheap car insurance, and few empty homes, and lowest on property taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waukesha expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $337,951. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $97,801 median income, cost of living beats 64% of cities.
Is Waukesha safe?
Yes, Waukesha is safer than 59% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $304 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Waukesha?
July highs average about 80 degrees, and January highs near 28 with lows near 16. That works out to about 99 pleasant days a year, more than 60% of cities.
Is Waukesha good for families?
Schools beat 28% of cities, crime safety beats 59%, and childcare runs $1,303 a month.
Compare Waukesha with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waukesha. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waukesha 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.
Waukesha detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waukesha: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waukesha: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waukesha: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waukesha: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waukesha 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.