Best PlacesWaushara County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Waushara County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Waushara County ranks 1,572nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Waushara 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.
The best areas in Waushara County
The parts of Waushara County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Wautoma
Fewer homes sit empty, commutes are shorter, and more households have young kids.
Redgranite
Tree cover is thinner and fewer residents vote.
Wild Rose
Prices have run up less, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Waushara County run from about the 16th to the 66th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Waushara County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Waushara County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 95% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 88% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 75% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 74% of counties
Where Waushara County ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 9% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 14% of counties
- Short commute28.9 minutes each way, better than only 20% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 23% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Waushara County
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Waushara County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,160, 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 Waushara County's effective rate of 1.13%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Waushara County
Waushara County 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 Waushara County.
Who works in Waushara County, and how
Work in Waushara County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Waushara County
Waushara County has more parkland per resident than 90% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Waushara County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Waushara County growing, and who is moving in?
Waushara County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Oshkosh, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Waushara County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Waushara County, month by month
Waushara County sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 19° | 12° |
| April | 55° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 82° | 71° | 61° |
| October | 59° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Waushara County
The nearest airport, Appleton International, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Waushara County
Schools across Waushara County average a C, better than 33% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Coloma ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Fremont ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
- Weyauwega ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top middle schools
- Waupaca MiddleB+ · 50% proficient
- Berlin MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Weyauwega MiddleB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Wild Rose HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Waupaca HighC · 33% proficient
- Westfield Area HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Waushara County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Waushara 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 Waushara County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Waushara County suits
Families
Schools land around the 33rd percentile and crime safety beats 93%.
Retirees
The weather beats 69% of counties, health care access beats 88%, and it is quieter than 65%.
Common questions about living in Waushara County
Is Waushara County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Waushara County ranks 1,572nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, low crime, and health care access, and lowest on an overheated housing market and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Waushara County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $202,118. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $67,160 median income, cost of living beats 47% of counties.
Is Waushara County safe?
Yes, Waushara County is safer than 93% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $224 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Waushara County?
July highs average about 82 degrees, and January highs near 27 with lows near 12. That works out to about 112 pleasant days a year, more than 69% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Waushara County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Wautoma, Redgranite, and Wild Rose. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Waushara County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Waushara County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Waushara 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.
Waushara County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Waushara County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Waushara County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Waushara County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Waushara County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Waushara 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.