Best PlacesWood County, WI Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Wood County, 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.
Wood County ranks 815th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and property taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wood 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 Wood County
The parts of Wood 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.
Marshfield
Schools score higher, prices have run up less, and commutes are shorter.
Wisconsin Rapids
Local pay stretches further and it is quieter.
Nekoosa & Port Edwards
Fewer adults hold degrees and streets are more car-dependent.
Wood County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 11% of the country and others in the top 9%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Wood County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wood County ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 96% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 91% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 86% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 85% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 84% of counties
Where Wood County ranks low
- Low property taxBetter than only 9% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,055 a month, better than only 14% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 17% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than only 32% of counties
- TransitBetter than only 35% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Wood County
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wood County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,176, 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 Wood County's effective rate of 1.44%, 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 Wood County
Wood 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 Wood County.
Who works in Wood County, and how
Work in Wood County centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Wood County
Wood County has more parkland per resident than 95% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Wood County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Wood County growing, and who is moving in?
Wood County has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Wausau, WI.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Wood County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Wood County, month by month
Wood County sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 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 | 56° | 44° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 60° | 49° | 40° |
Flying in and out of Wood County
The nearest airport, Central Wisconsin, is about 25 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is General Mitchell International, about 148 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wood County
Schools across Wood County average a C+, better than 47% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Nasonville ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- Grant ElementaryA · 62% proficient
- Washington ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Marshfield MiddleB · 45% proficient
- Benjamin Franklin Junior HighB− · 42% proficient
- P J Jacobs Junior HighB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Marshfield HighB− · 43% proficient
- Lincoln HighC · 34% proficient
- Stevens Point Area Senior HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wood County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wood 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 Wood County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Wood County suits
Families
Schools land around the 47th percentile and crime safety beats 78%.
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 11% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 71% of counties and health care access beats 91%.
Common questions about living in Wood County
Is Wood County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wood County ranks 815th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, health care access, and civic engagement, and lowest on property taxes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wood County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $186,068. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $72,176 median income, cost of living beats 67% of counties.
Is Wood County safe?
Yes, Wood County is safer than 78% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $282 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wood County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 27 with lows near 12. That works out to about 115 pleasant days a year, more than 71% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wood County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Marshfield, Wisconsin Rapids, and Nekoosa & Port Edwards. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Wood County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wood County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wood 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.
Wood County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wood County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wood County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wood County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wood County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wood 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.