Best PlacesWood Lake, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wood Lake, 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.
Wood Lake ranks 31,075th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Wood Lake
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.
Wood Lake's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wood Lake ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute18.6 minutes each way, better than 92% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 87% of towns
Where Wood Lake ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 19% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Wood Lake
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wood Lake home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,765, 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 Lake's effective rate of 1.12%, 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 5 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 Lake
Wood Lake runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Lake.
Who works in Wood Lake, and how
Work in Wood Lake centers on agriculture & forestry and transportation & warehousing. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Wood Lake
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Wood Lake.
What the weather is like in Wood Lake, month by month
Wood Lake sees roughly 100 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 24° | 12° |
| April | 64° | 47° | 31° |
| July | 93° | 76° | 61° |
| October | 68° | 49° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Wood Lake
The nearest airport, North Platte Regional/Lee Bird Field, is about 111 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Eppley Airfield, about 250 miles away.
The best schools in and around Wood Lake
Schools across Wood Lake average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Thedford Elem Attendance CntrB− · 40% proficient
- Julesburg Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Thedford High SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Valentine High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Julesburg High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wood Lake school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wood Lake 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 Lake against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Wood Lake
Is Wood Lake a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wood Lake ranks 31,075th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, clean air, and quiet, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wood Lake expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $162,637. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $56,765 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Wood Lake safe?
Wood Lake is safer than 22% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $411 per resident a year.
Compare Wood Lake with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wood Lake. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wood Lake 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 Lake detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wood Lake: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wood Lake: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wood Lake: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wood Lake: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wood Lake 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.