Eastside Hill

Why people love it here

• One of Eau Claire’s oldest neighborhoods — and it still runs like one: porches, sidewalks, alleys people actually use, and an association that throws the spring thrift sale and the summer picnic.
• Downtown is a footbridge away. Cross from Boyd Park and you’re at the farmers market, the library, and the Pablo Center — but the streets up here stay quiet and residential.
• This neighborhood fights for itself: when the city planned to remove the Boyd Park footbridge, residents organized — and got a new bridge instead.
• Cottages and bungalows with original woodwork and real front porches — Third Ward character at friendlier prices, the Third Ward’s more affordable sister.
• It’s the Third Ward’s little sister — same kind of vibes, a step down in price. The sensible ladder a lot of owners climb: build equity on the hill, then move it to the Third Ward.

Carter’s take

“A cozy, family-friendly neighborhood with real character — it shaped my eye and my forever style. Plain and simple: this is my neighborhood.”

Carter Barstad · Hometown Realty Group

The story of the hill

Eastside Hill is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Eau Claire. The Eastside Hill Neighborhood Association — founded in 1997 — connects residents and organizes the neighborhood-wide thrift sale each spring, an annual summer picnic, and events through the year. This is Carter's home turf: he grew up in Eastside Hill and owns a duplex here, so this guide comes from someone who knows the streets block by block, not just from listing photos.

The association's track record is part of the story. When the city planned to remove the footbridge across the Eau Claire River between Boyd Park and Banbury Place, the association organized, and the neighborhood ended up with a new bridge instead. Sale proceeds from the old Boyd School site later helped fund improvements to Boyd Park.

Ask Carter about Emery Street and you'll get the real guide: “Emery Street will always be my street. I grew up at 1516 and own 1009. The old Timm's dairy was the spot growing up — we would grab loose change from the laundry room and go buy candy. It was on Margaret and Hogeboom.” His memory checks out, too: the building at that corner, 1602 Hogeboom Ave, was the longtime home of Timm's Dairy (Volume One). That's the level he knows this neighborhood at: street by street, memory by memory.

The homes

Housing stock is mostly older and full of character: cottages dating from the 1880s through the 1920s, with bungalows and Cape Cod-style houses also prevalent, plus craftsman and mid-century homes worked in along the way. Expect original woodwork, real front porches, detached garages, and lots that follow the hill. Character genuinely shifts from street to street — one block can be tidy 1920s bungalows, the next a mix of cottages and later infill — which is why the exact block matters more here than in a subdivision.

What to watch for

• The exact block — traffic, parking, lot layout, and how the street feels at different times of day.
• Roof age, wiring, plumbing, insulation, and furnace/AC — the big systems in an older home.
• Foundation and drainage, especially on sloped lots where water moves downhill.
• Garage and alley access, and whether the lot layout works for how you live.
• Any prior updates and permits, so you know what’s been done and what hasn’t.

Schools & services

Public schools are in the Eau Claire Area School District. Most Eastside Hill addresses are assigned to Flynn Elementary (right in the neighborhood, on Lee Street), South Middle School, and Memorial High School. Attendance areas do change — confirm the assignment for any specific address with the district before you buy.

Parks, trails & everyday life

• Boyd Park — riverside hiking trails, a playground, the Boyd Skatepark, and an outdoor skating rink with hockey in the winter.
• Eau Claire River Trail access through Boyd Park, linking riders and runners to downtown and the wider city trail system.
• Community texture — community gardens throughout the neighborhood and Little Free Libraries scattered on the blocks.
• Everyday errands — downtown’s farmers market and coffee shops are a short walk or bike ride; larger grocery and retail runs head to Woodman’s or the Oakwood Mall area by car.
• The evening soundtrack, in Carter’s words: lawn mowers going somewhere, kids in the distance, a car every minute or two (more off Margaret and Main) — and walkers of all ages, bikers, and dogs out on the sidewalks.

The market, honestly

Eastside Hill’s median listing price was $283,000 in October 2026 — roughly $100,000 under the Third Ward’s $384,900, for the same era of housing stock. Carter calls the location the underestimated part: “Really the best spot to be for the price — the Third Ward is higher priced, and they are minutes away. The character over there is great too.”

Who it fits — and the honest trade-offs

Showing-day checklist

• Walk Boyd Park and cross the footbridge into downtown.
• Confirm garage and alley access works for your vehicles.
• Check roof, wiring, plumbing, insulation, and furnace/AC ages.
• Ask for permits and records on any updates.
• Drive the exact block in daylight and again in the evening.
• Look hard at foundation and drainage on sloped lots.

Good next step

Walk Boyd Park and cross the footbridge, then drive the neighborhood in daylight and again in the evening. If a street feels right, Carter can pull what’s sold there recently — including off-market context — and walk a few homes with you so you can compare condition, not just photos.

Sources: Volume One — Eastside Hill Neighborhood Association · Volume One, “Building a Neighborhood” · Volume One, “Finding a Real Space” (Timm’s Dairy, 1602 Hogeboom Ave) · Visit Eau Claire — neighborhoods & districts · Homes.com — Eastside Hill · EastsideHill.com · Realtor.com market data, Oct 2026 Eau Claire County Treasurer — 2025 Mill Rates (2025 levy) · Wisconsin Department of Revenue — 2025 Statement of Taxes, Eau Claire County · This guide is a starting point, not a statement about every property. Verify schools, taxes, zoning, condition, and other priorities for a specific address.

House-hunting this week? See this week’s open houses in Eau Claire — every brokerage’s open houses, in one place, no sign-up needed.

CARTER’S SALES HERE

Carter’s Eau Claire sales

Guides are opinions; closings are proof. 28 of Carter’s 55 career sales are in Eau Claire — $8,278,650 in closed volume from the MLS-verified record behind the numbers on the home page. Most recent first:

Taxes & total cost

The short version: About $483 a month on a median-priced Eastside Hill home — the same city rate as everywhere else in Eau Claire, but the hill’s friendlier prices make the bill smaller than the Third Ward’s.

Property taxes here run on the 2025 levy — the bills Eau Claire County mailed in December 2025, payable in 2026. A home in the City of Eau Claire in the Eau Claire Area School District carried a net rate of $20.47 per $1,000 of assessed value (Eau Claire County Treasurer, 2025 Mill Rates). A mill is just $1 for every $1,000, so read that as about $20.47 a year for each $1,000 the assessor says your home is worth. That last part matters: the tax is figured on the assessor’s value, which is supposed to track market value but can sit above or below what a home actually sells for. The county puts the city’s 2025 assessment ratio at 0.7645 — assessed values running at roughly three-quarters of market value — so a home’s tax value can sit well under its sale price.

Open a 2025 city tax bill and that $20.47 splits four ways:

• City of Eau Claire — 8.44 mills, about 41% of the bill. The largest single slice: the city levy that pays for streets, police and fire, parks, and the rest of city services.
• Eau Claire Area School District — 7.83 mills, about 38%. The schools are the close second.
• Eau Claire County — 3.37 mills, about 16%. County roads, courts, and county services.
• Chippewa Valley Technical College — 0.84 mills, about 4%. The smallest line on the bill.

There is no separate state line of any size on the 2025 bill — those four levies are the whole rate. The city levy is the biggest single driver of the bill, with the school district right behind it, so when either of those two budgets moves, your tax bill moves with it.

Here is the math, run step by step on this guide’s example price. The example treats the price as the home’s assessed value, just to keep the math clean:

1. Step 1 — the value: Eastside Hill’s median listing price from this guide, $283,000, treated as the assessed value.
2. Step 2 — the annual tax: $283,000 ÷ 1,000 = 283.0; 283.0 × $20.47 = about $5,793 a year, call it $5,790.
3. Step 3 — the monthly tax: $5,790 ÷ 12 = about $483 a month.

What that estimate leaves out: Wisconsin then knocks two credits off after the bill is calculated, so the check you actually write is smaller than the gross figure above: the lottery and gaming credit ($194.74 for a primary home in the Eau Claire district in 2025) and the first dollar credit ($64.91) take roughly $260 off a qualifying home’s bill. Special charges and assessments are not in the rate at all — they ride on top of it, parcel by parcel. And your home’s actual assessment will differ from the example price, in either direction.

Here is the part buyers miss: the rate does not change when you cross the river or climb the hill. Eastside Hill and the Third Ward pay the identical $20.47 — what differs is the price of the houses, and the tax follows the price. The Third Ward’s $384,900 median works out to about $7,880 a year at this same rate, so the hill’s friendlier prices save roughly $174 a month in taxes alone, on top of the smaller mortgage. On a median Eastside Hill home, plan on about $483 a month for the tax line, inside the full monthly equation: mortgage payment, plus taxes, plus insurance.

See how all 28 areas compare: Chippewa Valley property taxes, side by side.

Questions buyers ask about Eastside Hill