Best Places80540, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood inside ZIP code 80540, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
80540 ranks 8,723rd of 33,110 U.S. zip codes on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in 80540
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.
80540's strengths and weaknesses
Where 80540 ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of zip codes
- Household income$133,366 median, better than 93% of zip codes
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 89% of zip codes
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of zip codes
Where 80540 ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of zip codes
- Cheap childcare$1,779 a month, better than only 2% of zip codes
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 8% of zip codes
- Internet speedBetter than only 12% of zip codes
What it costs to buy a home in 80540
A household needs to earn about $203,000 a year to comfortably buy the median 80540 home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $133,366, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 80540's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 80540
80540 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 80540.
Who works in 80540, and how
Work in 80540 centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 61%
- Work from home 33%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in 80540
80540 has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of zip codes and more parkland per resident than 92% of zip codes. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of 80540 and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in 80540, month by month
80540 sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 31° | 18° |
| April | 68° | 50° | 35° |
| July | 94° | 76° | 59° |
| October | 71° | 52° | 37° |
Flying in and out of 80540
Denver International sits about 42 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 40.1 million passengers in 2025, with 250 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around 80540
Schools across 80540 average a B−, better than 61% of zip codes.
Top elementary schools
- Blue Mountain ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Lyons Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Berthoud Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Altona Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Centennial Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Westview Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Silver Creek High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Lyons Middle/senior High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Estes Park High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every 80540 school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
80540 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 80540 against the other 33,109 zip codes.
Common questions about living in 80540
Is 80540 a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, 80540 ranks 8,723rd of 33,110 zip codes. It scores highest on an educated workforce, population health, and high incomes, and lowest on air quality and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is 80540 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $807,915. The overall cost of living runs about 17% above the national average. Set against a $133,366 median income, cost of living beats 89% of zip codes.
Is 80540 safe?
80540 is safer than 48% of zip codes. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $465 per resident a year.
Compare 80540 with other zip codes
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to 80540. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in 80540 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.
80540 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for 80540: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in 80540: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of 80540: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in 80540: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
80540 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.