Best PlacesArvada, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arvada, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Arvada ranks 75th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $124,059, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are state finances, childcare costs, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in Arvada
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 Arvada
The parts of Arvada, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the city.
Village of Five Parks & Lakecrest
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.
Wyndhams
Crime runs lower, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Ralston Valley & Appleridge Estates
More residents vote and it is quieter.
Lakecrest Cluster
More adults hold degrees, though streets are more car-dependent.
Scenic Heights & Northwest Arvada
More homes sit empty and prices have run up more.
Highlands
Biking is better.
Lamar Heights Area
Health care is harder to reach.
Arvada Plaza Area, Allendale Area & Alta Vista Area
Northwestern Denver
Homes cost less.
Arvada shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 14% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Arvada's strengths and weaknesses
Arvada ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Civic engagement is the standout, in the top 2% of cities. Heat safety and what local pay buys follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. State finances, childcare costs, and air quality hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Arvada ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of cities
- Household income$124,059 median, better than 88% of cities
Where Arvada ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,763 a month, better than only 7% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of cities
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 28% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Arvada
A household needs to earn about $161,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arvada home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $124,059, 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 Arvada's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Arvada
Arvada's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Arvada.
Who works in Arvada, and how
Work in Arvada 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 72%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Arvada
Arvada has more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Arvada and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Arvada, month by month
Arvada sees roughly 77 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 89° | 75° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Arvada
Denver International sits about 24 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 Arvada
Schools across Arvada average a B, better than 83% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- West Woods Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
- Meiklejohn ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Van Arsdale Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manning Options SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Oberon Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Wayne Carle Middle SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- D'evelyn Junior/senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Ralston Valley Senior High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Arvada West High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Arvada school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Arvada 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 Arvada against the other 444 cities.
Who Arvada suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 91% of cities and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Arvada
Is Arvada a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Arvada ranks 75th of 445 cities. It scores highest on civic engagement, heat safety, and what local pay buys, and lowest on state finances and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Arvada expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $637,765. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $124,059 median income, cost of living beats 91% of cities.
Is Arvada safe?
Yes, Arvada is safer than 56% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $527 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Arvada?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 25. That works out to about 77 pleasant days a year, more than 29% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Arvada?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Village of Five Parks & Lakecrest, Wyndhams, and Ralston Valley & Appleridge Estates. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Arvada good for families?
Schools beat 83% of cities, crime safety beats 56%, and childcare runs $1,763 a month.
Is Arvada good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 91% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 36% of cities. About 24% of workers already work from home.
Compare Arvada with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arvada. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arvada 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.
Arvada detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arvada: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arvada: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arvada: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arvada: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arvada 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.