Best PlacesAspen, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Aspen, 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.
Aspen ranks 16,564th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on transit by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Aspen
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.
Aspen's strengths and weaknesses
Where Aspen ranks high
- TransitBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
Where Aspen ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,328 a month, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Aspen
A household needs to earn about $285,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Aspen home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $86,483, 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 Aspen's effective rate of 0.26%, 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 Aspen
Aspen 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 Aspen.
Who works in Aspen, and how
Work in Aspen centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 42%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 38%
Life in Aspen
Aspen has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns and more parkland per resident than 90% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Aspen and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Aspen, month by month
Aspen sees roughly 130 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 21° | 7° |
| April | 57° | 41° | 26° |
| July | 84° | 66° | 47° |
| October | 62° | 43° | 28° |
Flying in and out of Aspen
The nearest airport, Aspen-Pitkin County/Sardy Field, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 124 miles away.
The best schools in and around Aspen
Schools across Aspen average a B−, better than 63% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Crested Butte Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Aspen Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Basalt Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Aspen Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Gunnison Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Basalt Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Aspen High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Basalt High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Gunnison High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Aspen school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Aspen 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 Aspen against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Aspen
Is Aspen a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Aspen ranks 16,564th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on transit, biking, and heat safety, and lowest on an overheated housing market and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Aspen expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,179,464. The overall cost of living runs about 84% above the national average. Set against a $86,483 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Aspen safe?
Aspen is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,271 per resident a year.
Compare Aspen with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Aspen. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Aspen 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.
Aspen detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Aspen: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Aspen: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Aspen: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Aspen: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Aspen 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.