Best PlacesAurora, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Aurora, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Aurora ranks 228th of 445 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on heat safety and low property taxes. The weaker spots are state finances, thin health care access, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in Aurora
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 Aurora
The parts of Aurora, 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.
Saddle Rock Golf Club, Tallyn's Reach & Heritage Eagle Bend
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more adults hold degrees.
Murphy Creek, Sterling Hills & Conservatory
Crime runs lower, though streets are more car-dependent.
Traditions
More households have young kids, though transit reaches fewer jobs.
Carriage Place, Prides Crossing & Mission Viejo
More residents vote and health care is easier to reach.
Shenandoah & Meadow Hills
It is noisier and schools score lower.
Aurora Highlands, Center Pointe & Rocky Ridge
Scores close to Shenandoah & Meadow Hills, except that advertised internet is faster here.
Village East, Expo Park & Dayton Triangle
Laredo Highline, Gateway-Green Valley Ranch & Tower Triangle
Homes cost less, though health outcomes score lower.
Delmar Parkway, North Aurora & Jewell Heights-Hoffman Heights
Biking is better.
Aurora shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 2%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Aurora's strengths and weaknesses
Aurora lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Heat safety is the standout, in the top 3% of cities. Low property taxes and biking follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. State finances, thin health care access, and childcare costs hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Aurora ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of cities
- BikingBetter than 85% of cities
- TransitBetter than 78% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 78% of cities
Where Aurora ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 11% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,589 a month, better than only 11% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of cities
- School gradeC−, better than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Aurora
A household needs to earn about $124,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Aurora home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $102,844, 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 Aurora's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Aurora
Aurora runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Aurora.
Who works in Aurora, and how
Work in Aurora centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Aurora
Aurora has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of cities and more parkland per resident than 89% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Aurora and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Aurora, month by month
Aurora sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 31° | 18° |
| April | 65° | 48° | 32° |
| July | 92° | 74° | 59° |
| October | 70° | 51° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Aurora
Denver International sits about 14 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 Aurora
Schools across Aurora average a C−, better than 24% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Challenge SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Aurora Quest K-8A+ · 73% proficient
- Belleview Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
Top middle schools
- Campus Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Fox Ridge Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Sierra Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- George Washington High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Grandview High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Cherokee Trail High SchoolB+ · 56% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Aurora school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Aurora 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 Aurora against the other 444 cities.
Who Aurora suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of cities and 17% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Aurora
Is Aurora a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Aurora ranks 228th of 445 cities. It scores highest on heat safety, low property taxes, and biking, and lowest on state finances and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Aurora expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $488,957. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $102,844 median income, cost of living beats 78% of cities.
Is Aurora safe?
Aurora is safer than 39% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $623 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Aurora?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 18. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 30% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Aurora?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Saddle Rock Golf Club, Tallyn's Reach & Heritage Eagle Bend, Murphy Creek, Sterling Hills & Conservatory, and Traditions. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Aurora good for families?
Schools beat 24% of cities, crime safety beats 39%, and childcare runs $1,589 a month.
Is Aurora good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 78% of cities, though advertised internet speeds beat only 40% of cities. About 17% of workers already work from home.
Compare Aurora with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Aurora. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Aurora 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.
Aurora detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Aurora: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Aurora: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Aurora: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Aurora: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Aurora 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.