Best PlacesBasalt, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Basalt, 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.
Basalt ranks 16,300th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Basalt
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.
Basalt's strengths and weaknesses
Where Basalt ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- TransitBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 98% of towns
Where Basalt ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,448 a month, better than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Basalt
A household needs to earn about $214,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Basalt home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $107,531, 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 Basalt's effective rate of 0.36%, 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 Basalt
Basalt 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 Basalt.
Who works in Basalt, and how
Work in Basalt centers on hospitality & food and arts & entertainment. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 65%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 22%
Life in Basalt
Basalt has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of towns and more parkland per resident than 98% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Basalt and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Basalt, month by month
Basalt sees roughly 140 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 Basalt
The nearest airport, Aspen-Pitkin County/Sardy Field, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 131 miles away.
The best schools in and around Basalt
Schools across Basalt average a C−, better than 30% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Aspen Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Basalt Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Crystal River Elementary SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top middle schools
- Aspen Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Carbondale Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Basalt Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Aspen High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Basalt High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Roaring Fork High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Basalt school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Basalt 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 Basalt against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Basalt
Is Basalt a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Basalt ranks 16,300th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, heat safety, and population health, and lowest on an overheated housing market and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Basalt expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $872,529. The overall cost of living runs about 64% above the national average. Set against a $107,531 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Basalt safe?
Basalt is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $681 per resident a year.
Compare Basalt with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Basalt. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Basalt 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.
Basalt detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Basalt: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Basalt: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Basalt: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Basalt: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Basalt 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.