Best PlacesBuffalo Creek, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Buffalo Creek, 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.
Buffalo Creek ranks 23,563rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Buffalo Creek
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.
Buffalo Creek's strengths and weaknesses
Where Buffalo Creek ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 97% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- Household income$130,856 median, better than 95% of towns
Where Buffalo Creek ranks low
- Short commute51.1 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,769 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Buffalo Creek
A household needs to earn about $185,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Buffalo Creek home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $130,856, 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 Buffalo Creek's effective rate of 0.40%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Buffalo Creek
Buffalo Creek runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Buffalo Creek.
Who works in Buffalo Creek, and how
Work in Buffalo Creek centers on education and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Buffalo Creek
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Buffalo Creek.
What the weather is like in Buffalo Creek, month by month
Buffalo Creek sees roughly 159 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 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 | 64° | 48° | 32° |
| July | 90° | 74° | 59° |
| October | 69° | 52° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Buffalo Creek
Denver International sits about 43 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 Buffalo Creek
Schools across Buffalo Creek average a B, better than 68% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Jefferson County Open Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Elk Creek Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manning Options SchoolA · 65% proficient
- West Jefferson Middle SchoolB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Conifer Senior High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Buffalo Creek school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Buffalo Creek 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 Buffalo Creek against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Buffalo Creek
Is Buffalo Creek a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Buffalo Creek ranks 23,563rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, civic engagement, and heat safety, and lowest on long commutes and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Buffalo Creek expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $749,506. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $130,856 median income, cost of living beats 93% of towns.
Is Buffalo Creek safe?
Buffalo Creek is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $584 per resident a year.
Compare Buffalo Creek with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Buffalo Creek. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Buffalo Creek 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.
Buffalo Creek detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Buffalo Creek: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Buffalo Creek: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Buffalo Creek: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Buffalo Creek: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Buffalo Creek 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.