Best PlacesCentral City, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Central City, 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.
Central City ranks 24,389th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Central City
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.
Central City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Central City ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of towns
Where Central City ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,289 a month, better than only 10% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Central City
A household needs to earn about $106,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Central City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,183, 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 Central City's effective rate of 0.33%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Central City
Central City's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Central City.
Who works in Central City, and how
Work in Central City centers on arts & entertainment and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Central City
Central City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Central City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Central City, month by month
Central City sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 55 degrees. January highs sit near 15, with lows near 4. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15° | 9° | 4° |
| April | 29° | 21° | 16° |
| July | 55° | 47° | 41° |
| October | 35° | 28° | 23° |
Flying in and out of Central City
Denver International sits about 45 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 Central City
Schools across Central City average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gilpin County Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Coal Creek Canyon K-8 Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- King-murphy Elementary SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clear Creek Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- New Vista High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Clear Creek High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Gilpin County Undivided High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Central City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Central City 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 Central City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Central City
Is Central City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Central City ranks 24,389th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, civic engagement, and population health, and lowest on air quality and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Central City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $434,293. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $77,183 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Central City safe?
Central City is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $653 per resident a year.
Compare Central City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Central City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Central City 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.
Central City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Central City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Central City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Central City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Central City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Central City 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.