Best PlacesCentral East Denver, Denver, CO Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around Central East Denver, Denver, 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.

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Central East Denver, Denver ranks 1,317th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and state finances rank lowest.

#1,317
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in Central East Denver, Denver

Map of the best neighborhoods in the Central East Denver, Denver area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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 East Denver, Denver's strengths and weaknesses

Top 10%Low property taxes
Top 10%Heat safety
Top 10%Population health
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare Central East Denver, Denver with other neighborhoods.

Where Central East Denver, Denver ranks high

  • Low property taxBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
  • Heat safetyBetter than 95% of neighborhoods
  • Health outlookBetter than 90% of neighborhoods
  • Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 87% of neighborhoods
  • TransitBetter than 86% of neighborhoods

Where Central East Denver, Denver ranks low

  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of neighborhoods
  • Cheap childcare$1,827 a month, better than only 10% of neighborhoods
  • Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 12% of neighborhoods
  • Air qualityBetter than only 14% of neighborhoods
  • Internet speedBetter than only 22% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in Central East Denver, Denver

A household needs to earn about $211,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Central East Denver, Denver home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $122,889, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$211,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$4,918
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $845,923 home
Median rent
$1,904
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$4,313
Property tax$323
Homeowners insurance$282

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 East Denver, Denver's effective rate of 0.46%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in Central East Denver, Denver

Central East Denver, Denver's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
40
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
14%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.1
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1818%
18 to 3425%
35 to 4924%
50 to 6420%
65 and older14%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Central East Denver, Denver.


Who works in Central East Denver, Denver, and how

Work in Central East Denver, Denver centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
29%
above the national average
Unemployment
3.7%
below the national average
Job growth
+6.4%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical19%
Health care & social16%
Education11%
Retail trade7%
Finance & insurance6%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 62%
  • Work from home 29%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 9%

Life in Central East Denver, Denver

Central East Denver, Denver has more parkland per resident than 83% of neighborhoods. That concentrates in some parts of Central East Denver, Denver and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
263
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 46.4 per 10,000 residents, more than 63% of neighborhoods
Coffee shops
43
about 7.6 per 10,000 residents, more than 75% of neighborhoods
Parkland
450 acres
about 7.9 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 83% of neighborhoods
Open past 10pm
~38
food and drink venues open late, about 6.8 per 10,000 residents, more than 35% of neighborhoods

What the weather is like in Central East Denver, Denver, month by month

Central East Denver, Denver sees roughly 62 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.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January47°31°18°
April65°48°32°
July92°74°59°
October70°51°36°

Flying in and out of Central East Denver, Denver

Denver International sits about 16 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 40.1 million passengers in 2025, with 250 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
DEN
Denver International, about 16 miles
Airport size
Large hub
4th-busiest in the US, 250 nonstop destinations
Average drive
23 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around Central East Denver, Denver

Schools across Central East Denver, Denver average a C, better than 41% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Central East Denver, Denver school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


Central East Denver, Denver 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 East Denver, Denver against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Who Central East Denver, Denver suits

Families

Schools land around the 41st percentile.

See the families priority ↑

Remote workers

Cost of living against local pay beats 87% of neighborhoods and 29% already work from home.

See the remote-work priority ↑

Retirees

It is quieter than 66%.

See the retirees priority ↑


Common questions about living in Central East Denver, Denver

Is Central East Denver, Denver a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Central East Denver, Denver ranks 1,317th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on low property taxes, heat safety, and population health, and lowest on state finances and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is Central East Denver, Denver expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $845,923. The overall cost of living runs about 10% above the national average. Set against a $122,889 median income, cost of living beats 87% of neighborhoods.

Is Central East Denver, Denver safe?

Central East Denver, Denver is safer than 39% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $758 per resident a year.

What is the weather like in Central East Denver, Denver?

July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 18. That works out to about 62 pleasant days a year, more than 12% of neighborhoods.

Is Central East Denver, Denver good for families?

Schools beat 41% of neighborhoods, crime safety beats 39%, and childcare runs $1,827 a month.


Compare Central East Denver, Denver with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Central East Denver, Denver. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Central East Denver, Denver 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 East Denver, Denver detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for Central East Denver, Denver: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in Central East Denver, Denver: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of Central East Denver, Denver: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in Central East Denver, Denver: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

Central East Denver, Denver detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.