Best PlacesChaffee County, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Chaffee County, 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.
Chaffee County ranks 612th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Chaffee County
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.
Chaffee County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Chaffee County ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of counties
Where Chaffee County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,253 a month, better than only 8% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Chaffee County
A household needs to earn about $159,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Chaffee County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $87,484, 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 Chaffee County's effective rate of 0.30%, 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 Chaffee County
Chaffee County 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 Chaffee County.
Who works in Chaffee County, and how
Work in Chaffee County 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 65%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Chaffee County
Chaffee County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 86% of counties and more parkland per resident than 67% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Chaffee County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Chaffee County growing, and who is moving in?
Chaffee County has grown about 13% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Denver, CO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Chaffee County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Chaffee County, month by month
Chaffee County sees roughly 151 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 46° | 32° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 54° |
| October | 66° | 49° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Chaffee County
The nearest airport, Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 111 miles away.
The best schools in and around Chaffee County
Schools across Chaffee County average a B−, better than 74% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Longfellow Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Salida Montessori Charter SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Avery/parsons Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crest AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- Salida Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Buena Vista Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Salida High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Horizons Exploratory AcademyB− · 42% proficient
- Chaffee County High SchoolB− · 42% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Chaffee County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Chaffee County 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 Chaffee County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Chaffee County
Is Chaffee County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Chaffee County ranks 612th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, low property taxes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on air quality and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Chaffee County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $652,743. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $87,484 median income, cost of living beats 63% of counties.
Is Chaffee County safe?
Chaffee County is safer than 14% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $730 per resident a year.
Compare Chaffee County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Chaffee County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Chaffee County 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.
Chaffee County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Chaffee County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Chaffee County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Chaffee County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Chaffee County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Chaffee County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.