Best PlacesCowley, WY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cowley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Costs and crime both read low, and the nearest big city is a drive away. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Cowley ranks 12,775th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cowley
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.
Cowley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cowley ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 174 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
Where Cowley ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cowley
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cowley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,944, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Cowley's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Cowley
Cowley runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cowley.
Who works in Cowley, and how
Work in Cowley centers on construction and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Cowley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cowley.
What the weather is like in Cowley, month by month
Cowley sees roughly 174 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 23° | 16° |
| April | 55° | 41° | 32° |
| July | 87° | 71° | 57° |
| October | 56° | 44° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Cowley
The nearest airport, Yellowstone Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 334 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cowley
Schools across Cowley average a B+, better than 75% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Lovell ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Rocky Mountain ElementaryB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Lovell Middle SchoolA+ · 68% proficient
- Rocky Mountain Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top high schools
- Rocky Mountain High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Lovell High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cowley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cowley 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 Cowley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cowley
Is Cowley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cowley ranks 12,775th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, the weather, and low disaster risk, and lowest on distance from a big city and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cowley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $200,436. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $59,944 median income, cost of living beats 24% of towns.
Is Cowley safe?
Yes, Cowley is safer than 93% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $168 per resident a year.
Compare Cowley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cowley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cowley 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.
Cowley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cowley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cowley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cowley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cowley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cowley 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.