Best PlacesCrestone, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Crestone, 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.
Crestone ranks 28,543rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on civic engagement by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Crestone
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.
Crestone's strengths and weaknesses
Where Crestone ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute13.9 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 175 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
Where Crestone ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 7% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Household income$45,156 median, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Crestone
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Crestone home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $45,156, 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 Crestone'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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Crestone
Crestone 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 Crestone.
Who works in Crestone, and how
Work in Crestone centers on arts & entertainment and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 37%
- Work from home 48%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Crestone
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Crestone.
What the weather is like in Crestone, month by month
Crestone sees roughly 175 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 22° | 11° |
| April | 59° | 43° | 29° |
| July | 82° | 66° | 51° |
| October | 62° | 46° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Crestone
The nearest airport, San Luis Valley Regional/Bergman Field, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 142 miles away.
The best schools in and around Crestone
Schools across Crestone average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top high schools
- Moffat Prek-12 SchoolD+ · 20% proficient
- Crestone Charter SchoolD+ · 19% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Crestone school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Crestone 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 Crestone against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Crestone
Is Crestone a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Crestone ranks 28,543rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on civic engagement, short commutes, and the weather, and lowest on an overheated housing market and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Crestone expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $333,500. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $45,156 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Crestone safe?
Crestone is safer than 12% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $726 per resident a year.
Compare Crestone with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Crestone. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Crestone 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.
Crestone detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Crestone: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Crestone: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Crestone: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Crestone: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Crestone 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.