Best PlacesCrook County, WY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Crook County, 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.
Crook County ranks 1,130th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Crook 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.
Crook County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Crook County ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 93% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of counties
- School gradeB+, better than 84% of counties
Where Crook County ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 3% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of counties
- BikingBetter than only 17% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 21% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Crook County
A household needs to earn about $78,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Crook County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $76,496; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Crook County's effective rate of 0.45%, 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 Crook County
Crook County runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Crook County.
Who works in Crook County, and how
Work in Crook County centers on agriculture & forestry and construction. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Crook County
Crook County has more parkland per resident than 75% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Crook County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Crook County growing, and who is moving in?
Crook County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Casper, WY.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Crook County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Crook County, month by month
Crook County sees roughly 103 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 78 degrees. January highs sit near 31, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 31° | 24° | 17° |
| April | 48° | 36° | 29° |
| July | 78° | 66° | 55° |
| October | 53° | 42° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Crook County
The nearest airport, Northeast Wyoming Regional, is about 46 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 316 miles away.
The best schools in and around Crook County
Schools across Crook County average a B+, better than 84% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Little Powder ElementaryA+ · 75% proficient
- Sundance ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
- Moorcroft ElementaryB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Upton Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Twin Spruce Junior High SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top high schools
- Moorcroft Secondary SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Sundance Secondary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Upton High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Crook County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Crook 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 Crook County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Crook County
Is Crook County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Crook County ranks 1,130th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on low taxes, low crime, and heat safety, and lowest on internet speeds and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Crook County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $311,831. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $76,496 median income, cost of living beats 36% of counties.
Is Crook County safe?
Yes, Crook County is safer than 96% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $216 per resident a year.
Compare Crook County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Crook County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Crook 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.
Crook County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Crook County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Crook County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Crook County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Crook County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Crook 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.