Best PlacesDakota Ridge, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dakota Ridge, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dakota Ridge ranks 364th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dakota Ridge
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.
The best areas in Dakota Ridge
The parts of Dakota Ridge, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Foothill Green South & Foothill Green
Westgold Meadows
Summit Ridge at West Meadows & Alkire Acres
Friendly Hills
Scores across Dakota Ridge run from about the 54th to the 97th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Dakota Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dakota Ridge ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 95% of cities
- BikingBetter than 94% of cities
- Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of cities
Where Dakota Ridge ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,769 a month, better than only 6% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than only 21% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Dakota Ridge
A household needs to earn about $156,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dakota Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $125,878, 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 Dakota Ridge's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 Dakota Ridge
Dakota Ridge runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dakota Ridge.
Who works in Dakota Ridge, and how
Work in Dakota Ridge centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Dakota Ridge
Dakota Ridge has more parkland per resident than 98% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Dakota Ridge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Dakota Ridge, month by month
Dakota Ridge sees roughly 150 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 31° | 18° |
| April | 64° | 48° | 32° |
| July | 90° | 74° | 59° |
| October | 69° | 52° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Dakota Ridge
Denver International sits about 30 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 40.1 million passengers in 2025, with 250 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Dakota Ridge
Schools across Dakota Ridge average a B+, better than 78% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Westridge Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Mount Carbon Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Jefferson County Open Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manning Options SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Summit Ridge Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- D'evelyn Junior/senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Chatfield High SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Dakota Ridge Senior High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dakota Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dakota Ridge 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 Dakota Ridge against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Dakota Ridge suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 80% of cities, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 24% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Dakota Ridge
Is Dakota Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dakota Ridge ranks 364th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on heat safety, fast internet, and biking, and lowest on air quality and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dakota Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $615,128. The overall cost of living runs about 3% above the national average. Set against a $125,878 median income, cost of living beats 80% of cities.
Is Dakota Ridge safe?
Dakota Ridge is safer than 52% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $407 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Dakota Ridge?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 18. That works out to about 150 pleasant days a year, more than 83% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Dakota Ridge?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Foothill Green South & Foothill Green, Westgold Meadows, and Summit Ridge at West Meadows & Alkire Acres. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Dakota Ridge with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dakota Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dakota Ridge 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.
Dakota Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dakota Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dakota Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dakota Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dakota Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dakota Ridge 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.