Best PlacesDelta County, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Delta County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Delta County ranks 1,920th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Delta 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.
The best areas in Delta County
The parts of Delta County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Paonia
More adults hold degrees, it is quieter, and local pay stretches further.
Orchard City
Hotchkiss
Prices have run up less, though fewer households have young kids.
Cedaredge
More homes sit empty and commutes are longer.
Delta
Biking is better, though incomes run lower.
Scores across Delta County run from about the 9th to the 71st percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Delta County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Delta County ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 153 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 88% of counties
Where Delta County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 15% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Delta County
A household needs to earn about $84,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Delta County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $58,285, 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 Delta County's effective rate of 0.34%, 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 Delta County
Delta 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 Delta County.
Who works in Delta County, and how
Work in Delta County centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Delta County
Delta County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 66% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Delta County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Delta County growing, and who is moving in?
Delta County has grown about 8% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Grand Junction, CO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Delta County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Delta County, month by month
Delta County sees roughly 153 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 31° | 22° |
| April | 71° | 54° | 39° |
| July | 98° | 80° | 63° |
| October | 71° | 53° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Delta County
The nearest airport, Montrose Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 188 miles away.
The best schools in and around Delta County
Schools across Delta County average a D+, better than 16% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- North Fork School Of Integrated StudiesA+ · 75% proficient
- Paonia K-8B+ · 55% proficient
- North Fork Montessori @ CrawfordB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Delta Academy Of Applied LearningB+ · 52% proficient
- Cedaredge Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Delta Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Cedaredge High SchoolC · 34% proficient
- North Fork High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Vision Charter AcademyC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Delta County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Delta 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 Delta County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Delta County suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Delta County
Is Delta County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Delta County ranks 1,920th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on fast internet, low disaster risk, and low property taxes, 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 Delta County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $342,325. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $58,285 median income, cost of living beats 15% of counties.
Is Delta County safe?
Delta County is safer than 46% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $515 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Delta County?
July highs average about 98 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 22. That works out to about 153 pleasant days a year, more than 93% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Delta County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Paonia, Orchard City, and Hotchkiss. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Delta County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Delta County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Delta 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.
Delta County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Delta County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Delta County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Delta County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Delta County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Delta 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.