Best PlacesDenver County, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Denver County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Denver County ranks 350th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $108,396, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, air quality, and noise.
The best neighborhoods in Denver 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 Denver County
The parts of Denver 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.
Denver
Streets are more walkable, more adults hold degrees, and health care is easier to reach.
Aurora
More households have young kids and crime runs lower.
Littleton & Englewood
Local pay stretches less far and incomes run lower.
Denver County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 4% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Denver County's strengths and weaknesses
Denver County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Biking is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Transit and population health follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Air quality and noise also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Denver County ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 99% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of counties
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of counties
Where Denver County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,827 a month, better than only 1% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 3% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 9% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Denver County
A household needs to earn about $164,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Denver County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $108,396, 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 Denver County's effective rate of 0.48%, 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 Denver County
Denver County runs younger 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 Denver County.
Who works in Denver County, and how
Work in Denver County centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 63%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Denver County
Denver County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 78% of counties and more parkland per resident than 77% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Denver County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Denver County growing, and who is moving in?
Denver County has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Denver, CO metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Denver County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Denver County, month by month
Denver County sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 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 | 65° | 48° | 32° |
| July | 92° | 74° | 59° |
| October | 70° | 51° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Denver County
Denver International sits about 18 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 Denver County
Schools across Denver County average a D+, better than 18% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Polaris Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Slavens K-8 SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- William (bill) Roberts Ece-8 SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Mcauliffe International SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Manning Options SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Campus Middle SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- D'evelyn Junior/senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Denver School Of The ArtsA · 69% proficient
- George Washington High SchoolA− · 61% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Denver County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Denver 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 Denver County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Denver County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 26% already work from home.
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Denver County
Is Denver County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Denver County ranks 350th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on biking, transit, and population health, and lowest on childcare costs and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Denver County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $655,979. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $108,396 median income, cost of living beats 92% of counties.
Is Denver County safe?
Denver County is safer than 12% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $774 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Denver County?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 18. That works out to about 92 pleasant days a year, more than 54% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Denver County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Denver, Aurora, and Littleton & Englewood. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Denver County good for families?
Schools beat 18% of counties, crime safety beats 12%, and childcare runs $1,827 a month.
Is Denver County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 92% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 75% of counties. About 26% of workers already work from home.
Compare Denver County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Denver County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Denver 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.
Denver County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Denver County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Denver County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Denver County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Denver County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Denver 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.