Best PlacesDenver, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Denver, 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.
Denver ranks 27,594th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and education levels rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Denver
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.
Denver's strengths and weaknesses
Where Denver ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 90% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 82% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 80% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 78% of towns
Where Denver ranks low
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 11% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 15% of towns
- Short commute32.7 minutes each way, better than only 21% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 24% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 28% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Denver
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Denver home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,645, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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's effective rate of 1.05%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Denver
Denver's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Denver.
Who works in Denver, and how
Work in Denver centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Denver
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Denver.
What the weather is like in Denver, month by month
Denver sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 31° | 22° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 87° | 75° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 57° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Denver
The nearest airport, Rickenbacker International, is about 42 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 55 miles away.
The best schools in and around Denver
Schools across Denver average a B−, better than 54% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Waverly Intermediate SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Huntington Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Huntington Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Waverly Junior High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Huntington High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Waverly High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Denver school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Denver 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Denver
Is Denver a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Denver ranks 27,594th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, a stable housing market, and low taxes, and lowest on education levels and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Denver expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $149,269. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $64,645 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Denver safe?
Yes, Denver is safer than 57% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $258 per resident a year.
Compare Denver with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Denver. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Denver 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Denver: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Denver: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Denver: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Denver: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Denver 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.