Best PlacesDouglas County, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Douglas 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.
Douglas County ranks 8th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $160,799, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, air quality, and state finances.
The best neighborhoods in Douglas 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 Douglas County
The parts of Douglas 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.
Roxborough Park
Incomes run higher, local pay stretches further, and crime runs lower.
Highlands Ranch
Biking is better, though it is noisier.
Castle Pines North
More adults hold degrees and schools score higher.
Parker
Prices have run up less and advertised internet is faster.
Franktown
More households have young kids, though commutes are longer.
Lone Tree, Littleton & Englewood
Transit reaches more jobs and streets are more walkable.
Stonegate & Aurora
Castle Rock
Larkspur & Sedalia
Tree cover is thicker, though disaster risk is higher.
Scores across Douglas County run from about the 19th to the 100th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Douglas County's strengths and weaknesses
Douglas County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. What local pay buys is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. High incomes and population health follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Air quality and state finances also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Douglas County ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of counties
- Household income$160,799 median, better than 99% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than 99% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of counties
Where Douglas County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,607 a month, better than only 1% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 16% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 25% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Douglas County
A household needs to earn about $190,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Douglas County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $160,799, 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 Douglas County's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Douglas County
Douglas County'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 Douglas County.
Who works in Douglas County, and how
Work in Douglas County 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 66%
- Work from home 31%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Douglas County
Douglas County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 77% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Douglas County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Douglas County growing, and who is moving in?
Douglas County has grown about 25% 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 Douglas County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Douglas County, month by month
Douglas County sees roughly 151 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 Douglas County
Denver International sits about 28 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 Douglas County
Schools across Douglas County average a B, better than 76% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Parker Core Knowledge Charter SchoolA+ · 81% proficient
- Cherry Valley Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Timber Trail Elementary SchoolA · 70% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rocky Heights Middle SchoolA− · 55% proficient
- Ranch View Middle SchoolA− · 52% proficient
- Mountain Ridge Middle SchoolB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Rock Canyon High SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Palmer Ridge High SchoolA · 68% proficient
- Colorado Early Colleges Douglas CountyA− · 67% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Douglas County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Douglas 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 Douglas County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Douglas County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 100% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 31% already work from home.
Retirees
The weather beats 92% of counties and health care access beats 57%.
Common questions about living in Douglas County
Is Douglas County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Douglas County ranks 8th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on what local pay buys, high incomes, 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 Douglas County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $748,938. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $160,799 median income, cost of living beats 100% of counties.
Is Douglas County safe?
Yes, Douglas County is safer than 84% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $362 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Douglas County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 18. That works out to about 151 pleasant days a year, more than 92% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Douglas County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Roxborough Park, Highlands Ranch, and Castle Pines North. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Douglas County good for families?
Schools beat 76% of counties, crime safety beats 84%, and childcare runs $1,607 a month.
Is Douglas County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 100% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 74% of counties. About 31% of workers already work from home.
Compare Douglas County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Douglas County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Douglas 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.
Douglas County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Douglas County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Douglas County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Douglas County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Douglas County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Douglas 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.