Best PlacesDunton, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dunton, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dunton ranks 43,094th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dunton
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.
Dunton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dunton ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 158 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 80% of towns
Where Dunton ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dunton
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dunton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $48,579, 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 Dunton's effective rate of 0.39%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Dunton
Dunton 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 Dunton.
Who works in Dunton, and how
Work in Dunton centers on education and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 27%
Life in Dunton
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dunton.
What the weather is like in Dunton, month by month
Dunton sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 51° | 40° | 31° |
| July | 76° | 63° | 53° |
| October | 57° | 45° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Dunton
The nearest airport, Telluride Regional, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 210 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dunton
Schools across Dunton average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Telluride Intermediate SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Seventh Street Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Telluride Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Telluride High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Dolores Secondary SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Dove Creek High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dunton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dunton 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 Dunton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dunton
Is Dunton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dunton ranks 43,094th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, quiet, and the weather, and lowest on cell coverage and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dunton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $459,306. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $48,579 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is Dunton safe?
Dunton is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $589 per resident a year.
Compare Dunton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dunton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dunton 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.
Dunton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dunton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dunton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dunton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dunton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dunton 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.