Best PlacesEast Boulder, Boulder, CO Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around East Boulder, Boulder, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

East Boulder, Boulder ranks 3,740th of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.

#3,740
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in East Boulder, Boulder

Map of the best neighborhoods in the East Boulder, Boulder area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

East Boulder, Boulder's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Heat safety
Top 10%Biking
Top 10%Civic engagement
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare East Boulder, Boulder with other neighborhoods.

Where East Boulder, Boulder ranks high

  • Heat safetyBetter than 97% of neighborhoods
  • BikingBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
  • Voter turnoutBetter than 93% of neighborhoods
  • Low property taxBetter than 92% of neighborhoods
  • Health outlookBetter than 90% of neighborhoods

Where East Boulder, Boulder ranks low

  • Internet speedBetter than only 6% of neighborhoods
  • Air qualityBetter than only 8% of neighborhoods
  • State fiscal healthBetter than only 10% of neighborhoods
  • Cheap childcare$1,834 a month, better than only 10% of neighborhoods
  • Local economyBetter than only 15% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in East Boulder, Boulder

A household needs to earn about $118,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Boulder, Boulder home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $87,106, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$118,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$2,750
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $469,485 home
Median rent
$2,200
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$2,394
Property tax$200
Homeowners insurance$156

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 East Boulder, Boulder's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in East Boulder, Boulder

East Boulder, Boulder runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.

Median age
43
older than the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
21%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.0
below the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1813%
18 to 3424%
35 to 4923%
50 to 6419%
65 and older21%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for East Boulder, Boulder.


Who works in East Boulder, Boulder, and how

Work in East Boulder, Boulder centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
50%
above the national average
Unemployment
7.3%
above the national average
Job growth
+3.2%
/y 2019-2023, faster than the national pace

Largest industries

Professional & technical27%
Education18%
Health care & social8%
Hospitality & food7%
Construction6%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 38%
  • Work from home 50%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 12%

Life in East Boulder, Boulder

East Boulder, Boulder has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of neighborhoods and more parkland per resident than 94% of neighborhoods. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of East Boulder, Boulder and thins out in others, which the map shows.

Places to eat and drink
89
restaurants, bars, and fast food, about 255.5 per 10,000 residents, more than 92% of neighborhoods
Coffee shops
14
about 40.2 per 10,000 residents, more than 94% of neighborhoods
Parkland
91 acres
about 26.2 acres per 1,000 residents, more than 94% of neighborhoods

What the weather is like in East Boulder, Boulder, month by month

East Boulder, Boulder sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January44°32°23°
April64°49°38°
July90°75°61°
October67°52°40°

Flying in and out of East Boulder, Boulder

Denver International sits about 32 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 40.1 million passengers in 2025, with 250 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
DEN
Denver International, about 32 miles
Airport size
Large hub
4th-busiest in the US, 250 nonstop destinations
Average drive
46 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around East Boulder, Boulder

Schools across East Boulder, Boulder average a C+, better than 56% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Boulder, Boulder school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


East Boulder, Boulder 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 East Boulder, Boulder against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in East Boulder, Boulder

Is East Boulder, Boulder a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Boulder, Boulder ranks 3,740th of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on heat safety, biking, and civic engagement, and lowest on internet speeds and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is East Boulder, Boulder expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $469,485. The overall cost of living runs about 14% above the national average. Set against a $87,106 median income, cost of living beats 54% of neighborhoods.

Is East Boulder, Boulder safe?

East Boulder, Boulder is safer than 18% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,289 per resident a year.


Compare East Boulder, Boulder with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Boulder, Boulder. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Boulder, Boulder 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.

East Boulder, Boulder detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for East Boulder, Boulder: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in East Boulder, Boulder: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of East Boulder, Boulder: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in East Boulder, Boulder: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

East Boulder, Boulder detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.