Best PlacesEstes Park, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Estes Park, 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.
Estes Park ranks 16,592nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Estes Park
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.
Estes Park's strengths and weaknesses
Where Estes Park ranks high
- Internet speedBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute12.9 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
Where Estes Park ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,660 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Estes Park
A household needs to earn about $170,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Estes Park home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $94,037, 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 Estes Park's effective rate of 0.35%, 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 Estes Park
Estes Park 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 Estes Park.
Who works in Estes Park, and how
Work in Estes Park centers on hospitality & food and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Estes Park
Estes Park has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Estes Park and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Estes Park, month by month
Estes Park sees roughly 70 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 70 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 20° | 12° |
| April | 43° | 31° | 22° |
| July | 70° | 56° | 43° |
| October | 50° | 37° | 27° |
Flying in and out of Estes Park
Denver International sits about 56 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 Estes Park
Schools across Estes Park average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Estes Park K-5 SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Estes Park Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Estes Park High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Estes Park school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Estes Park 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 Estes Park against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Estes Park
Is Estes Park a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Estes Park ranks 16,592nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on fast internet, short commutes, and civic engagement, and lowest on air quality and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Estes Park expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $694,208. The overall cost of living runs about 19% above the national average. Set against a $94,037 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Estes Park safe?
Estes Park is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $638 per resident a year.
Compare Estes Park with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Estes Park. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Estes Park 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.
Estes Park detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Estes Park: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Estes Park: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Estes Park: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Estes Park: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Estes Park 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.