Best PlacesFort Lyon, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Lyon, 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.
Fort Lyon ranks 44,692nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on clean air by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Lyon
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.
Fort Lyon's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Lyon ranks high
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 144 pleasant days a year, better than 91% of towns
- Cheap childcare$533 a month, better than 89% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 72% of towns
- QuietBetter than 66% of towns
Where Fort Lyon ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Household income$45,990 median, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Lyon
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Lyon home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,990, 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 Fort Lyon's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Fort Lyon
Fort Lyon 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 Fort Lyon.
Who works in Fort Lyon, and how
Work in Fort Lyon centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Fort Lyon
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fort Lyon.
What the weather is like in Fort Lyon, month by month
Fort Lyon sees roughly 144 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 31° | 16° |
| April | 74° | 54° | 36° |
| July | 97° | 79° | 63° |
| October | 75° | 55° | 38° |
Flying in and out of Fort Lyon
The nearest airport, Pueblo Memorial, is about 72 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fort Lyon
Schools across Fort Lyon average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mcclave Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Las Animas Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Las Animas Junior High SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Mcclave Undivided High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
- Las Animas High SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Lyon school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Lyon 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 Fort Lyon against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fort Lyon
Is Fort Lyon a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Lyon ranks 44,692nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on clean air, the weather, and affordable childcare, and lowest on crime and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Lyon expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $147,292. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $45,990 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Fort Lyon safe?
Fort Lyon is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $967 per resident a year.
Compare Fort Lyon with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Lyon. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Lyon 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.
Fort Lyon detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Lyon: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Lyon: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Lyon: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Lyon: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Lyon 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.