Best PlacesFremont County, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Fremont County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Fremont County ranks 2,029th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fremont 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 Fremont County
The parts of Fremont 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.
Lincoln Park
Crime runs lower, biking is better, and advertised internet is faster.
Canon City
Commutes are shorter, though fewer households have young kids.
Penrose
Local pay stretches further, though health care is harder to reach.
Florence
Incomes run lower and fewer adults hold degrees.
Scores across Fremont County run from about the 7th to the 62nd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Fremont County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fremont County ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 82% of counties
- TransitBetter than 76% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 74% of counties
Where Fremont County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 18% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 19% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 26% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Fremont County
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fremont County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $64,295, 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 Fremont County's effective rate of 0.38%, 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 Fremont County
Fremont County 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 Fremont County.
Who works in Fremont County, and how
Work in Fremont County centers on health care & social and public administration. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Fremont County
Fremont County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fremont County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Fremont County growing, and who is moving in?
Fremont County has grown about 9% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Colorado Springs, CO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Fremont County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Fremont County, month by month
Fremont County sees roughly 91 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 31° | 22° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Fremont County
The nearest airport, City of Colorado Springs Municipal, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 103 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fremont County
Schools across Fremont County average a C−, better than 27% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Longfellow Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Canon Exploratory SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Mount View Core Knowledge Charter SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crest AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- Canon City Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Custer Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Salida High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Custer County High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Canon City High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fremont County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fremont 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 Fremont County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Fremont County suits
Common questions about living in Fremont County
Is Fremont County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fremont County ranks 2,029th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, low property taxes, and civic engagement, and lowest on air quality and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fremont County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $326,049. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $64,295 median income, cost of living beats 27% of counties.
Is Fremont County safe?
Fremont County is safer than 36% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $538 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Fremont County?
July highs average about 84 degrees, and January highs near 43 with lows near 22. That works out to about 91 pleasant days a year, more than 52% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Fremont County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lincoln Park, Canon City, and Penrose. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Fremont County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fremont County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fremont 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.
Fremont County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fremont County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fremont County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fremont County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fremont County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fremont 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.