Best PlacesFruita, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fruita, 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.
Fruita ranks 7,883rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Fruita
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.
Fruita's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fruita ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 156 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 94% of towns
Where Fruita ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 11% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fruita
A household needs to earn about $113,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fruita home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $93,174, 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 Fruita's effective rate of 0.40%, 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 Fruita
Fruita runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Fruita.
Who works in Fruita, and how
Work in Fruita centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Fruita
Fruita has more restaurants and bars per resident than 68% of towns and more parkland per resident than 84% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Fruita and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Fruita, month by month
Fruita sees roughly 156 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 29° | 18° |
| April | 70° | 53° | 37° |
| July | 98° | 82° | 64° |
| October | 70° | 54° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Fruita
The nearest airport, Grand Junction Regional, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 206 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fruita
Schools across Fruita average a C+, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Appleton Elementary SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Loma Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Monument Ridge Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fruita Middle SchoolD+ · 26% proficient
Top high schools
- Fruita Monument High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fruita school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fruita 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 Fruita against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fruita
Is Fruita a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fruita ranks 7,883rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, biking, 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 Fruita expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $456,612. The overall cost of living runs about 0% below the national average. Set against a $93,174 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Fruita safe?
Yes, Fruita is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $352 per resident a year.
Compare Fruita with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fruita. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fruita 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.
Fruita detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fruita: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fruita: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fruita: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fruita: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fruita 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.