Best PlacesGarden County, NE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Garden County, 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.
Garden County ranks 2,824th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Garden 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.
Garden County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Garden County ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 98% of counties
- Short commute13.2 minutes each way, better than 98% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than 96% of counties
- State infrastructureBetter than 83% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than 79% of counties
Where Garden County ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 1% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 4% of counties
- Household income$46,301 median, better than only 4% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 4% of counties
- Low vacancyBetter than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Garden County
A household needs to earn about $29,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Garden County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $46,301, 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 Garden County's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Garden County
Garden 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 Garden County.
Who works in Garden County, and how
Work in Garden County centers on agriculture & forestry and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Garden County
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Garden County.
Is Garden County growing, and who is moving in?
Garden County has lost about 6% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Stone County, MO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Garden County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Garden County, month by month
Garden County sees roughly 92 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 26° | 13° |
| April | 65° | 46° | 30° |
| July | 92° | 74° | 58° |
| October | 66° | 48° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Garden County
The nearest airport, Alliance Municipal, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 164 miles away.
The best schools in and around Garden County
Schools across Garden County average a B, better than 76% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Garden County Elementary SchB · 45% proficient
- So Platte Elem At Big SpringsD+ · 25% proficient
- Julesburg Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Revere Junior-senior High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Garden County Junior/senior High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- South Platte High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Garden County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Garden 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 Garden County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Garden County
Is Garden County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Garden County ranks 2,824th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on state finances, short commutes, and clean air, and lowest on noise and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Garden County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $110,155. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $46,301 median income, cost of living beats 4% of counties.
Is Garden County safe?
Garden County is safer than 8% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $612 per resident a year.
Compare Garden County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Garden County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Garden 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.
Garden County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Garden County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Garden County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Garden County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Garden County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Garden 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.