Best PlacesGilpin County, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Gilpin County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Gilpin County ranks 1,323rd 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 Gilpin 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.
Gilpin County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gilpin County ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of counties
Where Gilpin County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 54 pleasant days a year, better than only 2% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than only 2% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of counties
- Cheap childcare$1,309 a month, better than only 6% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Gilpin County
A household needs to earn about $137,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gilpin County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $94,900, 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 Gilpin 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 Gilpin County
Gilpin 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 Gilpin County.
Who works in Gilpin County, and how
Work in Gilpin County centers on arts & entertainment and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Gilpin County
Gilpin County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Gilpin County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Gilpin County growing, and who is moving in?
Gilpin County has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Denver, CO metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Gilpin County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Gilpin County, month by month
Gilpin County sees roughly 54 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 Gilpin County
Denver International sits about 43 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 Gilpin County
Schools across Gilpin County average a B, better than 73% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Gilpin County Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- Coal Creek Canyon K-8 Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Pioneer Bilingual Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clear Creek Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- New Vista High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Clear Creek High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Gilpin County Undivided High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gilpin County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gilpin 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 Gilpin County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Gilpin County
Is Gilpin County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gilpin County ranks 1,323rd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, civic engagement, and an educated workforce, and lowest on air quality and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gilpin County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $556,513. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $94,900 median income, cost of living beats 81% of counties.
Is Gilpin County safe?
Gilpin County is safer than 30% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $553 per resident a year.
Compare Gilpin County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gilpin County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gilpin 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.
Gilpin County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gilpin County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gilpin County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gilpin County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gilpin County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gilpin 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.