Best PlacesGrand Junction, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Grand Junction metro, 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.
Photo by Eleaf, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Grand Junction ranks 223rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It does not top any single list, but it lands above the national middle on low disaster risk and low property taxes. The weaker spots are distance from a big city, internet speeds, and air quality.
The best neighborhoods in the Grand Junction metro
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 Grand Junction
The towns and districts of the Grand Junction metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Redlands
More adults hold degrees, incomes run higher, and local pay stretches further.
Fruita
Fewer homes sit empty and crime runs lower.
Orchard Mesa
More households have young kids, though health care is harder to reach.
Downtown Grand Junction
Biking is better and streets are more walkable.
Palisade
Commutes are longer and prices have run up more.
Clifton & Fruitvale
Homes cost less.
Grand Junction shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 12% of the country and others in the top 7%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Grand Junction's strengths and weaknesses
Grand Junction lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low disaster risk is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Low property taxes and short commutes follow.
The one real hole is distance from a big city, near the bottom of the country. Internet speeds and air quality also cost it ground. That one depends almost entirely on which part you pick, which is what the map below settles.
Where Grand Junction ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Short commute18.9 minutes each way, better than 92% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 157 pleasant days a year, better than 89% of metro areas
- Voter turnoutBetter than 89% of metro areas
Where Grand Junction ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of metro areas
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 11% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Grand Junction
A household needs to earn about $99,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Grand Junction home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $79,356, 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 Grand Junction's effective rate of 0.39%, 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 Grand Junction
Grand Junction's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Grand Junction.
Who works in Grand Junction, and how
Work in Grand Junction centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Grand Junction
Grand Junction has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Grand Junction and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Grand Junction growing, and who is moving in?
Grand Junction has grown about 10% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Denver, CO.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Grand Junction go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Grand Junction, month by month
Grand Junction sees roughly 157 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 Grand Junction
The nearest airport, Grand Junction Regional, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 214 miles away.
The best schools in and around Grand Junction
Schools across Grand Junction average a C−, better than 17% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- New Emerson School At ColumbusA · 68% proficient
- Wingate Elementary SchoolA− · 61% proficient
- Scenic Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Redlands Middle SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- West Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- East Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Fruita Monument High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Palisade High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Grand Junction High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Grand Junction school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Grand Junction 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 Grand Junction against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Grand Junction suits
Common questions about living in Grand Junction
Is Grand Junction a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Grand Junction ranks 223rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low disaster risk, low property taxes, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Grand Junction expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $401,903. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $79,356 median income, cost of living beats 28% of metro areas.
Is Grand Junction safe?
Grand Junction is safer than 36% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $529 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Grand Junction?
July highs average about 98 degrees, and January highs near 41 with lows near 18. That works out to about 157 pleasant days a year, more than 89% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Grand Junction?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Redlands, Fruita, and Orchard Mesa. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Grand Junction good for families?
Schools beat 17% of metro areas, crime safety beats 36%, and childcare runs $974 a month.
Is Grand Junction good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 28% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 5% of metro areas. About 14% of workers already work from home.
Compare Grand Junction with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Grand Junction. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Grand Junction 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.
Grand Junction detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Grand Junction: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Grand Junction: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Grand Junction: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Grand Junction: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Grand Junction 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.