Best PlacesGranite, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Granite, 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.
Granite ranks 34,111th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Granite
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.
Granite's strengths and weaknesses
Where Granite ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- QuietBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 93% of towns
Where Granite ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Granite
A household needs to earn about $162,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Granite home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,675, 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 Granite's effective rate of 0.32%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Granite
Granite 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 Granite.
Who works in Granite, and how
Work in Granite centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 23%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Granite
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Granite.
What the weather is like in Granite, month by month
Granite sees roughly 122 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 75 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs July.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 17° | 3° |
| April | 46° | 32° | 18° |
| July | 75° | 57° | 38° |
| October | 54° | 37° | 22° |
Flying in and out of Granite
The nearest airport, Aspen-Pitkin County/Sardy Field, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 102 miles away.
The best schools in and around Granite
Schools across Granite average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Avery/parsons Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Edith Teter Elementary SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Buena Vista Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
- South Park Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Buena Vista High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- South Park High SchoolC · 30% proficient
- Lake County High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Granite school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Granite 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 Granite against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Granite
Is Granite a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Granite ranks 34,111th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, an educated workforce, and quiet, and lowest on air quality and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Granite expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $664,050. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $89,675 median income, cost of living beats 66% of towns.
Is Granite safe?
Granite is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $899 per resident a year.
Compare Granite with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Granite. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Granite 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.
Granite detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Granite: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Granite: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Granite: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Granite: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Granite 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.