Best PlacesHillside, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hillside, 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.
Hillside ranks 41,714th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hillside
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.
Hillside's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hillside ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 82% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 82% of towns
Where Hillside ranks low
- Short commute46.9 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 6% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hillside
A household needs to earn about $96,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hillside home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $60,195, 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 Hillside's effective rate of 0.30%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Hillside
Hillside 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 Hillside.
Who works in Hillside, and how
Work in Hillside centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Hillside
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hillside.
What the weather is like in Hillside, month by month
Hillside sees roughly 96 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 46° | 32° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 54° |
| October | 66° | 49° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Hillside
The nearest airport, Pueblo Memorial, is about 54 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 118 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hillside
Schools across Hillside average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cotopaxi Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Custer County Elementary SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crest AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- Custer Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Salida High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Custer County High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Cotopaxi Junior-senior High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hillside school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hillside 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 Hillside against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hillside
Is Hillside a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hillside ranks 41,714th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, quiet, and low property taxes, and lowest on long commutes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hillside expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $396,077. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $60,195 median income, cost of living beats 23% of towns.
Is Hillside safe?
Hillside is safer than 43% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $475 per resident a year.
Compare Hillside with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hillside. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hillside 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.
Hillside detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hillside: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hillside: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hillside: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hillside: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hillside 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.