Best PlacesHoward, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Howard, 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.
Howard ranks 37,867th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Howard
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.
Howard's strengths and weaknesses
Where Howard ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 86% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 78% of towns
Where Howard ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 11% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Howard
A household needs to earn about $116,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Howard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $65,024, 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 Howard's effective rate of 0.28%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Howard
Howard 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 Howard.
Who works in Howard, and how
Work in Howard centers on manufacturing and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Howard
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Howard.
What the weather is like in Howard, month by month
Howard sees roughly 107 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 Howard
The nearest airport, Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional, is about 60 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 117 miles away.
The best schools in and around Howard
Schools across Howard average a B, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Longfellow Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Cotopaxi Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crest AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
Top high schools
- Salida High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Howard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Howard 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 Howard against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Howard
Is Howard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Howard ranks 37,867th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low property taxes, and heat safety, 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 Howard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $477,841. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $65,024 median income, cost of living beats 22% of towns.
Is Howard safe?
Howard is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $665 per resident a year.
Compare Howard with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Howard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Howard 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.
Howard detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Howard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Howard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Howard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Howard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Howard 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.