Best PlacesJefferson County, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Jefferson County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages hide a wide spread here, so the area matters as much as the address. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Jefferson County ranks 130th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $122,588, wages outrun the cost of living, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are childcare costs, air quality, and state finances.
The best neighborhoods in Jefferson 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.
The best areas in Jefferson County
The parts of Jefferson County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Fairmount
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more households have young kids.
Evergreen, Conifer & Morrison
Biking is worse and disaster risk is higher.
Dakota Ridge, Ken Caryl & Littleton
Advertised internet is faster.
Golden
More adults hold degrees, though it is noisier.
Columbine
Scores close to Golden, except that prices have run up less here.
Arvada
Lakewood
Crime runs higher.
Edgewater & Wheat Ridge
Streets are more walkable and transit reaches more jobs.
Broomfield & Westminster
Health care is harder to reach.
Jefferson County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 13% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Jefferson County's strengths and weaknesses
Jefferson County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Biking is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Population health and high incomes follow.
The one real hole is childcare costs, near the bottom of the country. Air quality and state finances also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Jefferson County ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of counties
- Household income$122,588 median, better than 97% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of counties
- TransitBetter than 97% of counties
Where Jefferson County ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,769 a month, better than only 1% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 13% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Jefferson County
A household needs to earn about $165,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Jefferson County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $122,588, 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 Jefferson County's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 Jefferson County
Jefferson County'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 Jefferson County.
Who works in Jefferson County, and how
Work in Jefferson County centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 26%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Jefferson County
Jefferson County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and more parkland per resident than 89% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Jefferson County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Jefferson County growing, and who is moving in?
Jefferson 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 Jefferson County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Jefferson County, month by month
Jefferson County sees roughly 125 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 89° | 75° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Jefferson County
Denver International sits about 26 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 Jefferson County
Schools across Jefferson County average a B+, better than 87% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Dennison Elementary SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
- Parmalee Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Ralston Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manning Options SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Evergreen Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Bradford K8 NorthB+ · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Evergreen High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- D'evelyn Junior/senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Ralston Valley Senior High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Jefferson County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Jefferson 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 Jefferson County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Jefferson County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 26% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Jefferson County
Is Jefferson County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Jefferson County ranks 130th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on biking, population health, and high incomes, and lowest on childcare costs and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Jefferson County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $655,174. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $122,588 median income, cost of living beats 97% of counties.
Is Jefferson County safe?
Jefferson County is safer than 32% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $561 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Jefferson County?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 25. That works out to about 125 pleasant days a year, more than 78% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Jefferson County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Fairmount, Evergreen, Conifer & Morrison, and Dakota Ridge, Ken Caryl & Littleton. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Jefferson County good for families?
Schools beat 87% of counties, crime safety beats 32%, and childcare runs $1,769 a month.
Is Jefferson County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 97% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 84% of counties. About 26% of workers already work from home.
Compare Jefferson County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Jefferson County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Jefferson 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.
Jefferson County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Jefferson County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Jefferson County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Jefferson County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Jefferson County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Jefferson 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.