Best PlacesLafayette, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lafayette, 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.
Lafayette ranks 471st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on population health by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lafayette
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.
Lafayette's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lafayette ranks high
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of cities
- BikingBetter than 97% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 93% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of cities
Where Lafayette ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,834 a month, better than only 6% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than only 24% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Lafayette
A household needs to earn about $182,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lafayette home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $123,234, 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 Lafayette's effective rate of 0.52%, 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 Lafayette
Lafayette'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 Lafayette.
Who works in Lafayette, and how
Work in Lafayette centers on professional & technical and manufacturing. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Lafayette
Lafayette has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of cities and more parkland per resident than 91% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lafayette and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Lafayette, month by month
Lafayette sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 16. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 28° | 16° |
| April | 65° | 48° | 34° |
| July | 91° | 74° | 58° |
| October | 68° | 50° | 35° |
Flying in and out of Lafayette
Denver International sits about 24 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 Lafayette
Schools across Lafayette average a C+, better than 41% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Niwot Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Red Hawk ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Lafayette Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
Top middle schools
- Nevin Platt Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Louisville Middle SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Erie Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Monarch High SchoolA− · 66% proficient
- Centaurus High SchoolA− · 59% proficient
- Niwot High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lafayette school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lafayette 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 Lafayette against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Lafayette suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 76% of cities and 29% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Lafayette
Is Lafayette a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lafayette ranks 471st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on population health, biking, and heat safety, and lowest on air quality and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lafayette expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $724,708. The overall cost of living runs about 8% above the national average. Set against a $123,234 median income, cost of living beats 76% of cities.
Is Lafayette safe?
Lafayette is safer than 41% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $460 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lafayette?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 16. That works out to about 78 pleasant days a year, more than 42% of cities.
Is Lafayette good for families?
Schools beat 41% of cities, crime safety beats 41%, and childcare runs $1,834 a month.
Compare Lafayette with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lafayette. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lafayette 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.
Lafayette detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lafayette: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lafayette: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lafayette: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lafayette: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lafayette 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.