Best PlacesLake County, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lake County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lake County ranks 1,500th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lake 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.
Lake County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lake County ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 97% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than 96% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of counties
Where Lake County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of counties
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 6% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of counties
- School gradeD+, better than only 11% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lake County
A household needs to earn about $127,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lake County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $96,117, 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 Lake County's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Lake County
Lake County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lake County.
Who works in Lake County, and how
Work in Lake County centers on construction and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Lake County
Lake County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Lake County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lake County growing, and who is moving in?
Lake County has grown about 1% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Rutland County, VT.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lake County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lake County, month by month
Lake County sees roughly 85 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 Lake County
The nearest airport, Aspen-Pitkin County/Sardy Field, is about 30 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 97 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lake County
Schools across Lake County average a D+, better than 11% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Lake County Intermediate SchoolD− · 13% proficient
Top high schools
- Lake County High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lake County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lake 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 Lake County against the other 3,143 counties.
Common questions about living in Lake County
Is Lake County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lake County ranks 1,500th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, population health, and low disaster risk, and lowest on air quality and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lake County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $495,569. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $96,117 median income, cost of living beats 83% of counties.
Is Lake County safe?
Lake County is safer than 2% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,104 per resident a year.
Compare Lake County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lake County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lake 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.
Lake County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lake County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lake County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lake County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lake County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lake 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.