Best PlacesManitou Springs, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Manitou Springs, 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.
Manitou Springs ranks 11,899th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Manitou Springs
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.
Manitou Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Manitou Springs ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- TransitBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 96% of towns
Where Manitou Springs ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,474 a month, better than only 4% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Manitou Springs
A household needs to earn about $132,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Manitou Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $89,485, 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 Manitou Springs' effective rate of 0.47%, 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 Manitou Springs
Manitou Springs 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 Manitou Springs.
Who works in Manitou Springs, and how
Work in Manitou Springs centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 64%
- Work from home 28%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Manitou Springs
Manitou Springs has more restaurants and bars per resident than 91% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Manitou Springs and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Manitou Springs, month by month
Manitou Springs sees roughly 110 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 84 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 31° | 22° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 34° |
| July | 84° | 72° | 61° |
| October | 64° | 51° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Manitou Springs
The nearest airport, City of Colorado Springs Municipal, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 71 miles away.
The best schools in and around Manitou Springs
Schools across Manitou Springs average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Manitou Springs Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Ute Pass Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Howbert Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Holmes Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Manitou Springs Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Manitou Springs High SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Coronado High SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Manitou Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Manitou Springs 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 Manitou Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Manitou Springs
Is Manitou Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Manitou Springs ranks 11,899th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, 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 Manitou Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $528,184. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $89,485 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Manitou Springs safe?
Manitou Springs is safer than 23% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $610 per resident a year.
Compare Manitou Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Manitou Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Manitou Springs 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.
Manitou Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Manitou Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Manitou Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Manitou Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Manitou Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Manitou Springs 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.