Best PlacesNiwot, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Niwot, 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.
Niwot ranks 1,107th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Niwot
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.
Niwot's strengths and weaknesses
Where Niwot ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 99% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$175,604 median, better than 99% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 98% of towns
Where Niwot ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,834 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 15% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 66 pleasant days a year, better than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Niwot
A household needs to earn about $251,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Niwot home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $175,604, 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 Niwot'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 Niwot
Niwot runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Niwot.
Who works in Niwot, and how
Work in Niwot centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 53%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Niwot
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Niwot.
What the weather is like in Niwot, month by month
Niwot sees roughly 66 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 31° | 18° |
| April | 68° | 50° | 35° |
| July | 94° | 76° | 59° |
| October | 71° | 52° | 37° |
Flying in and out of Niwot
Denver International sits about 32 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 Niwot
Schools across Niwot average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Blue Mountain ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Niwot Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Pioneer Bilingual Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top middle schools
- Altona Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- Nevin Platt Middle SchoolB · 47% proficient
- Sunset Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Silver Creek High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
- Niwot High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- New Vista High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Niwot school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Niwot 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 Niwot against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Niwot
Is Niwot a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Niwot ranks 1,107th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, population health, and what local pay buys, 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 Niwot expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $998,172. The overall cost of living runs about 7% above the national average. Set against a $175,604 median income, cost of living beats 99% of towns.
Is Niwot safe?
Niwot is safer than 32% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $510 per resident a year.
Compare Niwot with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Niwot. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Niwot 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.
Niwot detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Niwot: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Niwot: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Niwot: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Niwot: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Niwot 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.