Best PlacesOpal, WY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Opal, 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.
Opal ranks 7,069th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Opal
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.
Opal's strengths and weaknesses
Where Opal ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 175 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
Where Opal ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Opal
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Opal home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $126,500, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Opal's effective rate of 0.44%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Opal
Opal runs older than the country, though fewer residents are over 65 than the national share, 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 Opal.
Who works in Opal, and how
Work in Opal centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Opal
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Opal.
What the weather is like in Opal, month by month
Opal sees roughly 175 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 28, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28° | 20° | 13° |
| April | 50° | 38° | 28° |
| July | 82° | 66° | 49° |
| October | 55° | 41° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Opal
The nearest airport, Southwest Wyoming Regional, is about 65 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 110 miles away.
The best schools in and around Opal
Schools across Opal average a B+, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Canyon Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Kemmerer Junior Senior High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Opal school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Opal 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 Opal against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Opal
Is Opal a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Opal ranks 7,069th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, low taxes, and what local pay buys, and lowest on a weak job market and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Opal expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $306,100. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $126,500 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Opal safe?
Opal is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $361 per resident a year.
Compare Opal with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Opal. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Opal 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.
Opal detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Opal: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Opal: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Opal: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Opal: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Opal 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.