Best PlacesOuray, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ouray, 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.
Ouray ranks 4,538th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on walkability by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ouray
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.
Ouray's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ouray ranks high
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 195 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
Where Ouray ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,514 a month, better than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ouray
A household needs to earn about $151,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ouray home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $84,137, 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 Ouray's effective rate of 0.27%, 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 Ouray
Ouray 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 Ouray.
Who works in Ouray, and how
Work in Ouray centers on hospitality & food and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Ouray
Ouray has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ouray and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ouray, month by month
Ouray sees roughly 195 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 25° | 18° |
| April | 51° | 40° | 31° |
| July | 76° | 63° | 53° |
| October | 57° | 45° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Ouray
The nearest airport, Telluride Regional, is about 14 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 205 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ouray
Schools across Ouray average a B, better than 72% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ridgway Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Ouray Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ouray Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Ridgway Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Ouray Senior High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Ridgway High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ouray school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ouray 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 Ouray against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ouray
Is Ouray a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ouray ranks 4,538th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on walkability, the weather, and heat safety, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ouray expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $624,280. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $84,137 median income, cost of living beats 41% of towns.
Is Ouray safe?
Yes, Ouray is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $432 per resident a year.
Compare Ouray with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ouray. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ouray 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.
Ouray detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ouray: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ouray: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ouray: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ouray: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ouray 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.