Best PlacesOuray, UT 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. 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.
Ouray ranks 43,088th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
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
- Nice weatherabout 161 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 86% of towns
Where Ouray ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 5% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ouray
A household needs to earn about $58,000 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 $46,006, 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 0.47%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Ouray
Ouray runs older than the country.
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 public administration and utilities. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Ouray
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Ouray.
What the weather is like in Ouray, month by month
Ouray sees roughly 161 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 32, with lows near 8. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 32° | 20° | 8° |
| April | 65° | 48° | 31° |
| July | 95° | 77° | 57° |
| October | 65° | 48° | 33° |
Flying in and out of Ouray
The nearest airport, Vernal Regional, is about 21 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 119 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ouray
Schools across Ouray average a D, better than 5% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Myton SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Uintah Online SchoolD · 19% proficient
- Lapoint SchoolD · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Union HighC− · 30% proficient
- Uintah HighC− · 26% 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 43,088th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low disaster risk, and state infrastructure, and lowest on tree cover and air quality. 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 $230,465. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $46,006 median income, cost of living beats 6% of towns.
Is Ouray safe?
Ouray is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $595 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.