Best PlacesRand, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rand, 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.
Rand ranks 40,510th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and the weather ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rand
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.
Rand's strengths and weaknesses
Where Rand ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of towns
Where Rand ranks low
- Nice weatherabout 36 pleasant days a year, better than only 1% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rand
A household needs to earn about $98,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rand home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $77,351, 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 Rand's effective rate of 0.28%, 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 Rand
Rand 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 Rand.
Who works in Rand, and how
Work in Rand centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 54%
- Work from home 34%
- Transit, walk, or bike 13%
Life in Rand
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rand.
What the weather is like in Rand, month by month
Rand sees roughly 36 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 27, with lows near 3. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 27° | 15° | 3° |
| April | 53° | 37° | 23° |
| July | 81° | 61° | 42° |
| October | 58° | 39° | 24° |
Flying in and out of Rand
The nearest airport, Yampa Valley, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rand
Schools across Rand average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Strawberry Park Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Granby Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- West Grand Elementary And Middle SchoolC− · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Steamboat Springs Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- East Grand Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Estes Park Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
Top high schools
- Steamboat Springs High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Estes Park High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Middle Park High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rand school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rand 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 Rand against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rand
Is Rand a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rand ranks 40,510th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, heat safety, and quiet, and lowest on the weather and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rand expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $405,287. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $77,351 median income, cost of living beats 49% of towns.
Is Rand safe?
Rand is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $939 per resident a year.
Compare Rand with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rand. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rand 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.
Rand detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rand: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rand: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rand: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rand: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rand 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.