Best PlacesRidgway, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ridgway, 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.
Ridgway ranks 15,952nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ridgway
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.
Ridgway's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ridgway ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 200 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
Where Ridgway ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,522 a month, better than only 2% 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 Ridgway
A household needs to earn about $194,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ridgway home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $93,243, 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 Ridgway's effective rate of 0.25%, 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 Ridgway
Ridgway 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 Ridgway.
Who works in Ridgway, and how
Work in Ridgway centers on professional & technical and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Ridgway
Ridgway has more restaurants and bars per resident than 90% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Ridgway and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ridgway, month by month
Ridgway sees roughly 200 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 Ridgway
The nearest airport, Telluride Regional, is about 17 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 203 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ridgway
Schools across Ridgway average a C+, better than 53% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ridgway Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Crested Butte Elementary SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Telluride Intermediate SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top middle schools
- Telluride Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Ouray Middle SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- Ridgway Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Ouray Senior High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Telluride High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Montrose High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ridgway school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ridgway 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 Ridgway against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ridgway
Is Ridgway a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ridgway ranks 15,952nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and heat safety, and lowest on an overheated housing market and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ridgway expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $802,275. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $93,243 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Ridgway safe?
Ridgway is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $898 per resident a year.
Compare Ridgway with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ridgway. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ridgway 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.
Ridgway detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ridgway: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ridgway: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ridgway: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ridgway: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ridgway 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.