Best PlacesRussell Gulch, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Russell Gulch, 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.
Russell Gulch ranks 37,054th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Russell Gulch
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.
Russell Gulch's strengths and weaknesses
Where Russell Gulch ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 95% of towns
Where Russell Gulch ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 7% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Russell Gulch
A household needs to earn about $109,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Russell Gulch home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,091, 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 Russell Gulch's effective rate of 0.46%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Russell Gulch
Russell Gulch 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 Russell Gulch.
Who works in Russell Gulch, and how
Work in Russell Gulch centers on professional & technical and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Russell Gulch
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Russell Gulch.
What the weather is like in Russell Gulch, month by month
Russell Gulch sees roughly 69 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 55 degrees. January highs sit near 15, with lows near 4. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 15° | 9° | 4° |
| April | 29° | 21° | 16° |
| July | 55° | 47° | 41° |
| October | 35° | 28° | 23° |
Flying in and out of Russell Gulch
Denver International sits about 47 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 40.1 million passengers in 2025, with 250 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Russell Gulch
Schools across Russell Gulch average a C, better than 32% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gilpin County Elementary SchoolA− · 60% proficient
- King-murphy Elementary SchoolC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clear Creek Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Clear Creek High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Gilpin County Undivided High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Russell Gulch school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Russell Gulch 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 Russell Gulch against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Russell Gulch
Is Russell Gulch a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Russell Gulch ranks 37,054th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, civic engagement, and an educated workforce, and lowest on air quality and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Russell Gulch expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $439,333. The overall cost of living runs about 9% above the national average. Set against a $81,091 median income, cost of living beats 39% of towns.
Is Russell Gulch safe?
Russell Gulch is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,051 per resident a year.
Compare Russell Gulch with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Russell Gulch. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Russell Gulch 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.
Russell Gulch detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Russell Gulch: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Russell Gulch: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Russell Gulch: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Russell Gulch: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Russell Gulch 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.