Best PlacesSalida, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Salida, 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.
Salida ranks 3,958th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Salida
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.
Salida's strengths and weaknesses
Where Salida ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
Where Salida ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,253 a month, better than only 12% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Salida
A household needs to earn about $162,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Salida home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $87,816, 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 Salida's effective rate of 0.31%, 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 Salida
Salida 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 Salida.
Who works in Salida, and how
Work in Salida centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 60%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in Salida
Salida has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Salida and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Salida, month by month
Salida sees roughly 150 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 19. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 29° | 19° |
| April | 62° | 46° | 32° |
| July | 85° | 68° | 54° |
| October | 66° | 49° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Salida
The nearest airport, Gunnison-Crested Butte Regional, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 116 miles away.
The best schools in and around Salida
Schools across Salida average an A−, better than 85% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Longfellow Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Salida Montessori Charter SchoolB · 48% proficient
- Cotopaxi Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Crest AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- Salida Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Buena Vista Middle SchoolC · 32% proficient
Top high schools
- Salida High SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Horizons Exploratory AcademyB− · 42% proficient
- Buena Vista High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Salida school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Salida 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 Salida against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Salida
Is Salida a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Salida ranks 3,958th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on biking, walkability, and low property taxes, and lowest on air quality and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Salida expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $662,377. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $87,816 median income, cost of living beats 59% of towns.
Is Salida safe?
Salida is safer than 25% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $581 per resident a year.
Compare Salida with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Salida. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Salida 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.
Salida detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Salida: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Salida: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Salida: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Salida: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Salida 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.