Best PlacesSpar City, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Spar City, 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.
Spar City ranks 34,735th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and an overheated housing market is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Spar City
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.
Spar City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Spar City ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute12.3 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 94% of towns
Where Spar City ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,316 a month, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Spar City
A household needs to earn about $105,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Spar City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $56,477, 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 Spar City's effective rate of 0.33%, 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 Spar City
Spar City 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 Spar City.
Who works in Spar City, and how
Work in Spar City centers on construction and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 16%
Life in Spar City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Spar City.
What the weather is like in Spar City, month by month
Spar City sees roughly 117 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 62 degrees. January highs sit near 22, with lows near 11. No month averages between 55 and 75 degrees.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 22° | 16° | 11° |
| April | 36° | 28° | 22° |
| July | 62° | 52° | 45° |
| October | 42° | 34° | 29° |
Flying in and out of Spar City
The nearest airport, Durango-La Plata County, is about 52 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 178 miles away.
The best schools in and around Spar City
Schools across Spar City average a D+, better than 17% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Pagosa Springs Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pagosa Springs Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Pagosa Springs High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Spar City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Spar City 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 Spar City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Spar City
Is Spar City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Spar City ranks 34,735th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, short commutes, and civic engagement, and lowest on an overheated housing market and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Spar City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $430,585. The overall cost of living runs about 0% above the national average. Set against a $56,477 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Spar City safe?
Spar City is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $608 per resident a year.
Compare Spar City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Spar City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Spar City 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.
Spar City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Spar City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Spar City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Spar City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Spar City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Spar City 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.