Best PlacesSteamboat Springs, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Steamboat Springs, 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.
Steamboat Springs ranks 6,069th 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 Steamboat Springs
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.
Steamboat Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Steamboat Springs ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 98% of towns
- BikingBetter than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
Where Steamboat Springs ranks low
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,607 a month, better than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Steamboat Springs
A household needs to earn about $299,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Steamboat Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $118,600, 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 Steamboat Springs' 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 Steamboat Springs
Steamboat Springs 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 Steamboat Springs.
Who works in Steamboat Springs, and how
Work in Steamboat Springs centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 67%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Steamboat Springs
Steamboat Springs has more restaurants and bars per resident than 93% of towns and more parkland per resident than 92% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Steamboat Springs and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Steamboat Springs, month by month
Steamboat Springs sees roughly 150 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 29, with lows near 7. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29° | 17° | 7° |
| April | 55° | 39° | 26° |
| July | 85° | 67° | 47° |
| October | 60° | 42° | 27° |
Flying in and out of Steamboat Springs
The nearest airport, Yampa Valley, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 122 miles away.
The best schools in and around Steamboat Springs
Schools across Steamboat Springs average an A−, better than 81% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Soda Creek Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Strawberry Park Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Steamboat MontessoriB · 50% proficient
Top middle schools
- Steamboat Springs Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Soroco Middle SchoolD+ · 27% proficient
- Hayden Middle SchoolD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Steamboat Springs High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Soroco High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Yampa Valley High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Steamboat Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Steamboat Springs 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 Steamboat Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Steamboat Springs
Is Steamboat Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Steamboat Springs ranks 6,069th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, population health, and biking, and lowest on an overheated housing market and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Steamboat Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $1,231,219. The overall cost of living runs about 34% above the national average. Set against a $118,600 median income, cost of living beats 68% of towns.
Is Steamboat Springs safe?
Steamboat Springs is safer than 9% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $840 per resident a year.
Compare Steamboat Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Steamboat Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Steamboat Springs 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.
Steamboat Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Steamboat Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Steamboat Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Steamboat Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Steamboat Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Steamboat Springs 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.