Best PlacesThornton, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Thornton, 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.
Thornton ranks 1,278th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Thornton
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.
Thornton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Thornton ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- BikingBetter than 91% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 84% of cities
- Low vacancyBetter than 79% of cities
- TransitBetter than 76% of cities
Where Thornton ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,598 a month, better than only 10% of cities
- School gradeD+, better than only 10% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Thornton
A household needs to earn about $123,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Thornton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $105,122, 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 Thornton's effective rate of 0.61%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Thornton
Thornton runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Thornton.
Who works in Thornton, and how
Work in Thornton centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Thornton
Thornton has more parkland per resident than 92% of cities. That concentrates in some parts of Thornton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Thornton, month by month
Thornton sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 89° | 75° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Thornton
Denver International sits about 15 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 Thornton
Schools across Thornton average a D+, better than 10% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Hulstrom Options K-8 SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Silver Creek ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Brantner Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rocky Top Middle SchoolB+ · 47% proficient
- Prairie View Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Century Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Horizon High SchoolB · 46% proficient
- Mountain Range High SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Brighton High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Thornton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Thornton 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 Thornton against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Thornton suits
Common questions about living in Thornton
Is Thornton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Thornton ranks 1,278th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on heat safety, biking, and low property taxes, and lowest on thin health care access and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Thornton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $482,653. The overall cost of living runs about 1% below the national average. Set against a $105,122 median income, cost of living beats 63% of cities.
Is Thornton safe?
Thornton is safer than 35% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $509 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Thornton?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 25. That works out to about 107 pleasant days a year, more than 64% of cities.
Is Thornton good for families?
Schools beat 10% of cities, crime safety beats 35%, and childcare runs $1,598 a month.
Compare Thornton with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Thornton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Thornton 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.
Thornton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Thornton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Thornton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Thornton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Thornton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Thornton 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.