Best PlacesVallecito, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Vallecito, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Vallecito ranks 18,564th 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 Vallecito
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.
Vallecito's strengths and weaknesses
Where Vallecito ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 93% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
Where Vallecito ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Vallecito
A household needs to earn about $130,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vallecito home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $102,153, 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 Vallecito's effective rate of 0.32%, 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 Vallecito
Vallecito 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 Vallecito.
Who works in Vallecito, and how
Work in Vallecito centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Vallecito
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Vallecito.
What the weather is like in Vallecito, month by month
Vallecito sees roughly 140 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 24° | 9° |
| April | 65° | 47° | 27° |
| July | 90° | 71° | 52° |
| October | 68° | 49° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Vallecito
The nearest airport, Durango-La Plata County, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 169 miles away.
The best schools in and around Vallecito
Schools across Vallecito average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Riverview Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Bayfield Intermediate SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Pagosa Springs Elementary SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Miller Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- Bayfield Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Pagosa Springs Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Durango High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Pagosa Springs High SchoolC+ · 40% proficient
- Bayfield High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Vallecito school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Vallecito 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 Vallecito against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Vallecito
Is Vallecito a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vallecito ranks 18,564th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, an educated workforce, and low property taxes, and lowest on air quality and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Vallecito expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $533,076. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $102,153 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Vallecito safe?
Vallecito is safer than 28% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $594 per resident a year.
Compare Vallecito with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vallecito. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vallecito 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.
Vallecito detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vallecito: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vallecito: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vallecito: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vallecito: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vallecito 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.