Best PlacesWestcliffe, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Westcliffe, 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.
Westcliffe ranks 29,014th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Westcliffe
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.
Westcliffe's strengths and weaknesses
Where Westcliffe ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 155 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 89% of towns
Where Westcliffe ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 2% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 4% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 7% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Westcliffe
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Westcliffe home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $81,157, 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 Westcliffe's effective rate of 0.36%, 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 Westcliffe
Westcliffe 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 Westcliffe.
Who works in Westcliffe, and how
Work in Westcliffe centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 66%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Westcliffe
Westcliffe has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Westcliffe and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Westcliffe, month by month
Westcliffe sees roughly 155 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 34, with lows near 11. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 34° | 22° | 11° |
| April | 59° | 43° | 29° |
| July | 82° | 66° | 51° |
| October | 62° | 46° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Westcliffe
The nearest airport, Pueblo Memorial, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 126 miles away.
The best schools in and around Westcliffe
Schools across Westcliffe average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Custer County Elementary SchoolC− · 26% proficient
- Peakview SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Top middle schools
- Custer Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Custer County High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- John Mall Jr/sr High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Westcliffe school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Westcliffe 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 Westcliffe against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Westcliffe
Is Westcliffe a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Westcliffe ranks 29,014th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, the weather, and quiet, and lowest on air quality and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Westcliffe expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $415,485. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $81,157 median income, cost of living beats 63% of towns.
Is Westcliffe safe?
Westcliffe is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $868 per resident a year.
Compare Westcliffe with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Westcliffe. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Westcliffe 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.
Westcliffe detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Westcliffe: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Westcliffe: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Westcliffe: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Westcliffe: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Westcliffe 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.