The Movoto blog came up with its list of the top ten.
Count down the photo-illustrated top ten below, complete with excerpts from Movoto text and information about methodology. To see the original post, click here.
Number 10: Louisville
This Boulder County municipality scored points in our ranking for its unemployment rate of just 5.9 percent, its beautiful summer temperatures, averaging at 74 degrees, and its relative high rank in amenities, with 970 businesses in the area....
Number 9: Wellington
Another relatively inexpensive city, Wellington came in as our ninth best place in the state, largely because of its affordability. With a cost of living of just 96, where the national average is 100, and a sales tax of just 6.7 percent, Wellington residents have it pretty good — especially when you consider that the median household income of $66,524 is 10 percent higher than the rest of the state....
Number 8: Fort Lupton
Located in Weld County, Colorado, Fort Lupton scored a spot on our list for several reasons, but chief among them were its low cost of living and low taxes. With a cost of living of just 95, where the national average is 100, and with a sales tax of just 6.7 percent, Fort Lupton is easily the most affordable place in our top 10....
Number 7: Boulder
Boulder is known across the country as one of the best cities in Colorado, and in many peoples’ opinions, in the U.S. in general. This city of just over 97,000 residents is known for its laid back attitude, liberal leanings, and of course, its natural beauty. It is a liberal outdoorsman’s dream come true....
Number 6: Evans
With a median home value of $346,700, Evans ranked among the top 20 when it came to high priced real estate, which is a good indicator of a place’s desirability. And what’s not to desire? Evans has a student to teacher ratio of just 14 to 1 — the very best in our top 10. It also has one of the lower sales tax rates, at just 7.7 percent, compared to some cities which are over 8.8 percent....
Number 5: Estes Park
This stunning town in Larimer County may be one of the most popular summer resort and tourist towns in the state, but according to our research, residents have it pretty good here year-round. This small town of just under 6,000 people ranked well for its impressive median household income of $100,288, its median rent price of $1,316, and its high median home values of $341,400, indicating a strong desire to live in the area....
Number 4: Lakewood
Located in Jefferson County, this city of nearly 143,000 residents is easily the largest on our list, and one of the best ranked in terms of overall quality of life. At a closer look, this is mostly because of Lakewood’s low student to teacher ratio — just 15:1 (compared to some other places of 30:1 or higher!), and its median household income and rent prices. The median household income in Lakewood is $67,560 and the median rent is $1,066, which indicates a strong desire to live in the area. All of these combined rank Lakewood as No. 26 in terms of overall quality of life — beating out 48 of its competitors....
Number 3: Cherry Hills
With a population of just 5,987, Cherry Hills was one of the smallest places on our list, but as you’ll soon see, that by no means indicates that it is lacking. In fact, this Denver suburb is one of the most affluent places in Colorado in general....
Number 2: Loveland
Located in Larimer County, this city of nearly 67,000 ranked well in our study for a number of reasons — but most notably for its high median income of $81,015, its low unemployment rate of 5.9 percent, and just like our No. 1 city, a nearly perfect temperature and air quality score — a warm average of 74 in the summers and an air quality of 14 out of 100....
Number 1: Superior
This Boulder County town may not be the cheapest city on our list, with a cost of living of 114, but hey — you get what you pay for, and here it seems residents are paying for a Superior quality of life. With one of the highest median rent prices ($1,275), home values ($389,300), and median household incomes ($96,130) on our list, Superior came in with one of the highest scores for overall quality of life....
Methodology:
Colorado may be one of the most naturally beautiful states in our country, but in order to determine which places were the best to live in, we needed some universally measurable criteria. Ultimately, we decided on the following seven, broken down into a total of 13:
• Quality of life (Cost of living, median home prime, median rent, median household income, student-teacher ratio)
• Total amenities
Total crimes
• Tax rates (Sales tax, income tax)
• Unemployment
• Commute Time
• Weather (Temperature, air quality)
Once we settled on these criteria, we took a look at the U.S. Census data for 74 places in the state of Colorado with populations above 5,000. Each place was ranked from one to 74 in the individual criteria, with one being the best possible score. These individual rankings were then averaged into an overall Big Deal Score, with the lowest score being the winner.
Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.