We are used to seeing our towns and cities in Northern Colorado getting national recognition, awards, and praise, but to be called one of the best towns in America overall is saying a lot! Estes Park has done just that! 

Movoto, a real estate website, put together a list of the 50 best small towns in America based on  the following criteria:

  • Total amenities
  • Quality of life (A combination of cost of living, median home price, median rent, median household income, and student to teacher ratio)
  • Total crimes
  • Tax rates (sales tax and income tax)
  • Unemployment
  • Commute time
  • Weather (temperature and air quality)

Estes was ranked number seven on the list, and they said this about the small Northern Colorado mountain town:

While there were a lot of Colorado towns in our top 50, this little town of only 5,858 people was the only one to make our top 10. Why? Well by the numbers, it’s pretty apparent.

A low commute time, low unemployment rate, and a ton of amenities per capita are probably good starting points, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t at least mention that this place is gorgeous.

It’s also home to the The Stanley Hotel, which helped inspire Stephen King’s “The Shining”. Besides the cool creepiness here, the quality of life and weather both ranked very well, so it’s hard to go wrong in this town.

Colorado really dominated the top 50 on this list. Some of the other Northern Colorado towns to be mention were Wellington at #11, Firestone at #31, Berthoud at #33, and Windsor at #34.

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