Denver Living · 2026 Rankings
Sam's 10 Best Neighborhoods
in Denver — Ranked
A fully biased, completely subjective, yet somehow definitive ranking of Denver's top neighborhoods in 2026 — from a local real estate agent who actually spends time in all of them.
This list has been a long time coming. I've done a lot of neighborhood tours on the channel, weighed in on plenty of "best of" lists, and talked about Denver neighborhoods endlessly — but this is my own definitive ranking. Pure opinion, informed by spending real time in all of these places as both a resident and a real estate agent.
The methodology: how good does it feel to be there? How walkable is it? What's the shopping and dining scene? How does it hold up on safety and schools? And — always — how are the prices relative to what you actually get? I pulled home sale data straight from the MLS, averaging 2025 closed transactions.
There's too many great neighborhoods in Denver to fit on a top-10 list, so consider this a jumping-off point. Hilltop, Baker, Sunnyside, West Highlands — all fine neighborhoods. But for my money in 2026, these are the ten.
What this ranking is based on
Jump to a neighborhood
South Denver · Underrated Gem
Rosedale
Rosedale is Platt Park's little brother — less famous, genuinely underrated, and still formidable. Harvard Gulch Park anchors the neighborhood: a big, well-used park that doesn't get the press of Wash Park or City Park but delivers plenty to do. The real sell here is proximity to everything Platt Park has to offer — especially the South Pearl dining and shopping district — at a meaningfully lower price point.
Broadway flanks the west side, which brings a little more commercial noise but also gives you easy access to more shopping and dining. And Downing Street in Rosedale is worth a visit on its own — Denver Beer Co, Right Cream (a legitimate case for best ice cream in the city), and a genuinely walkable strip. For the price, it's hard to beat.
Downtown · Union Station · Ballpark · CBD
Downtown Denver
Yes, downtown makes the list — and yes, it's been through it. Over the last six years, Denver's downtown has taken the same hits that hit most major American downtowns post-COVID. It still has real work to do. But in reality, it's not as bad as the narrative suggests, and the recovery is real.
Downtown includes Ballpark, the Central Business District, and Union Station. It's mostly a condo market — newer luxury buildings, mid-2000s stock, and everything in between. The average sale price is $729K, but that number is a bit slippery given the wide range of unit types. What's more telling is the list-price-to-sale-price ratio: in 2025, downtown was averaging about 93% — the lowest in Denver, meaning plenty of price cuts and motivated sellers. For a buyer or renter, that's actually a feature right now.
On the rental side, the oversupply of downtown apartments means you have real negotiating leverage: concessions, free months, lower base rates. If you're in your 20s and want to live in a big building with walkable everything, this is arguably the best deal in Denver right now. And when the recovery fully lands — and it will — people are going to wish they'd bought in during 2025 or 2026.
East-Central Denver · Urban · Park-Anchored
City Park
City Park is actually three micro-neighborhoods rolled into one: City Park proper (two blocks south of the park), City Park West, and Skyland. They're all essentially City Park, and the park is the point. It's fantastic — a golf course, the Denver Zoo, a lake, and City Park Jazz on summer evenings. This is the most urban-feeling neighborhood on the list, in the best possible way.
It's older housing stock throughout, which means character, not cookie-cutter. Very walkable, central to the city, and close to everything. The average home price of $775,000 is genuinely reasonable for what you're getting in terms of location and access — and unlike downtown, there are actual single-family homes here, not just condos.
West Denver · Active · Lakefront
Sloan's Lake
Sloan's Lake (listed as "Sloan Lake" on some maps, as that's the actual, technical name) is one of the most beloved neighborhoods in West Denver. The lake — man-made, and reportedly an accident — is a genuinely beautiful anchor for an active lifestyle. Walking it, running it, sitting near it: it all works.
The trade-off worth knowing: schools in the western Denver neighborhoods — Sloan's, Sunnyside, LoHi — generally don't rate as highly as their eastern counterparts. If you have kids, that's a real consideration. It's one of the only things that tempers the enthusiasm. Everything else checks out: the Highlands are a few minutes away, downtown is close, you're on the west side so you're closer to the mountains, and the dining and energy of the neighborhood is excellent.
South Denver · Prestige · Park-Anchored
Washington Park
Wash Park is great. Most people put it in their top three. The park itself is legitimately world-class — one of the best in any city, rivaling City Park and in many ways surpassing it in terms of pure activity and scenery. The dining on Gaylord Street is charming. The housing stock, between the historic bungalows and the newer scrapes, spans the full range of Denver real estate.
The honest take: it's overvalued for what you get. The price of entry is very high — an average sale price of $1.907 million (and that's not even including Wash Park West, which is split off as a separate market). For $1.9M, you're getting into a neighborhood where the shopping district is one block, schools are good but not exceptional, and the main draw is the park and the prestige. It's all there. The question is whether the premium is worth it compared to, say, Platt Park or South Park Hill.
East Denver · Historic · Family-Friendly
South Park Hill
South Park Hill might be the most underrated neighborhood on this list. The historic homes, the wide parkway streets, the tree canopy — it feels like classic Denver in a way that a lot of neighborhoods don't anymore. Think of it as Wash Park before the land got so valuable that scraping became the default move. The character here has been preserved.
The dining options span a few different strips, you're close to City Park, and the neighborhood is genuinely walkable and family-friendly. Technically South Park Hill runs to 20th, but the 20th-to-28th corridor is also excellent and comes in at lower prices — worth exploring if you want more block for your money. Average sale price is $1.283 million.
Central Denver · Bungalow Belt · Cherry Creek Adjacent
Congress Park
Congress Park doesn't get talked about as much as it deserves. If you live there, you probably love it — it's one of those neighborhoods that rewards the people who choose it without a lot of outside hype. It's walkable to several different strips of shopping and dining (from almost anywhere in the neighborhood), and it sits just north of Cherry Creek, which means access to Cherry Creek North without Cherry Creek prices.
The housing stock is heavily classic Denver bungalows — charming, historic, and on the smaller side, which explains why the average sale price ($909K in 2025) is actually lower than South Park Hill despite being a "nicer" neighborhood in some respects. Some condos and townhomes too, but the character of Congress Park is its single-family homes. Very few of the big grotesque new builds you see elsewhere. That's a feature.
Northwest Denver · Urban · Young Professional
LoHi (Highland)
LoHi — technically the Highland neighborhood, differentiated from West Highland — is Denver's most urban, energetic neighborhood in a good way. It sits right across the highway from downtown, which means you get all the proximity to the city core with none of the downtown baggage. Some of the best restaurants in Denver are here. The walkability score is essentially as high as it gets in this city.
This is a phase-of-life neighborhood — dense, active, youthful, vibrant. Lots of newer townhomes, some single-family homes, some condos. If you want to do the city thing properly, LoHi is where you do it. It's also conveniently positioned: close to Sloan's Lake, easy freeway access (Denver traffic asterisk applies), and the mountains feel reachable. Schools note applies here too, same as Sloan's Lake.
South-Central Denver · Luxury · Premier Shopping
Cherry Creek
For years, Cherry Creek was Sam's personal number-one neighborhood in Denver. In 2026 it's number two, and the demotion is almost entirely a price thing. At an average sale price of $1.609 million (with a meaningful percentage of that being attached homes and townhomes), it's among the most expensive neighborhoods in the city. Compare that to Wash Park at $1.9M — but Wash Park is mostly single-family square footage. Cherry Creek's pricing is high for what you're often getting in terms of size.
That said: Cherry Creek North is the best shopping and dining district in Denver. It's not close. The neighborhood is exceptionally clean, very safe, and positioned on Speer for easy access to the rest of the city. What Cherry Creek delivers is something most Denver neighborhoods don't — a sense that you're in the upscale district of a major city. Think certain parts of Miami or Southern California. Depending on your personality, that's either the whole point or something to take in limited doses.
South Denver · Best in Denver · 2026 #1
Platt Park
This is the neighborhood that started the whole video. Sam was walking around one day and thought: this might be my favorite neighborhood in Denver. And after running through the whole list, it held up. Platt Park is number one in 2026.
It sits just south of downtown, anchored by Old South Pearl — a dining and shopping strip that runs five or six full blocks of genuine character and quality. South Pearl is everything South Gaylord in Wash Park wants to be, stretched out and made more approachable. On a Sunday evening in summer, it might be the best single block (or five) in the city: patios, rooftops, foot traffic, good energy, no pretense.
What makes Platt Park work is the balance. It's a deeply residential neighborhood — you can be on a quiet block, feel like you're in a house, have neighbors, have a yard. And three blocks later you're in the middle of one of the city's best dining scenes. Average sale price is $1.077 million, which looks reasonable next to Wash Park ($1.9M) and Cherry Creek ($1.6M) for a neighborhood with comparable livability and more day-to-day character.
By the Numbers
2025 Average Home Prices
All figures pulled from MLS closed sales data for 2025. Ranked low to high.
Not sure which neighborhood fits you?
Every one of these neighborhoods has the right buyer — the question is matching you to it. We help people move to Denver every day and we're happy to have the conversation.
Let's Talk →