Moving to Denver? Looking to buy a home in area with good schools? When moving to a new city it can be hard to figure out where the good schools are located. And sometimes googling “good schools” can make you more confused, especially if you start reading blogs. Everyone seems to have an opinion.
Almost every out of state homebuyer with kids that I talk to who are moving to the Denver area tells me they want to buy a house in an area with good schools. I decided to make a video about schools in the Denver area. Most of the video is filmed looking at a map of the Denver area. That way you can get a good visual of where the better schools are located around the city.
Cherry Creek School District, Littleton School District and Douglas County School District are consistently rated among the top three school districts in the Denver area. All three of these districts are located in the south to southeast section of the Denver metro area. So if you are planning to live on the south side of Denver, you have ample choices when it comes to finding a home in a great school zone.
If your budget is tight but schools are still a top priority, a great place to shop is south Aurora. The south side of Aurora is part of the Cherry Creek School District and homes in this area are less expensive than much of the Denver metro area. At this time it is possible to find a nice home in this area for under $400k.
Jefferson County School District, often referred to as JeffCo, typically comes in at number four on the list of school districts in the Denver metro area. The Jefferson County School District covers a large land mass on the western side of the city and is the second largest district in the state after Denver Public schools. Jeffco has many schools that are excellent and could rival many of the great schools in the top three school districts. There are certain neighborhoods within the Jefferson County School District that have better schools than others. So it’s important to know which neighborhoods are better and that is why the map view in the video is helpful.
If you need to live on the north side of the city it’s best to look for homes on the northwest side, all the way up into Boulder. (Boulder has excellent schools) If you are looking to live directly north of downtown, it’s best to shop for homes north of 120th Avenue.
If schools are top priority is best to stay away from central Denver. (Denver Public Schools) Also, you will see from the video that the northeast and eastern side of the metro area have mostly average and below average ranked schools. Many of these areas are great to live in but today were talking about where to live for the best schools.
Now, something to understand about the Denver area is that there are a lot of choices when it comes to schools. So if you want to live in central Denver for example, you are not simply out of luck for a good school. My evaluation is simply based on overall traditional public school ratings. First off, even districts that are not ranked the best, will often times have a great school here or there within them. Also, many of the school districts around the metro area are very big on school choice. This means that many districts allow open enrollment, meaning you don’t have to live in the particular school zone to attend that school. Some schools may have waiting lists but it’s an option to look into. Also, there are many charter schools in the Denver area. There are new charter schools opening up all the time and some of them are down right excellent! So keep this in mind as a possible option.
If you are new to the Denver area, please contact me. I would be honored to work for you on your search for your new Denver area home!
