3 area cities rank high in national ratings

Cities in the Boulder Valley and Northern Colorado have placed high in rankings from a pair of national publications, with Longmont and Windsor scoring in the top 10 for Travel & Leisure’s “Best Small U.S.Cities to Move To Right Now” and Boulder placing 19th in job-placement site Indeed.com’s list of 2026 Best U.S. Cities for Work.

Colorado was the only state to place two cities on Travel & Leisure’s list, with Longmont fourth and Windsor sixth behind first-place Caldwell, Idaho, near Boise.

Brett Johnson, a real estate investor and founder of Denver-based New Era Home Buyers, offered commentary on both cities for the article.

Johnson called Longmont “one of the best-balanced small cities I see right now,” adding that “it has a great job base, good schools, two hospitals and over 90 miles of trails.

“Longmont is a very practical and active place to live with a Boulder County address, without the higher-than-necessary housing costs that are required in the city of Boulder,” he wrote. “Places with real jobs and lifestyle value tend to hold value very well.”

The article pointed out that Longmont, with a population now topping 100,000, has an average home value of around $550,000, whereas Boulder, a 30-minute drive away, has an average home value of more than $950,000.

Windsor, Johnson wrote, “is a great growth story. The average household income is very high, there is very high owner occupancy, and the town has been growing at a fevered pace while at the same time adding new parks, trails and businesses. You also see families moving in as well as several employers.”

Job-search site Niche.com also ranked Windsor high, giving it an A for jobs and an A- for health and fitness, outdoor activities and being a good city for families.

Meanwhile, Indeed.com placed Boulder behind first-place Boston and 17th-place Denver on a list that scored 40 metrics across six pillars including job opportunity, compensation, job quality and security, career mobility and dynamism, work life and flexibility, and economic opportunity. It evaluated 228 U.S. metro areas with more than 200,000 residents.

Boulder led all U.S. cities for work-life balance and flexibility and placed seventh for compensation and eighth in job quality and security. The report gave Boulder more negative marks for a tight labor market, its number of job postings compared with pre-pandemic levels, its  share of workers living in poverty and burdensome housing costs.

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