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Place dossier plate
SheetCO-DENVER-CO · Denver, CO 713,734 pop · income 72nd pct · 182 tracts
Instrument codes from this place’s ACS population and household income, BEA state COL, FBI safety, national income percentile, photo-finish peer city, home-value band, and matched Census-tract book - not a moving recommendation.
Income neighbourhood around Denver
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Denver on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
El Paso · lowest
58,734
El Paso · lowest
58,734 median HH income
48.1% of the leader · rank #1
North High Sh… · near
91,667
North High Sh… · near
91,667 median HH income
75.1% of the leader · rank #2
Huntley · near
91,667
Huntley · near
91,667 median HH income
75.1% of the leader · rank #3
Watauga · near
91,669
Watauga · near
91,669 median HH income
75.1% of the leader · rank #4
York Harbor · near
91,675
York Harbor · near
91,675 median HH income
75.2% of the leader · rank #5
Denver · this city
91,681
Denver · this city
91,681 median HH income
75.2% of the leader · rank #6
Seattle · highest
121,984
Seattle · highest
121,984 median HH income
100.0% of the leader · rank #7
What this shows Neighbourhood peers only - not a full nationwide city board. Open a near peer when the gap is small; open the poles when the spread is wide.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by population, income, and FBI crime rate
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Denver on ACS population and median household income
, plus FBI UCR reporting rate when the extract covers this place. Link sets are deduped so each column is a distinct comparison path, not a forecast that peers share a labor market or climate.
Similar population
Nearest out-of-state cities by ACS population. This city: 713,734.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Denver - the verdict
Denver ranks in the 72nd percentile for household income and the 3rd percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
72nd
percentile, household income
89th
percentile, home value
68th
percentile, median rent
3rd
percentile, safety
📝 How we sourced this
Population, income, and housing-cost figures come from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 5-year estimates (B-series tables). Crime data uses FBI UCR; climate uses NOAA Climate Normals; school counts come from NCES Common Core of Data; permits use the Census Building Permits Survey (BPS). See our methodology page for the full ETL pipeline and OMB / FIPS join keys.
Data Snapshot: Denver, CO
713,734 people live in Denver, Colorado - a mid-sized U.S. city by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. The typical household in Denver brings in $91,681 a year, above the median for U.S. cities on this measure, with a poverty rate of 7.7%. Typical homes in Denver are valued around $586,700, and the median resident age is 35.2 years. About 55.6% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 70.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 3,994 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 46% from five years earlier. Denver's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 5754.6 in FBI UCR data, above the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA climate normals record an annual average temperature of 51.2°F with 14.5 inches of precipitation per year.
Colorado carries a cost-of-living premium: the state registers 103.1 on a 100-equals-national-average index (Above Average) per BEA Regional Price Parities 2024. A typical two-bedroom carries a HUD Fair Market Rent of $1,429 per month statewide. Monthly utility costs average around $202 across Colorado, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. Commute times here average 19.2 minutes, with 57.7% driving alone and 24.4% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. On FEMA's National Risk Index, this area rates 40.7 out of 100 for natural-hazard exposure (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Denver's data
How this reading path is ordered
This is not a composite city score. It is a city-specific route through the available public records, ordered for this profile so the page starts with questions the joined data can actually answer. The route here runs from climate and hazard context to within-city variation to housing and income to population change to comparison shortlist to schools and households to work and mobility to reported crime; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Denver, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares, local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
1. Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Denver?
The two sources should not be blended into one comfort or safety score. Use the climate values for baseline conditions and the risk index as a prompt to inspect specific hazards, insurance, and local emergency guidance for a particular address.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 51.2°F, with 14.5 inches of precipitation. FEMA's state-averaged National Risk Index score for Colorado is 40.7 out of 100. Climate normals describe long-run weather; the FEMA score on PlainCities is a state average of county NRI inputs and combines hazards, exposure, vulnerability, and resilience.
PlainCities matches 182 Census tracts to this city.
That layer breaks the citywide income, rent, and home-value medians into smaller Census geographies, which can reveal differences that one municipal median necessarily hides. A tract is a statistical area, not a locally defined neighborhood or a promise about conditions on a particular block. Start with the city profile for the broad comparison, then use the tract layer to test whether the same housing and income pattern is consistent across the city. Large within-city spreads are a reason to avoid treating any citywide median as a universal resident experience.
How far does income reach against housing in Denver?
This is a citywide price-to-income reference, not a mortgage-affordability test; it does not include interest rates, taxes, insurance, household size, or an individual buyer's down payment. Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median. That flags a question for comparison, not a verdict: tenure, household composition, financing costs, and the age of the ACS estimate can all change what a resident actually pays.
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 6.4 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 7.7%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Denver?
Use the in-state set to hold state policy and broad price conditions more nearly constant. Use the nationwide size set to ask whether cities with a similar resident count produce different housing, income, or commute outcomes. The income set is a third lens, deliberately separate from population matching. The nationwide peer panel below adds a fourth FBI UCR reporting-rate lens, not personal risk.
Within Colorado, the closest population matches are Colorado Springs (483,099 residents, $83,198 income); Aurora (390,201 residents, $84,320 income); Fort Collins (169,705 residents, $83,598 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Oklahoma City, OK (688,693 residents); Seattle, WA (741,440 residents); Nashville-Davidson, TN (684,298 residents). A third, income-matched reference set of 6 out-of-state cities sits in the income neighbourhood chart near the Place Dossier plate. These are mechanical peer sets, not claims that the places share a labor market, climate, culture, or metro context.
These joined records add useful context, but they do not need another full-size panel. Each remains a separate measure with its own geography and source boundary.
Population change
Is Denver growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +22,933 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.2% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 3,994 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Recent estimates point upward. Growth can increase housing demand and service needs, but the permit record must move in the same direction before calling it a supply response; the two series measure different things.
2020 estimate
717,680
2025 estimate
740,613
Period change
+3.2%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
The city has a broader matched school footprint, but count alone does not describe performance, capacity, program availability, or attendance boundaries. This profile deliberately avoids converting it into an unsupported family-friendliness score.
The NCES join finds 232 public schools within the city match. 55.6% of adults age 25+ hold a bachelor's degree or higher in the ACS estimate. These measures answer different questions: the school count describes local institutions, while adult attainment describes residents and cannot be used as a school-quality rating.
Poverty estimate
7.7%
Bachelor's degree+
55.6%
Matched public schools
232
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
What does the journey to work look like in Denver?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 57.7%. The reported mean trip to work is 19.2 minutes.
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. Remote work has a visible role in the local pattern. That can reduce commute exposure for some workers, but it says nothing about job availability or broadband quality; read it alongside income and housing rather than as a stand-alone lifestyle score.
Drive alone
57.7%
Work from home
24.4%
Public transit
4.5%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 415,071 workers age 16+.
What can the FBI record say about safety in Denver?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 5754.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 152% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Treat this as a reporting-rate comparison, not a prediction of personal risk or a neighborhood-level safety grade. Tourism, daytime population, reporting practices, and variation inside the city are not adjusted away. The state rank and same-state peer table are the narrower comparisons available on this page.
Total reported rate
5754.6
Violent rate
993.0
Property rate
4761.6
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
Above median income · poverty 7.7% (Above-median poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
103.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Colorado average
D
City profile score · Denver, CO
46/100
5 published dimensions · ACS/FBI 2023
Comparative score against U.S. cities with population of 1,000 or more on Census ACS medians
(income, poverty, bachelor's share, cost of living) and FBI UCR violent-crime rates when
published. Higher means a stronger standing on those published figures, not a livability
rating, not a recommendation to move, buy, or pick a "best" city. Missing inputs drop out
and redistribute weight.
How it is calculated.
Bachelor's+ share A
55.6%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B
$91,681
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate D
7.7%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Cost of living F
103.1 index
BEA state Regional Price Parities index (100 ≈ national average); lower is stronger on this axis. Same value for every city in the state.
Violent crime F
993 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Denver profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 89/100 (A) · 55.6%
Household income: 71/100 (B) · $91,681
Poverty rate: 49/100 (D) · 7.7%
Cost of living: 26/100 (F) · 103.1 index
Violent crime: 0/100 (F) · 993 /100k
Where Denver sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Denver's median home value and FBI crime rate plotted with similar-size and
same-state peers (padded with large cities when the peer set is thin). The second
read: pricey does not always mean safer, check which quadrant this city lands in.
Census ACS median home value vs FBI UCR crime rate - Denver highlighted among 12 peers.Read the chart values
Denver, CO (this city): home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
Boston, MA : home $710,400, crime 2,650/100k
Colorado Springs, CO : home $420,700, crime 4,164/100k
Aurora, CO : home $444,500, crime 4,052/100k
Fort Collins, CO : home $548,400, crime 2,428/100k
Lakewood, CO : home $548,200, crime 5,881/100k
Thornton, CO : home $482,200, crime 3,109/100k
Arvada, CO : home $600,800, crime 2,765/100k
How does Denver compare to other US cities?
Denver measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income72% higher than other cities
Home value89% pricier than other cities
Median rent68% pricier than other cities
Safety3% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
National percentiles can mask local variation. Looking only at Colorado, Denver ranks #108 of 116 Colorado cities by lowest crime rate - a narrower, more locally useful cut than the national comparison above.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Denver against every qualifying US city; each in-state rank narrows that to Colorado only. Full formula and direction notes: methodology.
Colorado-relative analysis
Median Gross Rent places Denver near the bottom of Colorado's cities
Among the 408 Colorado cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Denver ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Denver only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#143 of 379
62nd percentile in Colorado
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 408
0th percentile in Colorado
Median Home Value
#113 of 388
71st percentile in Colorado
Poverty Rate
#138 of 408
66th percentile in Colorado
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#99 of 408
76th percentile in Colorado
How in-state ranks are ordered
Ranked by raw value (highest first); a higher rank is not automatically "better" for every measure, see each metric's own context above. This is a comparison within Colorado only, not a livability score. See the methodology for the source and calculation.
Gauge source note
72nd percentile nationally for median household income · 3rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Denver's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Denver's percentile rank on 3 favorable-direction measures (income, affordability, safety) vs. every tracked US city -- higher on every axis is more favorable. Not a composite quality score, just the arithmetic mean of the axes shown.
How Denver's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$586,70011th percentilemore affordable than 11% of 15,600 US cities
Show national distribution
Each bar is a $25K-wide band; taller bars hold more US cities. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year Estimates · 2023
Denver's home-value-to-income ratio: 6.4×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#14,379 of 15,516
More affordable than 7% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#98 of 117
Large cities (200,000–999,999)
At 6.4×, Denver sits in the pressured band:
national rank #14,379 of 15,516 and #98 of 117large cities (200,000–999,999).
Housing value is high relative to the citywide income median, a comparison flag, not a verdict on any household.
How this ratio is calculated
Ratio = Census ACS 2023 median home value ÷ median household income for cities with both fields and population ≥ 1,000.
Rank 1 = lowest ratio (most compact). Bands match the fleet affordability thresholds used on guides (<3.0 / 3.0–5.0 / >5.0).
This is not a mortgage payment estimate and does not include rates, taxes, insurance, or down payment.
Income distribution context
$91,681Denver, CO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Denver, CO median household income (Census ACS 5-year) with U.S. national quintile shares for context. Diagonal = equality; the curve is national, not computed for Denver, CO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)55.6%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)7.7%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)70.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
713,734
Median Income
$91,681
Median Home Value
$586,700
Median Age
35.2
Poverty Rate
7.7%
Labor force participation
70.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
55.6%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
5754.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
993.0
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
4761.6
per 100,000 residents
Crime reporting caveat
Reflects incidents reported to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting program — agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies by jurisdiction and year, so this reflects reporting activity, not a definitive danger score. Not adjusted for tourism, commuter, or daytime population.
Climate
Avg Temperature
51.2°F
Annual Precipitation
14.5"
Annual Snowfall
N/A
Schools
Total Schools
232
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Denver's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
717,680 residents
2021
712,156 residents
2022
716,800 residents
2023
726,763 residents
2024
741,591 residents
2025
740,613 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
3,994
housing units authorized
Single-Family
872
detached homes
Multifamily
3,122
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
7,330
2,257
5,073
$1267.6M
2020
5,059
1,167
3,892
$831.5M
2021
10,000
1,550
8,450
$1514.6M
2022
8,296
1,323
6,973
$1372.7M
2023
5,725
1,174
4,551
$1073.5M
2024
3,994
872
3,122
$788.5M
Permit volume decreased 46% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
19.2 minutes
Drive Alone
57.7%
Carpool
6.5%
Public Transit
4.5%
Walk
3.9%
Work from Home
24.4%
Other
3.0%
Based on 415,071 workers 16 and over.
Monthly Utility Costs
Colorado statewide monthly utility average (EIA 2023): $202
EIA 2023 residential energy data puts average monthly utilities across Colorado at $202 (electricity about $90 , water and sewer about $50 ).
These are Colorado statewide averages, not a meter reading for Denver. Actual bills vary by home size, usage, and local rates. Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023.
Living Costs & Risk
Colorado's BEA cost-of-living index is 103.1 (Above Average; US average = 100, RPP 2024). HUD Fair Market Rent for a typical two-bedroom in the county around Denver is $1,429/mo. FEMA's National Risk Index, averaged to Colorado statewide on PlainCities, rates natural-hazard exposure at 40.7 / 100 (Low).
Cost/risk geography note
Cost of living is a Colorado statewide BEA average; rent is a county-level HUD Fair Market Rent for the county Denver sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Denver compares to similar-size Colorado cities
Same-state peer method
Closest same-state population matches, not geographic neighbors. Population + median household income come from Census Bureau ACS 5-year B01001 and B19013.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau ACS 5-Year 2023, FBI UCR, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, Census BPS 2024, Census ACS B08301/B08136, U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2023, BEA Regional Price Parities 2024, HUD Fair Market Rents 2026, FEMA National Risk Index.