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Place dossier plate
SheetCO-BRIGHTON-CO · Brighton, CO 41,196 pop · income 78th pct
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 Brighton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Brighton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Hallandale Be… · lowest
48,518
Hallandale Be… · lowest
48,518 median HH income
27.7% of the leader · rank #1
Mackinac Isla… · near
100,125
Mackinac Isla… · near
100,125 median HH income
57.1% of the leader · rank #2
Brighton · this city
100,134
Brighton · this city
100,134 median HH income
57.1% of the leader · rank #3
Lambertville · near
100,134
Lambertville · near
100,134 median HH income
57.1% of the leader · rank #4
Lake St. Croi… · near
100,134
Lake St. Croi… · near
100,134 median HH income
57.1% of the leader · rank #5
Belle Fontaine · near
100,144
Belle Fontaine · near
100,144 median HH income
57.1% of the leader · rank #6
Rancho Palos… · highest
175,307
Rancho Palos… · highest
175,307 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 Brighton 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: 41,196.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Brighton - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Brighton places in the 78th percentile for household income and the 16th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
78th
percentile, household income
83rd
percentile, home value
68th
percentile, median rent
16th
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: Brighton, CO
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 41,196 residents in Brighton, a small city within Colorado. The typical household in Brighton brings in $100,134 a year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 5.5%. Typical homes in Brighton are valued around $475,100, and the median resident age is 34.4 years. Educational attainment runs 23.5% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 68.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
In 2024, 727 residential building permits were authorized in Brighton (Building Boom), up 66% from five years earlier, per Census BPS data. Brighton's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 2990.9 crimes per 100,000 residents, above the national average (reporting is voluntary across agencies, so treat this as reporting activity rather than a definitive danger score). The annual average temperature per NOAA climate normals runs 50.6°F with 14.1 inches of precipitation per year and 34.5 inches of snowfall.
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. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,429 monthly. Statewide, average monthly utility bills in Colorado run around $202, per EIA 2023 residential energy data. Workers in Brighton report an average commute of 27.5 minutes, with 74.9% driving alone and 10.3% working from home. Natural-hazard exposure scores 40.7 out of 100 on FEMA's National Risk Index (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Brighton'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 reported crime to climate and hazard context to work and mobility to housing and income to comparison shortlist to population change to schools and households; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Brighton, city-specific coverage includes annual population history, local building permits, matched public-school count, FBI reported-crime rates, commute-mode shares.
No matched row is reported here for within-city Census tract profiles; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Brighton?
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.
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2990.9 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 31% higher in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 50.6°F, with 14.1 inches of precipitation and 34.5 inches of annual snowfall. 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.
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.
What does the journey to work look like in Brighton?
Mode share answers how workers usually travel; it does not measure congestion, reliability, distance to a particular job, or the quality of transit service. No single mode completely explains the work trip here. The mix is more useful than a one-number commute grade, especially when comparing places where transit, walking, and remote work divide the non-driving share differently.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 74.9%. The reported mean trip to work is 27.5 minutes.
Which cities make useful reference points for Brighton?
Within Colorado, the closest population matches are Security-Widefield (38,659 residents, $83,916 income); Northglenn (37,953 residents, $79,530 income); Littleton (45,092 residents, $96,611 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Woburn, MA (41,205 residents); Hallandale Beach, FL (41,224 residents); Florence, AL (41,231 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.
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.
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.
Housing and income
How far does income reach against housing in Brighton?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 4.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 5.5%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
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.
Household income
$100,134
Home value
$475,100
Value / income
4.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Brighton growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
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.
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +5,115 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +12.7% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 727 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+12.7%
2025 estimate
45,395
2020 estimate
40,280
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
The NCES join finds 17 public schools within the city match. 23.5% 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.
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.
Matched public schools
17
Bachelor's degree+
23.5%
Poverty estimate
5.5%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Colorado average
D
City profile score · Brighton, CO
47/100
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.
Household income B+
$100,134
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate C+
5.5%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share D
23.5%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
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
472 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Brighton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 77/100 (B+) · $100,134
Poverty rate: 62/100 (C+) · 5.5%
Bachelor's+ share: 44/100 (D) · 23.5%
Cost of living: 26/100 (F) · 103.1 index
Violent crime: 18/100 (F) · 472 /100k
Where Brighton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Brighton'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 - Brighton highlighted among 8 peers.Read the chart values
Brighton, CO (this city): home $475,100, crime 2,991/100k
Woburn, MA : home $641,800, crime 1,142/100k
Florence, AL : home $174,100, crime 2,647/100k
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA : home $1,541,400, crime 975/100k
Milton, GA : home $712,200, crime 543/100k
Northglenn, CO : home $440,900, crime 3,010/100k
Littleton, CO : home $596,700, crime 2,732/100k
Windsor, CO : home $562,300, crime 567/100k
How does Brighton compare to other US cities?
Brighton measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income78% higher than other cities
Home value83% pricier than other cities
Median rent68% pricier than other cities
Safety16% safer than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
A national percentile can hide a lot of local variation: narrowed to Colorado alone, Brighton ranks #82 of 116 Colorado cities by lowest crime rate - a different, more locally useful comparison than stacking it against the entire country.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Brighton 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 Brighton near the bottom of Colorado's cities
Among the 408 Colorado cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Brighton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Brighton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#120 of 379
68th percentile in Colorado
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 408
0th percentile in Colorado
Median Home Value
#150 of 388
61st percentile in Colorado
Poverty Rate
#185 of 408
55th percentile in Colorado
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#263 of 408
35th 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
78th percentile nationally for median household income · 16th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Brighton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Brighton'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 Brighton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$475,10017th percentilemore affordable than 17% 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
Brighton's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.7×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,455 of 15,516
More affordable than 20% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#2,488 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 4.7×, Brighton sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,455 of 15,516 and #2,488 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
Income and home value move in the same broad scale; check same-state peers before treating the multiple as an advantage or a warning.
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
$100,134Brighton, CO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Brighton, 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 Brighton, CO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.5%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)5.5%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)68.7%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
41,196
Median Income
$100,134
Median Home Value
$475,100
Median Age
34.4
Poverty Rate
5.5%
Labor force participation
68.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.5%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2990.9
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
471.9
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2519.0
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
50.6°F
Annual Precipitation
14.1"
Annual Snowfall
34.5"
Schools
Total Schools
17
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Brighton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
40,280 residents
2021
40,837 residents
2022
41,926 residents
2023
42,784 residents
2024
43,982 residents
2025
45,395 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📈 Building Boom
Total Permits (2024)
727
housing units authorized
Single-Family
655
detached homes
Multifamily
72
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
17.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
437
437
0
$127.0M
2020
827
647
180
$153.7M
2021
374
371
3
$114.6M
2022
663
375
288
$179.0M
2023
398
398
0
$126.5M
2024
727
655
72
$268.4M
Permit volume increased 66% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
27.5 minutes
Drive Alone
74.9%
Carpool
11.7%
Public Transit
1.5%
Walk
0.2%
Work from Home
10.3%
Other
1.4%
Based on 21,107 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 Brighton. 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 Brighton 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 Brighton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Brighton 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.