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Place dossier plate
SheetCO-PAGOSA-SPRINGS-CO · Pagosa Springs, CO 1,718 pop · income 6th pct · 5 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 Pagosa Springs
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Pagosa Springs on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Nash · lowest
36,705
Nash · lowest
36,705 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #1
Fort Pierce N… · near
36,707
Fort Pierce N… · near
36,707 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #2
Lake Gogebic · near
36,711
Lake Gogebic · near
36,711 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #3
Pagosa Springs · this city
36,712
Pagosa Springs · this city
36,712 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #4
Deer Creek · near
36,713
Deer Creek · near
36,713 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #5
Hampton · near
36,715
Hampton · near
36,715 median HH income
33.3% of the leader · rank #6
Elizabeth · highest
110,227
Elizabeth · highest
110,227 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 Pagosa Springs 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: 1,718.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Pagosa Springs - the verdict
Out of every US city with 1,000+ residents, Pagosa Springs places in the 6th percentile for household income and the 26th percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
6th
percentile, household income
72nd
percentile, home value
68th
percentile, median rent
26th
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: Pagosa Springs, CO
Pagosa Springs is a small town in Colorado, home to 1,718 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Median household income here is $36,712 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 24.9%. Typical homes in Pagosa Springs are valued around $353,800, and the median resident age is 34.5 years. 23.3% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 62.3% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 32 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Growing), up 19% from five years earlier. Crime here tracks close to the national norm: per-100,000 total crime stands at 2297.6 in FBI UCR data, near the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score).
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. Monthly utility costs average around $202 across Colorado, per EIA 2023 residential energy estimates. 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 Pagosa Springs'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 comparison shortlist to housing and income to work and mobility to within-city variation to schools and households to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Pagosa Springs, city-specific coverage includes local building permits, within-city Census tract profiles, FBI reported-crime rates, matched public-school count, commute-mode shares, annual population history.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can the FBI record say about safety in Pagosa Springs?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 2297.6 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, near the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 1% 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Pagosa Springs?
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 Ordway (1,718 residents, $55,313 income); Mountain (1,713 residents, $59,881 income); Elizabeth (1,694 residents, $110,227 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Langley, SC (1,718 residents); Crosbyton, TX (1,718 residents); Home, WA (1,718 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Pagosa Springs?
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 9.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 24.9%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
What can 5 Census tracts reveal inside Pagosa Springs?
PlainCities matches 5 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.
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.
Work and mobility
What does the journey to work look like in Pagosa Springs?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 55.7%. A reliable mean commute time is not available for this row, so the mode shares carry the comparison.
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.
Drive alone
55.7%
Work from home
8.3%
Public transit
2.7%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 824 workers age 16+.
What does the education layer cover for Pagosa Springs?
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 5 public schools within the city match. 23.3% 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
24.9%
Bachelor's degree+
23.3%
Matched public schools
5
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Is Pagosa Springs growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +217 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +13.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 32 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
1,621
2025 estimate
1,838
Period change
+13.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 24.9% (Highest-decile poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
103.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Colorado average
F
City profile score · Pagosa Springs, CO
16/100
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 D
23.3%
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
602 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger on this axis.
Poverty rate F
24.9%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$36,712
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Pagosa Springs profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 44/100 (D) · 23.3%
Cost of living: 26/100 (F) · 103.1 index
Violent crime: 10/100 (F) · 602 /100k
Poverty rate: 6/100 (F) · 24.9%
Household income: 2/100 (F) · $36,712
Where Pagosa Springs sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Pagosa Springs'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 - Pagosa Springs highlighted among 24 peers.Read the chart values
Pagosa Springs, CO (this city): home $353,800, crime 2,298/100k
Crosbyton, TX : home $58,900, crime 1,764/100k
Audubon Park, KY : home $354,500, crime 1,642/100k
Elizabeth, CO : home $444,000, crime 643/100k
New York, NY : home $751,700, crime 3,039/100k
Los Angeles, CA : home $879,500, crime 2,212/100k
Chicago, IL : home $315,200, crime 4,012/100k
Houston, TX : home $253,400, crime 5,442/100k
Phoenix, AZ : home $381,900, crime 3,125/100k
Philadelphia, PA : home $232,400, crime 5,457/100k
San Antonio, TX : home $219,700, crime 5,218/100k
San Diego, CA : home $848,500, crime 2,082/100k
Dallas, TX : home $295,300, crime 4,010/100k
San Jose, CA : home $1,187,800, crime 3,195/100k
Austin, TX : home $512,700, crime 3,709/100k
Fort Worth, TX : home $277,300, crime 3,158/100k
Columbus, OH : home $234,500, crime 3,088/100k
Indianapolis, IN : home $207,000, crime 4,214/100k
San Francisco, CA : home $1,380,500, crime 4,526/100k
Seattle, WA : home $912,100, crime 5,783/100k
Denver, CO : home $586,700, crime 5,755/100k
Oklahoma City, OK : home $215,100, crime 3,570/100k
El Paso, TX : home $171,700, crime 1,772/100k
Washington, DC : home $724,600, crime 4,514/100k
How does Pagosa Springs compare to other US cities?
Pagosa Springs measured against every US city with 1,000+ residents, computed live from the same Census and FBI data shown throughout this page.
Household income6% higher than other cities
Home value72% pricier than other cities
Median rent68% pricier than other cities
Safety26% 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, Pagosa Springs ranks #72 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 Pagosa Springs 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 Pagosa Springs near the bottom of Colorado's cities
Among the 408 Colorado cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Pagosa Springs ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Pagosa Springs only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#365 of 379
4th percentile in Colorado
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 408
0th percentile in Colorado
Median Home Value
#225 of 388
42nd percentile in Colorado
Poverty Rate
#20 of 408
95th percentile in Colorado
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#268 of 408
34th 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
6th percentile nationally for median household income · 26th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Pagosa Springs's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Pagosa Springs'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 Pagosa Springs's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$353,80028th percentilemore affordable than 28% 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
Pagosa Springs's home-value-to-income ratio: 9.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,325 of 15,516
More affordable than 1% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#11,196 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 9.6×, Pagosa Springs sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,325 of 15,516 and #11,196 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$36,712Pagosa Springs, CO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Pagosa Springs, 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 Pagosa Springs, CO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)23.3%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)24.9%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)62.3%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
1,718
Median Income
$36,712
Median Home Value
$353,800
Median Age
34.5
Poverty Rate
24.9%
Labor force participation
62.3%
Bachelor's Degree+
23.3%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
2297.6
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
601.8
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1695.8
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.
Schools
Total Schools
5
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Pagosa Springs's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
1,621 residents
2021
1,684 residents
2022
1,722 residents
2023
1,777 residents
2024
1,797 residents
2025
1,838 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Growing
Total Permits (2024)
32
housing units authorized
Single-Family
32
detached homes
Multifamily
0
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
18.6
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
27
21
6
$5.8M
2020
27
25
2
$5.7M
2021
32
32
0
$6.7M
2022
39
39
0
$6.6M
2023
29
29
0
$5.1M
2024
32
32
0
$5.6M
Permit volume increased 19% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
55.7%
Carpool
26.7%
Public Transit
2.7%
Walk
5.8%
Work from Home
8.3%
Other
0.8%
Based on 824 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 Pagosa Springs. 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 Pagosa Springs 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 Pagosa Springs sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Pagosa Springs 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, 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.