Side-by-side metrics and state or size-class ranks use the same Census and FBI fields shown on this profile. Results stay in the URL so you can bookmark or share them.
Place dossier plate
SheetCO-STEAMBOAT-SPRINGS-CO · Steamboat Springs, CO 13,341 pop · income 78th pct · 10 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 Steamboat Springs
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Steamboat Springs on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Sterling · lowest
44,242
Sterling · lowest
44,242 median HH income
23.3% of the leader · rank #1
Pacheco · near
100,152
Pacheco · near
100,152 median HH income
52.7% of the leader · rank #2
Steamboat Spr… · this city
100,156
Steamboat Spr… · this city
100,156 median HH income
52.7% of the leader · rank #3
Rockford · near
100,156
Rockford · near
100,156 median HH income
52.7% of the leader · rank #4
Lely Resort · near
100,163
Lely Resort · near
100,163 median HH income
52.7% of the leader · rank #5
Cordry Sweetw… · near
100,167
Cordry Sweetw… · near
100,167 median HH income
52.7% of the leader · rank #6
Castle Pines · highest
189,918
Castle Pines · highest
189,918 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 Steamboat 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: 13,341.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Steamboat Springs - the verdict
Measured against every US city with at least 1,000 residents, Steamboat Springs lands in the 78th percentile for household income and the 43rd percentile for safety. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
78th
percentile, household income
96th
percentile, home value
68th
percentile, median rent
43rd
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: Steamboat Springs, CO
Census ACS 2023 estimates count 13,341 residents in Steamboat Springs, a small town within Colorado. Steamboat Springs households earn a median of $100,156 annually, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.2%. Home values in Steamboat Springs run a median of $874,400, and the median resident age is 43.0 years. Educational attainment runs 58.0% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher. Separately, 65.2% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
Steamboat Springs reports a comparatively low crime rate: per-100,000 total crime stands at 1587.5 in FBI UCR data, below the national average (a voluntary reporting program, read this as reporting activity, not a definitive danger score). NOAA puts Steamboat Springs's yearly average temperature at 40.8°F with 24.7 inches of precipitation per year and 184.5 inches of snowfall.
Colorado carries a cost-of-living premium: on BEA's 100-equals-national-average cost index, Colorado scores 103.1 (Above Average), per the 2024 Regional Price Parities release. Statewide, HUD pegs Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom unit at $1,429 monthly. EIA 2023 residential energy data puts Colorado's average monthly utility costs around $202 (state average). Workers in Steamboat Springs report an average commute of 11.1 minutes, with 64.8% driving alone and 18.5% 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 Steamboat 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 climate and hazard context to work and mobility to within-city variation to comparison shortlist to reported crime to schools and households to housing and income to population change; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Steamboat Springs, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, FBI reported-crime rates, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, matched public-school count.
No matched row is reported here for local building permits; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
Question 1
What physical conditions frame life in Steamboat Springs?
NOAA normals put the annual mean temperature at 40.8°F, with 24.7 inches of precipitation and 184.5 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 Steamboat Springs?
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.
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 64.8%. The reported mean trip to work is 11.1 minutes.
What can 10 Census tracts reveal inside Steamboat Springs?
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.
PlainCities matches 10 Census tracts to this city.
Which cities make useful reference points for Steamboat Springs?
Within Colorado, the closest population matches are Sterling (13,273 residents, $44,242 income); Superior (13,136 residents, $157,909 income); Fruita (13,578 residents, $77,680 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Nesconset, NY (13,344 residents); Harrison, WI (13,345 residents); Bonita, CA (13,336 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.
Reported crime
What can the FBI record say about safety in Steamboat Springs?
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 1587.5 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, below the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 30% lower in arithmetic terms, but agency participation is voluntary and reporting completeness varies.
Property rate
1264.1
Violent rate
323.4
Total reported rate
1587.5
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the education layer cover for Steamboat Springs?
The NCES join finds 7 public schools within the city match. 58.0% 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
7
Bachelor's degree+
58.0%
Poverty estimate
4.2%
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
How far does income reach against housing in Steamboat Springs?
The home-value-to-income reference is comparatively stretched: the ACS median home value is 8.7 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.2%, 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
$100,156
Home value
$874,400
Value / income
8.7×
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Is Steamboat Springs 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 +332 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +2.5% change. No comparable local building-permit series is available here, so population change should not be read as a housing-supply measure. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
Period change
+2.5%
2025 estimate
13,557
2020 estimate
13,225
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Colorado average
C
City profile score · Steamboat Springs, CO
58/100
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+
58.0%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Household income B+
$100,156
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B
4.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Violent crime F
323 /100k
FBI UCR violent offenses per 100,000 residents; lower is stronger 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.
Steamboat Springs profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Bachelor's+ share: 91/100 (A+) · 58.0%
Household income: 77/100 (B+) · $100,156
Poverty rate: 71/100 (B) · 4.2%
Violent crime: 30/100 (F) · 323 /100k
Cost of living: 26/100 (F) · 103.1 index
Where Steamboat Springs sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Steamboat 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 - Steamboat Springs highlighted among 26 peers.Read the chart values
Steamboat Springs, CO (this city): home $874,400, crime 1,588/100k
Henderson, TX : home $166,900, crime 3,163/100k
Kingston, PA : home $164,200, crime 1,595/100k
Sterling, CO : home $205,200, crime 3,319/100k
Fruita, CO : home $361,500, crime 781/100k
Lone Tree, CO : home $819,800, crime 11,414/100k
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 Steamboat Springs compare to other US cities?
Here's how Steamboat Springs stacks up against the full field of US cities (population 1,000+), computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income78% higher than other cities
Home value96% pricier than other cities
Median rent68% pricier than other cities
Safety43% 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, Steamboat Springs ranks #58 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 Steamboat 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 Steamboat Springs near the bottom of Colorado's cities
Among the 408 Colorado cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Steamboat Springs ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Steamboat Springs only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#119 of 379
69th percentile in Colorado
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 408
0th percentile in Colorado
Median Home Value
#36 of 388
91st percentile in Colorado
Poverty Rate
#215 of 408
47th percentile in Colorado
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#83 of 408
80th 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 · 43rd percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Steamboat Springs's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Steamboat 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 Steamboat Springs's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$874,4004th percentilemore affordable than 4% 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
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
pressured
> 5.0×
National rank
#15,200 of 15,516
More affordable than 2% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#3,239 of 3,317
Small cities (10,000–49,999)
At 8.7×, Steamboat Springs sits in the pressured band:
national rank #15,200 of 15,516 and #3,239 of 3,317small cities (10,000–49,999).
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
$100,156Steamboat Springs, CO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Steamboat 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 Steamboat Springs, CO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)58.0%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)65.2%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
13,341
Median Income
$100,156
Median Home Value
$874,400
Median Age
43.0
Poverty Rate
4.2%
Labor force participation
65.2%
Bachelor's Degree+
58.0%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
1587.5
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
323.4
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
1264.1
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
40.8°F
Annual Precipitation
24.7"
Annual Snowfall
184.5"
Schools
Total Schools
7
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Steamboat Springs's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
13,225 residents
2021
13,387 residents
2022
13,423 residents
2023
13,631 residents
2024
13,747 residents
2025
13,557 residents
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
11.1 minutes
Drive Alone
64.8%
Carpool
7.6%
Public Transit
1.3%
Walk
2.9%
Work from Home
18.5%
Other
4.9%
Based on 7,479 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 Steamboat 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 Steamboat 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 Steamboat Springs sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Steamboat 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, NOAA Climate Normals, NCES CCD, 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.