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Place dossier plate
SheetCO-THORNTON-CO · Thornton, CO 142,878 pop · income 78th pct · 24 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 Thornton
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Thornton on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Gainesville · lowest
45,611
Gainesville · lowest
45,611 median HH income
40.2% of the leader · rank #1
Glen Acres · near
100,982
Glen Acres · near
100,982 median HH income
89.1% of the leader · rank #2
Neotsu · near
100,982
Neotsu · near
100,982 median HH income
89.1% of the leader · rank #3
Thornton · this city
100,985
Thornton · this city
100,985 median HH income
89.1% of the leader · rank #4
Roanoke · near
100,986
Roanoke · near
100,986 median HH income
89.1% of the leader · rank #5
Ossining · near
100,997
Ossining · near
100,997 median HH income
89.1% of the leader · rank #6
Arvada · highest
113,396
Arvada · highest
113,396 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 Thornton 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: 142,878.
Agency-reported UCR totals per 100,000 population, not a neighborhood safety grade or a prediction of personal risk.
Thornton - the verdict
Thornton ranks in the 78th percentile for household income and the 15th percentile for safety nationally, out of every US city with at least 1,000 residents. Source: Census ACS + FBI UCR.
78th
percentile, household income
84th
percentile, home value
68th
percentile, median rent
15th
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: Thornton, CO
Thornton is a mid-sized U.S. city in Colorado, home to 142,878 residents per U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Thornton report a median income of $100,985 per year, placing it in the top quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 4.8%. Thornton's housing stock carries a median value of $482,200, and the median resident age is 34.3 years. 32.2% of adults here have a bachelor's degree or higher; 70.7% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 247 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Construction Slowdown), down 72% from five years earlier. Thornton's reported crime rate runs above the national norm: FBI UCR figures show 3109.4 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).
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. Commute times here average 26.6 minutes, with 72.5% driving alone and 13.8% working from home, per Census ACS commuting data. FEMA's National Risk Index rates natural-hazard exposure at 40.7 out of 100 (Low).
A decision-led reading path
Useful questions to ask of Thornton'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 within-city variation to population change to comparison shortlist to schools and households to reported crime to work and mobility to housing and income; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Thornton, city-specific coverage includes commute-mode shares, matched public-school count, annual population history, local building permits, FBI reported-crime rates, within-city Census tract profiles.
All six city-specific enrichment layers used by this profile are present.
Question 1
What can 24 Census tracts reveal inside Thornton?
PlainCities matches 24 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.
Is Thornton growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population grew by +5,604 residents from 2020 to 2025, a +3.9% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 247 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.
Which cities make useful reference points for Thornton?
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 Lakewood (156,309 residents, $85,789 income); Arvada (122,835 residents, $113,396 income); Fort Collins (169,705 residents, $83,598 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Visalia, CA (142,649 residents); Torrance, CA (143,499 residents); Gainesville, FL (143,611 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.
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 40 public schools within the city match. 32.2% 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.
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 Thornton?
The joined FBI UCR record reports 3109.4 violent and property crimes per 100,000 residents, above the 2280.5 national reference used here. The difference is 36% 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
3109.4
Violent rate
273.6
Property rate
2835.8
FBI Uniform Crime Reporting, incidents per 100,000. Voluntary agency reporting; not a danger score.
What does the journey to work look like in Thornton?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 72.5%. The reported mean trip to work is 26.6 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. 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
72.5%
Work from home
13.8%
Public transit
1.9%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 76,716 workers age 16+.
How far does income reach against housing in Thornton?
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 4.8 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 4.8%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Value / income
4.8×
Home value
$482,200
Household income
$100,985
City-level Census ACS 2023 medians. The ratio divides two separate medians and is descriptive only.
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Colorado average
C
City profile score · Thornton, CO
55/100
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+
$100,985
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Poverty rate B-
4.8%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Bachelor's+ share C+
32.2%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Violent crime F
274 /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.
Thornton profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Household income: 77/100 (B+) · $100,985
Poverty rate: 67/100 (B-) · 4.8%
Bachelor's+ share: 62/100 (C+) · 32.2%
Violent crime: 37/100 (F) · 274 /100k
Cost of living: 26/100 (F) · 103.1 index
Where Thornton sits on home value vs crime among peer cities
Thornton'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 - Thornton highlighted among 13 peers.Read the chart values
Thornton, CO (this city): home $482,200, crime 3,109/100k
Visalia, CA : home $340,600, crime 2,566/100k
Torrance, CA : home $1,036,600, crime 3,087/100k
Gainesville, FL : home $235,000, crime 3,442/100k
Olathe, KS : home $340,600, crime 1,137/100k
McAllen, TX : home $173,800, crime 1,986/100k
Waco, TX : home $199,600, crime 2,552/100k
Lakewood, CO : home $548,200, crime 5,881/100k
Arvada, CO : home $600,800, crime 2,765/100k
Fort Collins, CO : home $548,400, crime 2,428/100k
Westminster, CO : home $497,400, crime 3,844/100k
Pueblo, CO : home $230,900, crime 6,366/100k
Greeley, CO : home $369,600, crime 3,690/100k
How does Thornton compare to other US cities?
Here's how Thornton 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 value84% pricier than other cities
Median rent68% pricier than other cities
Safety15% 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, Thornton ranks #88 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 Thornton 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 Thornton near the bottom of Colorado's cities
Among the 408 Colorado cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Thornton ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Thornton only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#115 of 379
70th percentile in Colorado
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 408
0th percentile in Colorado
Median Home Value
#147 of 388
62nd percentile in Colorado
Poverty Rate
#203 of 408
49th percentile in Colorado
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#211 of 408
48th 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 · 15th percentile for safety (lower crime rate). Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
Thornton's profile vs. every US city
Income, affordability, and safety percentile
Thornton'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 Thornton's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$482,20016th percentilemore affordable than 16% 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
Thornton's home-value-to-income ratio: 4.8×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#12,511 of 15,516
More affordable than 19% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#421 of 750
Mid-size cities (50,000–199,999)
At 4.8×, Thornton sits in the moderate band:
national rank #12,511 of 15,516 and #421 of 750mid-size cities (50,000–199,999).
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
$100,985Thornton, CO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Thornton, 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 Thornton, CO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)32.2%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)4.8%
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
142,878
Median Income
$100,985
Median Home Value
$482,200
Median Age
34.3
Poverty Rate
4.8%
Labor force participation
70.7%
Bachelor's Degree+
32.2%
Safety & Crime
Total Crime Rate
3109.4
per 100,000 residents
Violent Crime
273.6
per 100,000 residents
Property Crime
2835.8
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
40
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Thornton's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
142,162 residents
2021
142,827 residents
2022
143,358 residents
2023
145,933 residents
2024
148,370 residents
2025
147,766 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
📉 Construction Slowdown
Total Permits (2024)
247
housing units authorized
Single-Family
166
detached homes
Multifamily
81
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
1.7
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
880
752
128
$242.1M
2020
867
816
51
$232.4M
2021
1,148
700
448
$313.7M
2022
875
591
284
$230.6M
2023
758
434
324
$182.5M
2024
247
166
81
$87.8M
Permit volume decreased 72% from 2019 to 2024.
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Average Commute Time
26.6 minutes
Drive Alone
72.5%
Carpool
9.9%
Public Transit
1.9%
Walk
0.9%
Work from Home
13.8%
Other
1.0%
Based on 76,716 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 Thornton. 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 Thornton 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 Thornton sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Thornton 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.