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Place dossier plate
SheetCO-WALSENBURG-CO · Walsenburg, CO 3,079 pop · income 8th pct · 3 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 Walsenburg
Lowest/highest poles plus peers nearest Walsenburg on median household income. Full ladder: /browse and /rankings.
median HH income
Brookport · lowest
40,781
Brookport · lowest
40,781 median HH income
16.3% of the leader · rank #1
San Carlos · near
40,786
San Carlos · near
40,786 median HH income
16.3% of the leader · rank #2
Northwoods · near
40,787
Northwoods · near
40,787 median HH income
16.3% of the leader · rank #3
Moulton · near
40,792
Moulton · near
40,792 median HH income
16.3% of the leader · rank #4
Walsenburg · this city
40,799
Walsenburg · this city
40,799 median HH income
16.3% of the leader · rank #5
North Browning · near
40,813
North Browning · near
40,813 median HH income
16.3% of the leader · rank #6
Old Hill · highest
250,001
Old Hill · highest
250,001 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
Out-of-state nearest neighbors for Walsenburg on ACS population and median household income
. 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: 3,079.
Nationally, Walsenburg sits in the 8th percentile for household income among US cities with a population of 1,000 or more. Source: Census ACS.
8th
percentile, household income
26th
percentile, home value
68th
percentile, median rent
📝 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: Walsenburg, CO
3,079 people live in Walsenburg, Colorado - a small town by U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2023 estimates. Households in Walsenburg report a median income of $40,799 per year, in the lower quartile of U.S. cities for household income, with a poverty rate of 17.2%. Walsenburg's housing stock carries a median value of $148,600, and the median resident age is 44.3 years. About 16.1% of adults hold a bachelor's degree or higher, while 40.6% of working-age residents are in the labor force.
The Census Building Permit Survey recorded 17 residential units authorized here in 2024 (Low Activity). NOAA puts Walsenburg's yearly average temperature at 51.6°F with 17.3 inches of precipitation per year and 91.6 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. 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. 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 Walsenburg'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 housing and income to comparison shortlist to work and mobility to population change to schools and households to within-city variation; another city can have a different sequence or fewer supported layers because the source joins are not uniform.
For Walsenburg, city-specific coverage includes matched public-school count, annual population history, within-city Census tract profiles, commute-mode shares, local building permits.
No matched row is reported here for FBI reported-crime rates; the page leaves those layers out instead of substituting a statewide or national value.
1. Climate and hazard context
What physical conditions frame life in Walsenburg?
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 51.6°F, with 17.3 inches of precipitation and 91.6 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.
How far does income reach against housing in Walsenburg?
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. Income and home value move within the same broad scale here. The useful next check is not a generic affordability label, but whether similar-size cities offer a materially different income, housing, or commute trade-off.
The home-value-to-income reference sits in a middle range: the ACS median home value is 3.6 times median household income. The ACS poverty estimate is 17.2%, which keeps the citywide median from describing every household.
Which cities make useful reference points for Walsenburg?
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.
Within Colorado, the closest population matches are Stepping Stone (3,079 residents, $220,039 income); Inverness (3,088 residents, $104,636 income); Snowmass (3,048 residents, $107,559 income). Outside the state, the closest population matches in this dataset are Tama, IA (3,079 residents); Old Hill, CT (3,078 residents); Pittsfield, ME (3,078 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.
What can 3 Census tracts reveal inside Walsenburg?
PlainCities matches 3 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 Walsenburg?
Driving alone is the largest reported mode at 72.6%. 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. 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
72.6%
Work from home
23.3%
Public transit
0.0%
City-level Census ACS commuting estimates covering 1,028 workers age 16+.
Is Walsenburg growing, shrinking, or holding steady?
Census PEP estimates show the population declined by -11 residents from 2020 to 2025, a -0.4% change. Separately, Census BPS recorded 17 housing units authorized in 2024. PEP and ACS are different Census series, so the trend is kept separate from the headline ACS population.
The recent population line is broadly flat. That makes the composition of change more important than the headline count: housing turnover, household size, and age structure can shift even when the total barely moves.
2020 estimate
3,050
2025 estimate
3,039
Period change
-0.4%
Census Population Estimates Program, 2020–2025; permit context uses Census BPS.
What does the education layer cover for Walsenburg?
The matched institution count is small, so district boundaries and schools outside the city line may matter more than the municipal count suggests. Use the number as a coverage cue, then verify attendance zones with the district before making a household decision.
The NCES join finds 2 public schools within the city match. 16.1% 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
17.2%
Bachelor's degree+
16.1%
Matched public schools
2
NCES Common Core of Data school locations plus Census ACS resident characteristics.
Lowest-decile income · poverty 17.2% (High poverty)
Cost of Living Index (state)
103.1 (US=100)
Above-average cost · BEA RPP 2024, Colorado average
F
City profile score · Walsenburg, CO
18/100
4 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.
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.
Bachelor's+ share F
16.1%
Adults with a bachelor's degree or higher; ACS.
Poverty rate F
17.2%
Share of residents below the poverty line; lower scores better on this axis.
Household income F
$40,799
Median household income vs U.S. cities (pop ≥1,000); ACS.
Violent crime N/A
N/A
No FBI UCR violent-crime rate for this place (coverage is incomplete).
Walsenburg profile (scored ACS/FBI dimensions)Read the chart values
Cost of living: 26/100 (F) · 103.1 index
Bachelor's+ share: 23/100 (F) · 16.1%
Poverty rate: 19/100 (F) · 17.2%
Household income: 8/100 (F) · $40,799
How does Walsenburg compare to other US cities?
Where Walsenburg sits among all US cities (population 1,000+) on each measure, computed live from Census and FBI data.
Household income8% higher than other cities
Home value26% pricier than other cities
Median rent68% pricier than other cities
"Safer than" reflects total crime rate from FBI UCR; the others use Census ACS estimates.
How we calculate these percentiles & ranks
Each percentile compares Walsenburg 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 Walsenburg near the bottom of Colorado's cities
Among the 408 Colorado cities PlainCities tracks with reported median gross rent data, Walsenburg ranks #1 - the 0th percentile within the state. This is a different, narrower cut than the nationwide percentiles above: it compares Walsenburg only against its own state's cities, not the full US field.
Median Household Income
#354 of 379
7th percentile in Colorado
Median Gross Rent
#1 of 408
0th percentile in Colorado
Median Home Value
#340 of 388
12th percentile in Colorado
Poverty Rate
#46 of 408
89th percentile in Colorado
Bachelor's Degree or Higher
#336 of 408
17th 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
8th percentile nationally for median household income. Source: Census ACS 2023 / FBI UCR 2023.
How Walsenburg's home value compares nationally
Median home value vs. every US city (population 1,000+)
$148,600Among the most affordablemore affordable than 74% 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
Walsenburg's home-value-to-income ratio: 3.6×
ACS median home value divided by median household income.
Band
moderate
3.0–5.0×
National rank
#9,517 of 15,516
More affordable than 39% of tracked cities (pop. 1,000+)
Size class
#7,603 of 11,323
Micro cities (under 10,000)
At 3.6×, Walsenburg sits in the moderate band:
national rank #9,517 of 15,516 and #7,603 of 11,323micro cities (under 10,000).
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
$40,799Walsenburg, CO median household income (Census ACS)
Show U.S. national quintile / Lorenz context Walsenburg, 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 Walsenburg, CO.
Key socioeconomic indicators
Bachelor's degree or higher (adults 25+)16.1%
Census ACS S1501, educational attainment
Poverty rate (households below FPL)17.2%
Census ACS S1701, poverty status
Labor force participation (adults 16+)40.6%
Census ACS S2301, share of working-age residents in the labor force
Population
3,079
Median Income
$40,799
Median Home Value
$148,600
Median Age
44.3
Poverty Rate
17.2%
Labor force participation
40.6%
Bachelor's Degree+
16.1%
Climate
Avg Temperature
51.6°F
Annual Precipitation
17.3"
Annual Snowfall
91.6"
Schools
Total Schools
2
Public schools in this city
Population Change
PEP vintage
Annual U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program (PEP) estimates, 2020–2025
Walsenburg's Census PEP population estimates, 2020–2025.Read the chart as text
Period
Population
2020
3,050 residents
2021
3,081 residents
2022
3,116 residents
2023
3,087 residents
2024
3,040 residents
2025
3,039 residents
Housing Supply
BPS source
Census Bureau Building Permits Survey (BPS) - annual residential permits authorized
🏗️ Low Activity
Total Permits (2024)
17
housing units authorized
Single-Family
0
detached homes
Multifamily
17
apartments & condos
Supply Intensity
5.5
permits per 1,000 residents
5-Year Permit Trend (2019–2024)
Year
Total
Single-Family
Multifamily
Est. Value
2019
0
0
0
-
2020
0
0
0
-
2021
0
0
0
-
2022
0
0
0
-
2023
1
1
0
$0.2M
2024
17
0
17
$2.1M
Commute Patterns
Commute source
How workers travel to work, Census ACS 2023
Drive Alone
72.6%
Carpool
2.6%
Public Transit
0.0%
Walk
0.6%
Work from Home
23.3%
Other
0.9%
Based on 1,028 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 Walsenburg. 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 Walsenburg 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 Walsenburg sits in; the FEMA hazard score shown here is a statewide average of county NRI inputs, not a parcel-level reading.
How Walsenburg 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, 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.