Colorado is cool in more ways than one, and if you’re a high-elevation, outdoor-activity-loving type of person, this is the place for you. But can you afford to live here?
With mountain views, snowy, ski-friendly winters and a natural beauty you can’t beat, Colorado is an attractive place to call home. Perfect for those who love the outdoors, but not lacking when it comes to more urban amenities, the state is a perfect mix.
If you’ve got your eye on calling Colorado home, or already live there and are considering trying a new city, the best thing to do first is figuring out your budget. Not all Colorado towns have the same cost of living, and you can quickly end up outside your budget if you pick the wrong one.
How do you decide what your actual cost of living in Colorado is? By looking at a few cities in Colorado, we’ll help you price compare, and get a better idea of where in the Centennial State you should think about moving to next.
Colorado housing prices
Colorado cities are up and down when it comes to factoring in housing prices in the cost of living in Colorado. Some cities are way off the charts, while others are seeing rent prices slowly rise as they stay below the national average.
This variety gives you more options when trying to match housing prices to your own budget. You can avoid the areas where prices are simply too high, but you can also think twice about areas that are seeing serious rent increases.
Colorado Springs
There’s a lot to recommend this city for those looking to live in Tree City. Colorado Springs has housing prices at about the national average. Here, housing costs are 9.2 percent above the average you’ll pay across the country.
Rents in Colorado Springs are rising, but not by huge percentages. One-bedroom rent is up 13 percent, but two-bedroom rent is only up by 6 percent over last year. That brings average monthly rents to $1,296 for a one-bed and $1,510 for a two-bed.
The median home price in Colorado Springs is $465,000, up 13.4 percent over last year.
Denver
Yet another great Colorado city to call home, Denver really does feel like the center of the state. Its proximity to the mountains, good weather and high walkability in the downtown area recommend the city to so many different types of people. This is most likely why housing costs are 29 percent above the national average.
Finding the best apartments in Denver isn’t that hard, but coming in at or under budget might be. One-bedroom apartments average out to $2,213 per month, up 11 percent over last year. Two-bedroom apartments will hit you with an average monthly rent of $2,722, up 8 percent over last year.
If you’re home shopping in Denver, the median price is $610,000, up 11.4 percent over last year.
Grand Junction
Highlighted as one of the best places to live in Colorado, the city of Grand Junction is actually the largest town in the western part of the state. Here, housing prices align more closely with the national average, being only 1.7 percent below it.
If you’re thinking of moving here, be on the lookout for escalating apartment rents. One-bedroom rent rose a whopping 122 percent over last year. Although it still only averages out to $1,100 per month, this could definitely be a sign of demand driving prices up even further.
Two-bedroom apartments saw a big increase, too, although not nearly as high. The average two-bed apartment in Grand Junction is only up 38 percent over last year, at a monthly rent of $1,350.
Home prices in the area are also seeing a major bump in price, up 61.1 percent over last year. The median home cost in Grand Junction is currently $459,000.
Pueblo
For all those college students at Colorado State University, the lowest cost of housing of our cities goes to Pueblo. That’s also great news for anyone considering calling this Colorado townhome. Housing costs are 6.9 percent below the national average, and apartment prices haven’t risen that much since last year.
A one-bedroom apartment averages out at only $1,400 per month, up 8 percent over last year. A two-bedroom apartment, up 10 percent, is still only $1,600 per month.
Home prices are also relatively reasonable. The current median home cost is $393,000.
Westminster
Providing all the perks of a big city without all the congestion, Westminster is a friendly place with a calendar of activities for residents all year long. Its proximity to Denver and Boulder also give it mass appeal. All of this combined may help to explain why housing costs are 36.6 percent above the national average.
However, even with a high combined average, rent prices in the area are actually increasing at a very slow rate. The average rent for one-bedrooms is actually even declining. It’s down six percent over last year, and two-bedroom rent only went up by one percent. As far as what you may pay, the current one-bed monthly rent averages out to $1,934, and two-beds is $2,515.
The only prices steadily rising are home prices. Up 15 percent over last year, the median price for a home in Westminster is $575,000.
Colorado food prices
Another major part of the cost of living in Colorado is food. When Colorado residents go out to eat, they may order a Denver omelet or the Slopper (you’ll want to try it after you look it up), but for dining at home, they spend an average of $267 to $300 per month on groceries.
Across Colorado, most cities on our list rank below the national average when it comes to food prices. Here’s how they all stack up.
- Pueblo is 2 percent below the national average
- Colorado Springs is 2.3 percent below the national average
- Grand Junction is 4.1 percent above the national average
- Denver is 6.4 percent below the national average
- Westminster is 11.7 percent below the national average
Grand Junction is the only city where groceries are going to cost you a little more than what the average American is paying around the county. And although that may not mean paying a lot more per product, it does add up. For example, the cost of potatoes in Grand Junction is over a dollar more than in Westminster.
You can also see the differences in food prices when looking at the average cost for a date night meal for two, although the results may surprise you. A three-course meal in Denver, with one of the lowest overall food prices, is 25 percent more than the same meal in Pueblo.
Utility prices
Similar to food prices, the overall average cost of utilities in Colorado’s cities are primarily below the national average. This includes those monthly bills for electricity, gas, water and even internet.
- Pueblo is 2.1 percent below the national average
- Colorado Springs is 2.3 percent above the national average
- Grand Junction is 10.7 percent below the national average
- Denver is 13.5 percent below the national average
- Westminster is 22.2 percent below the national average
Most utility bills in Colorado are more affordable than the national average thanks to options to select alternate forms of energy to power your home. Overall bills are split almost evenly between electricity and other sources.
This could be, in part, a result of the increased use of both wind and solar energy throughout the state. Since 2010, Colorado’s use of renewable sources for electricity has more than tripled. The state ranks 7th in installed wind power capacity and 11th for installed solar capacity.
If living a greener life is as important as being among all the green of nature, Colorado puts up a strong argument to get you to live there.
Transportation prices
Possibly because public transportation isn’t heavily available everywhere in Colorado, average transportation prices for the majority of our cities hit above the national average.
- Denver is 1.8 percent below the national average
- Grand Junction is 2.9 percent above the national average
- Pueblo is 3.6 percent above the national average
- Colorado Springs is 4.4 percent below the national average
- Westminster is 7.9 percent above the national average
For those cities that do provide public transportation, the systems are pretty extensive. This could mean significant savings in car ownership costs or even the possibility of not owning a car at all. Good news for the overall cost of living in Colorado.
Denver RTD
With its highly walkable downtown, Denver’s public transportation system, the RTD, is a necessity. The city’s walk score is a 71, and it has a bike score of 78, so residents are definitely out without their cars. The more than 170 bus routes and 12 rail lines of the RTD can really make a big difference for those moving about without their car.
This public transportation network actually provides services in eight counties. In addition to Denver, services extend to Boulder, and even include a stop in Westminster. The most affordable way to navigate is with a monthly pass for residents. You can buy day passes too when friends and family come to visit.
For local trips, a monthly pass is $114. For regional trips, you’ll pay $200 for a monthly pass.
Grand Valley Transit in Grand Junction
Extending throughout Mesa County, the Grand Valley Transit system has 11 bus routes specifically covering the Grand Junction region. A one-way fare is $1.50, and monthly passes are $45. To get a huge deal on public transportation, though, get an annual pass. It’s only $275.
Grand Junction also has the DASH. This is a free shuttle that only runs Thursdays-Saturdays. Stops include downtown Grand Junction, Colorado Mesa University and the Grand Junction Regional Airport.
Healthcare prices
This particular piece of your cost of living in Colorado is more expensive on the whole than many of the other services that make up this overall number. Within our cities, three out of five are over the national average.
- Denver is 0.7 percent over the national average
- Grand Junction is 2.2 percent over the national average
- Colorado Springs is 2.6 percent over the national average
- Westminster is 11 percent under the national average
- Pueblo is 14.3 percent under the national average
The percentage difference really come into play when you look at the average cost of a doctor’s visit. In Pueblo, the least expensive city, a doctor’s visit is only $94 on average. You’ll pay over $100 for the same visit, on average, in every other Colorado city on our list.
Goods and services
Moving on from healthcare prices, it’s also necessary to take note of the average costs of specific goods and services. These are items that regularly contribute to your monthly budget, so if you can live in a city where they’re all a little less expensive, the savings could add up. In Colorado, average prices for goods and services hit both above and below the national average with Pueblo being the same percentage below and Denver is above.
- Westminster is 1.3 percent below the national average
- Grand Junction is 4.3 percent below the national average
- Colorado Springs is 5 percent above the national average
- Denver is 12.3 percent above the national average
- Pueblo is 12.3 percent below the national average
It’s no surprise that Denver is the most expensive city in the area on the whole. As the most populated city in Colorado, it most likely has the greatest variety of services available, at a variety of luxury (price) levels.
To see how these overall averages figure into line items that might be in your monthly budget:
Since the cost of individual services varies, you won’t always find the most expensive line item in Denver, our most expensive city. That’s why it’s important to have an itemized budget of your own so you can compare how much it will cost you to live in different places throughout a single state.
Adding one more item to your budget
Another expense in this category to think about, even if you don’t necessarily need to pay for it right now, is childcare. It’s a biggie when you get to it, so it’s good to know now what to expect.
For a full-day private preschool, for example, it will cost you only $750 per month, on average, in Pueblo. However, looking at Colorado Springs, that monthly average cost jumps up to $1,258.33, and in Denver, that average rises all the way up to $1,401.85. It can quickly become a pretty large bill to pay each month if you’re not prepared.
Taxes in Colorado
Colorado has a 2.9 percent state sales tax. This is on the lower side. If you only had to pay state sales tax, for every $1,000 you spend shopping, you’d only be paying $29 in taxes. That’s reasonable, but each municipality adds on local taxes for the city and county, meaning you’ll never pay this little in sales tax when you hit the stores.
- Denver has a combined tax of 7 percent
- Pueblo has a combined tax of 7.6 percent
- Colorado Springs has a combined tax of 8.2 percent
- Grand Junction has a combined tax of 8.52 percent
- Westminster has a combined tax of 8.6 percent
How much do I need to earn to live in Colorado?
Calculating how much you need to earn to afford the cost of living in Colorado starts with rent. It makes sense that you should afford a place to live first. To get the equation right, many experts suggest you spend around 30 percent of your annual income on rent.
With the average state rent in Colorado being $1,972 for a one-bedroom apartment, you’d need to earn a minimum of $78,880 per year. That number may seem high, but with the median household income in the state being $82,661, chances are you’ll have a lot of options when it comes to housing.
These numbers, though, are just estimates. To get a little more clarity on what you can really afford in Colorado, check out our rent calculator.
Living in Colorado
If you have your heart set on calling Colorado home, you no longer have to worry about whether or not you can afford the cost of living. Now, you can know exactly which city will help you keep to your budget whether you’ve got a rent bill due or need to take your pup to the vet for a check-up. No more worry means you’ll have time to enjoy the natural beauty that surrounds every city in this magnificent state.
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The Cost of Living Index comes from coli.org.
The rent information included in this summary is based on a calculation of multifamily rental property inventory on Rent. as of June 2022.
Rent prices are for illustrative purposes only. This information does not constitute a pricing guarantee or financial advice related to the rental market.
Source: rent.com