Denver metro area suburbs rank among the 50 richest cities in Colorado, with … [+]
We’ve been doing a roundup lately, analyzing different US states and identifying the richest cities. Recently, we have focused on the census-designated southern region of the United States, conducting studies of the wealthiest cities in Missouri, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Alabama. Now let’s turn our attention to the Rocky Mountain states and start with the quintessential Rockies: Colorado.
We analyzed more than 480 cities across the state to identify the richest cities in Colorado. How we evaluated and scored each city’s ranking is detailed below.
Read on to find out which is the richest city in Colorado, as well as the 50 richest cities in the state as a whole.
What are the richest cities in Colorado?
In order to compile this list of the richest cities in Colorado, we obtained key financial data from Census Bureau 2022 American Community Survey. From there, we built a four-factor scoring system to help identify the wealthiest cities in Colorado:
- Median household income
- Average (average) household income
- Median home value
- Median property taxes paid
When it comes to census data, keep these things in mind: For some factors, census numbers have upper bounds. For example, for median household income, the Census Bureau has an upper limit of “$250,000+.” For the median home value, the upper limit is “$2,000,000+”. For median property taxes paid, the upper limit is “$10,000 and above.” For these reasons, the average household income data set (which is the same as average household income) is crucial because the Census Bureau has accurate numbers on it. These four metrics were scored, added, and then ranked based on the cities’ combined scores.
Below is a table detailing the 50 richest cities in Colorado and their respective dollar figures for each measure:
The wealthiest town in Colorado in our rankings is Cherry Hills Village, which, despite having the word “village” in its name, is quite large, with 2.20 total households. Cherry Hills Village is a southern suburb of Denver in Arapahoe County. In the Village of Cherry Hills, the median household income exceeds $250,000, while the average household income of $464,068 is the highest in Colorado. The reported median home value in Cherry Hill Villages exceeds $2 million, the only town in Colorado where this is true. The same goes for median property taxes paid each year, which exceed $10,000 in Cherry Hills Village. According to United States data, the distribution of employment makes sense for a city with such high incomes. The largest occupational category in the Villages of Cherry Hill is management occupations, which make up 36.2% of the workforce. As for the main industries of the city, they are Professional, scientific and technical services (18.7% of the workforce), Finance and Insurance (15.2% of the workforce) and Health Care and Social Assistance (12.4% of the workforce).
The second wealthiest city in Colorado is Bow Mar, located southwest of Denver and part of the Front Range urban corridor. Its name comes from the two lakes located next to it: Lake Bowles and Lake Marston. Bow Mar is a small town, with only 304 households in total. Bow Mar’s median household income is $199,000, which is the fifth highest in Colorado. The city’s average household income of $324,109 is the fourth highest in the state. Bow Mar also stands out for its median home value of $1,465,900, the second highest in Colorado. Finally, the median property taxes paid per year are $9,939, the second highest amount after Cherry Hill Villages.
Columbine Valley, another suburb south of Denver, comes in third on our list of the wealthiest cities in Colorado. According to United States data, a third of Columbine Valley’s workforce is employed in management occupations (33.3%). Additionally, the top industry sectors in terms of employment reflect what one would expect in a high-income city: professional, scientific and technical services (28.4% of the workforce), finance and insurance (17.5% of the workforce) and real estate and Rental & Leasing (10.5% of the workforce). With a median household income of $245,208, Columbine Valley has the second highest income in Colorado, behind Cherry Hill Villages. Its average household income of $331,353 is the third highest in the state. Meanwhile, its median home value is $1,058,600, the fourth highest in Colorado, but significantly lower than the median value of Bow Mar’s No. 2 home.
