What it costs to own a home in Colorado
A median-priced Colorado home costs about $3,500 a month to own with 20% down at today's 6.65% thirty-year rate. That covers $3,105 of principal and interest, $252 of property tax and $143 of homeowners insurance. Staying inside the 28% front-end ratio lenders use takes a household income of roughly $150,015 a year.
- Median home price
- $604,600
- Monthly cost
- $3,500
- Income needed
- $150,015
- Property tax rate
- 0.50%
What sets the payment in Colorado?
| Input | Colorado | Context |
|---|---|---|
| Effective property tax rate | 0.50% | 44th highest of 51 |
| Median home price | $604,600 | 6th highest of 51 |
| Average annual premium | $1,350 | on a $250k dwelling |
| Assessment cap | none | assessments track market value |
| Price level vs national | 103.1 | BEA price parity, 100 = US average |
| Appreciation, past year | -1.19% | FHFA index |
| Appreciation, past five years | +34.2% | FHFA index |
What makes Colorado different
Colorado has the reputation of a market that only goes up and, on these numbers, has not been one for several years. Prices fell 1.19% over the past year and gained about 34% over five — materially below the national pace, and a long way from the story most people carry about Denver and the Front Range.
The 0.50% effective rate is among the lowest in the country, and it is low by design rather than accident. Colorado taxes residential property on a small fraction of market value, historically set by the Gallagher Amendment's requirement that residential property carry a fixed share of the statewide tax base. Voters repealed Gallagher in 2020, and the residential assessment rate has been the subject of legislative adjustment and ballot fights ever since. It is one of the few inputs on this site with genuine political risk attached: the rate is low, and it is not guaranteed to stay there.
The low rate does a lot of work against a $604,600 median. At New Jersey's rate the same house would cost roughly $950 a month in tax instead of $252. It is the clearest illustration on this site that the rate and the price have to be read together — neither one tells you what a house costs to hold.
How much income do you need to buy a house in Colorado?
All four rows buy the same $604,600 house at today's 6.65% rate. The difference is entirely the down payment and the mortgage insurance it does or does not trigger.
| Down | Cash at closing | P&I | PMI | Total monthly | Income needed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5% down | $21,161 | $3,745 | $462 | $4,603 | $197,256 |
| 5% down | $30,230 | $3,687 | $335 | $4,418 | $189,325 |
| 10% down | $60,460 | $3,493 | $209 | $4,097 | $175,588 |
| 20% down | $120,920 | $3,105 | — | $3,500 | $150,015 |
What is a Colorado home bought in 2020 worth now?
Working backwards from today's median along the FHFA path for Colorado: what that same house would have cost at the time, the rate available then, and where the loan and the equity stand today at 20% down.
| Bought | Price then | Rate | P&I | Balance now | Equity now |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-2010 | $321,693 | 4.74% | $1,341 | $163,033 | $441,567 |
| Mid-2015 | $354,476 | 3.98% | $1,351 | $214,537 | $390,063 |
| Mid-2018 | $405,340 | 4.57% | $1,657 | $274,301 | $330,299 |
| Mid-2020 | $447,107 | 3.16% | $1,539 | $308,968 | $295,632 |
| Mid-2022 | $542,167 | 5.52% | $2,468 | $407,213 | $197,387 |
| Mid-2024 | $595,660 | 6.92% | $3,145 | $465,432 | $139,168 |
How do wages vary across Colorado?
Wages track local price levels closely. These are the metropolitan areas in Colorado the calculator recognises from a ZIP code, and the pay adjustment it applies to national occupation wages there.
| Metro area | Price level | Pay adjustment |
|---|---|---|
| Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO | 104.4 | +6% |
Run a real address. These are state medians. Put in an actual Colorado address, the date it closed and the price paid, and the calculator will work out that home's payment, its mortgage-insurance dates and the equity behind it.