Boulder, CO
Boulder, CO Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Boulder, CO Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Boulder ranks 22nd for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 18th for income. A household earns $102,697 a year while median rent runs $1,966/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 5% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is education (1st of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (288th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 282nd and home prices 288th among the 300 metros CityLedger tracks.
For your salary & household
Enter your pay and household size to see what it's really worth here — the numbers update live and the link stays shareable.
On $75,000 for just you in Boulder, your take-home is worth about $55,804 once local prices are factored in — local prices stretch it less than the U.S. average.
Take-home estimates a single filer taking the standard deduction (2025 federal brackets, FICA, and state income tax) and isn't tax advice. “Real value” rebases take-home to average U.S. prices using the BEA cost-of-living index; the per-person figure uses the OECD square-root equivalence scale.
The numbers
Income & cost
- Median income
- 18th of 300↑16%$102,697
- Cost of living?The local price level vs. the U.S. average of 100 (BEA). Lower means cheaper. This is raw prices, not adjusted for income.
- 273rd of 300105 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $97,619
- Per-capita income
- $63,702
- Full-time pay
- $51,418
Housing
- Median rent
- 282nd of 300↑20.1%$1,966/mo
- Home value
- 288th of 300↑32.3%$783,000
- Property tax
- $4,283/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 7.86%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 164th of 3004.6%
- Bachelor's+
- 1st of 30066.5%
- Avg commute
- 57th of 30021.5 min
People
- Population
- 330,262
- Population change
- +1.2%
- Median age
- 38.2 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 10.2%
- Broadband
- 96.4%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 185th of 30049
- Natural-hazard loss
- 183rd of 300$14/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 2nd of 30012.6%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.1%
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. EPA, FEMA, CDC, NOAA — every figure's source is listed on our methodology page. Data built 2026-06-14. ↑↓ mark the change since 2019.
How CityLedger scores it
Transparent weights — see our methodology.
Strengths
- + Affordability
- + Household income
- + Education
- + Commute
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — boulder 14 w.
What jobs pay in Boulder
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $297,070
- IT managers
- $206,260
- Financial managers
- $192,970
- Software developers
- $164,560
- Pharmacists
- $164,240
- General & operations managers
- $152,100
- Registered nurses
- $103,290
- Police officers
- $100,060
- Accountants & auditors
- $99,990
- Secondary school teachers
- $81,450
- Elementary school teachers
- $80,640
- Plumbers
- $64,890
- Electricians
- $64,120
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $63,810
- Carpenters
- $59,760
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $57,240
- Waiters & waitresses
- $49,870
- Construction laborers
- $47,980
- Customer service reps
- $47,830
- Janitors
- $42,440
- Retail salespersons
- $38,700
- Cashiers
- $38,520
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS 2025 — annual median wage. Cross-industry, all experience levels.
Where new residents move from
The states sending the most people to the Boulder metro, by estimated movers (U.S. Census 2022 migration flows, 5-year). Moves from elsewhere in Colorado are excluded to show where out-of-state arrivals originate.
- California3,536
- Texas1,532
- New York1,140
- Massachusetts908
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Boulder
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Boulder metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Boulder metro?
- Median gross rent across the Boulder, CO Metro Area is $1,966 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Boulder.
- What is the median household income in the Boulder metro?
- A typical household in the Boulder, CO Metro Area earns $102,697 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Boulder expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Boulder, CO Metro Area runs about 5% above the U.S. average (BEA Regional Price Parities, 2024) — prices are higher than average, before accounting for local pay.
- Does a paycheck go far in the Boulder metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $97,619 (versus its face value of $102,697). CityLedger rates the Boulder, CO Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Boulder metro?
- The median home value across the Boulder, CO Metro Area is $783,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Boulder metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Boulder, CO Metro Area is 4.6% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).