Fort Collins, CO
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO Metro Area
Figures are medians for the whole Fort Collins-Loveland, CO Metro Area, not the city proper.
Among the 300 U.S. metros CityLedger tracks, Fort Collins ranks 40th for affordability — how far a typical paycheck stretches after local prices — and 43rd for income. A household earns $93,276 a year while median rent runs $1,751/mo, making it comfortably affordable for what residents earn. Affordability and price level are different lenses: the raw cost of living here runs 1% above the U.S. average.
Its strongest card is health (3rd of 300), while home prices is the soft spot (277th). Housing usually decides a move: rent ranks 259th and home prices 277th 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 Fort Collins, your take-home is worth about $58,052 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
- 43rd of 300↑24.1%$93,276
- 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.
- 244th of 300101 (US=100)
- Cost-adj. income?Median household income divided by the local price level — what the typical paycheck is really worth here.
- $92,236
- Per-capita income
- $54,178
- Full-time pay
- $51,018
Housing
- Median rent
- 259th of 300↑25.2%$1,751/mo
- Home value
- 277th of 300↑45.2%$610,000
- Property tax
- $3,146/yr · 0.5%
- Sales tax
- 7.86%
Jobs & education
- Unemployment
- 129th of 3004.2%
- Bachelor's+
- 5th of 30055.5%
- Avg commute
- 139th of 30023.9 min
People
- Population
- 374,574
- Population change
- +5%
- Median age
- 37.5 yrs
- Foreign-born
- 5.5%
- Broadband
- 94%
Environment & risk
- Air quality (AQI)
- 266th of 30054
- Natural-hazard loss
- 126th of 300$11/$10k
Health
- Fair/poor health
- 3rd of 30013.4%
- Uninsured (18–64)
- 8.7%
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
- + Health
Watch-outs
- – Cost of living
- – Rent
- – Home prices
- – Air quality
Climate
30-year normals (1991–2020) from the nearest station — nunn 7 nne.
What jobs pay in Fort Collins
Median annual wage by occupation (BLS OEWS 2025) — half of workers in each role earn more, half less.
- Family medicine physicians
- $231,750
- IT managers
- $195,190
- Financial managers
- $175,890
- Pharmacists
- $149,410
- Software developers
- $133,990
- Lawyers
- $131,380
- General & operations managers
- $105,770
- Registered nurses
- $97,600
- Police officers
- $96,740
- Civil engineers
- $94,720
- Accountants & auditors
- $89,340
- Secondary school teachers
- $78,760
- Web developers
- $75,870
- Elementary school teachers
- $62,930
- Electricians
- $61,410
- Plumbers
- $60,610
- Truck drivers (heavy)
- $60,380
- Carpenters
- $58,310
- Maintenance & repair workers
- $53,290
- Construction laborers
- $47,550
- Waiters & waitresses
- $47,360
- Customer service reps
- $42,920
- Janitors
- $37,890
- Retail salespersons
- $36,640
- Cashiers
- $35,980
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 Fort Collins 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.
- California2,815
- Texas1,372
- Illinois1,046
- Florida982
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2022 Migration Flows (5-year).
Cities like Fort Collins
Closest matches across cost, income, size, education, and age — tap to compare.
Fort Collins metro — frequently asked
- What is the median rent in the Fort Collins metro?
- Median gross rent across the Fort Collins-Loveland, CO Metro Area is $1,751 a month (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024). That figure covers the whole metro area, not just the city of Fort Collins.
- What is the median household income in the Fort Collins metro?
- A typical household in the Fort Collins-Loveland, CO Metro Area earns $93,276 a year (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- Is Fort Collins expensive to live in?
- The overall cost of living in the Fort Collins-Loveland, CO Metro Area runs about 1% 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 Fort Collins metro?
- After adjusting for local prices, the median household income is worth about $92,236 (versus its face value of $93,276). CityLedger rates the Fort Collins-Loveland, CO Metro Area comfortably affordable for what residents earn.
- What is the typical home value in the Fort Collins metro?
- The median home value across the Fort Collins-Loveland, CO Metro Area is $610,000 (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).
- What is the unemployment rate in the Fort Collins metro?
- The unemployment rate in the Fort Collins-Loveland, CO Metro Area is 4.2% (U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2024).