Boulder, CO population, income and ZIP codes

Boulder city is a mid-size city in Colorado, with 106,274 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #12 of 482 ranked by population — larger than 97% of them. The median age here is 28.8 years against 39.1 nationally, a distinctly younger profile, typical of places with students, military posts or a fast-growing family population. At this size the Census also publishes one-year estimates; the five-year values used here are steadier and let you compare against smaller neighbours on the same basis.

Households in Boulder city earn a median of $85,364 a year, 8.7% above the national figure of $78,538 and within a couple of points of the $86,484 median for the 223 Colorado cities we cover. This figure covers the household, not the worker: two people on ordinary wages at one address outrank a single professional in the same table. Poverty reaches 21.8% of residents here, well above the 12.4% national rate, which is the single clearest signal in this dataset that median income here is carried by a narrow band of households.

The typical owner-occupied home in Boulder city is valued at $982,600, 223.9% above the national figure and 117% above the $453,600 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,924 a month, 36.8% above the national figure, or roughly $23,088 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 27% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 11.5×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 47.9% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. The rent line includes utilities paid by the tenant, a definition worth remembering when comparing it against a landlord's quoted rate.

Home values sit at 11.5× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere. A median age of 28.8 means a large student or early-career population; income medians in places like this understate household resources, since many residents are supported from outside the address.

No figure on this page is estimated by us; each one comes straight from the published ACS tables for this area. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.