Golden, CO population, income and ZIP codes

Golden city is a mid-size town in Colorado, with 20,467 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #39 of 482 ranked by population — larger than 92% of them. The median age here is 35.1 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in Golden city earn a median of $95,913 a year, 22.1% above the national figure of $78,538 and 11% above 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 13% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Golden city is valued at $790,500, 160.5% above the national figure and 74% above the $453,600 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,854 a month, 31.9% above the national figure, or roughly $22,248 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 23.2% 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 8.2×, 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. 58.8% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

Home values sit at 8.2× 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. Median income runs above the national figure while poverty also runs above it — a split distribution, not a uniformly comfortable place. Averages hide that; the two numbers together do not.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. 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.