ZIP code 81301

ZIP 81301 is a small city in La Plata County, Colorado, with 29,892 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #79 of 528 ranked by population — larger than 85% of them. The median age here is 41.8 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older 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 ZIP 81301 earn a median of $83,209 a year, 5.9% above the national figure of $78,538. The median is the midpoint household, not an average, so a handful of very high earners cannot drag it upward the way they distort a mean. Poverty reaches 14.5% of residents here, above the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 81301 is valued at $634,900, 109.3% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,433 a month, 1.9% above the national figure, or roughly $17,196 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 20.7% 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 7.6×, 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. 65.3% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. 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 7.6× 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.

All values below were released by the Census for this exact geography, with no gap-filling on our side. 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.

ZIP 81301 is tabulated inside La Plata County, Colorado, one of 5 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 528 across Colorado. This is a mid-sized ZIP that covers a large share of its county's addresses. County assignment on this page follows the largest share of the ZIP's land area, which matters where a delivery route crosses a county line: mail addressed to 81301 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 81301 reports a median household income of $83,209, close to the $83,229 county median, and 3% above the $80,917 typical CO ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $634,900, 23% above the county figure and 48% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,433 a month, which is why it reads higher than the advertised rent on a listing for the same unit.

Colorado charges 2.9% statewide, and local governments overlapping 81301 may add county, city or special-district levies on top. We publish the state floor for this ZIP rather than guessing a combined figure, because ZIP boundaries and taxing-district boundaries were drawn for different purposes and do not line up.

Everything above comes from the Census Bureau American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates for this ZIP Code Tabulation Area, with sales tax rates traced to the state revenue agency. Five-year estimates pool sixty months of responses, so they are stable enough to compare 81301 with its neighbours but always trail the current year, and any value the Census suppressed for sample size is shown as unpublished rather than filled in with a model.