ZIP code 81426

ZIP 81426 is a very small community in San Miguel County, Colorado, with 144 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #469 of 528 ranked by population — larger than 11% of them. The median age here is 36.2 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly younger profile than the country as a whole. At this population the ACS sample is small, so the margin of error around every dollar figure below is wide — treat the numbers as a band, not a point, and expect them to move between annual releases without the place itself changing.

Households in ZIP 81426 earn a median of $125,938 a year, 60.4% 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 11.8% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in ZIP 81426 is valued at $875,000, 188.4% above the national figure, while median gross rent runs $1,188 a month, 15.5% below the national figure, or roughly $14,256 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 11.3% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is cheap relative to what people here earn. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 6.9×, 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. 69.5% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans toward owners. Rent is reported gross — contract rent plus tenant-paid utilities — which is why it runs above the advertised price on a listing for the same unit.

Home values sit at 6.9× 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. With 144 residents, a handful of survey responses moves every median on this page. Compare ZIP 81426 against its county rather than against national figures.

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.

ZIP 81426 is tabulated inside San Miguel County, Colorado, one of 5 ZIP areas the Census publishes for that county and 528 across Colorado. This is one of the smallest tabulated ZIP areas in the state, the kind of rural route where a single subdivision or farm cluster accounts for most 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 81426 can be handled by a post office in a neighbouring county even though the tabulation area is filed here.

Against its own county, 81426 reports a median household income of $125,938, 44% above the $87,273 county median, and 56% above the $80,917 typical CO ZIP. Owner-occupied homes are valued at a median of $875,000, 24% above the county figure and 104% above the statewide ZIP median. Rent is reported gross — the contract amount plus tenant-paid utilities — at $1,188 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 81426 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 81426 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.