Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
For a city of 171,500, Fort Collins does well: it grades B+, 59th among Colorado's 158 graded towns. Its schools outperform 89% of the state's and it is healthier than 88% of U.S. towns. The trade-offs: the typical home is worth about $555K, 5.9 years of the Fort Collins metro’s $94K median household income, and it reports more crime per resident than 76% of U.S. towns, including 491 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. 47% of working residents work locally in Fort Collins, above both Colorado’s towns (7.5%) and U.S. towns (8%). Fort Collins is more walkable than 96% of U.S. towns. Its National Register listings include Old Town Fort Collins and Botanical and Horticultural Laboratory.
Where Fort Collins beats most towns.
Avery House
Its 28 National Register listings are more than in 96% of Colorado towns with a listing.
Census counts: 1,356 in 1880, 169,810 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1865 and 3 maps from 1906 on.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Colorado), ordered by how far Fort Collins is from typical.
Its grades run from A+ for walkability (better than 96% of comparable towns) to D for cost of living (better than 15%), so the B+ overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Fort Collins, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Fort Collins.
Fort Collins is shaped by its college students, has seen reported crime fall by a fifth or more and is healthy by national standards but mid-pack in Colorado.
117 miles of trail in 89 parks and preserves. The trail density in Fort Collins is 2.0 miles per square mile. The biggest place to walk is Coyote Ridge Natural Area, 1,100 acres with 3 miles of trail.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Pineridge Natural Area | 6.7 mi | 606 |
| 2. Riverbend Ponds | 4 mi | 213 |
| 3. Coyote Ridge Natural Area | 3 mi | 1,100 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Its A for schools comes with a D for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $555K.
Its public schools are run by the Poudre School District R-1. Three of its 54 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lesher Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 766 | B+ |
| Rocky Mountain High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 2,044 | A |
| Liberty Common Charter SchoolTop results in townGrades K–12 | Grades K–12 | 1,516 | A+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CO on state tests and graduation
Within Colorado it is less healthy than 55% of the 159 graded towns: Colorado sets a high bar.
68% of adults had a checkup this year in Fort Collins. Fort Collins beats the Colorado average on 10 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 5. 23% of adults have high blood pressure in Fort Collins.
| Fort Collins | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 68% | 71% | 79% |
| High blood pressure (CDC PLACES) | 23% | 27% | 35% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 6.2% | 8.5% | 12% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 18% | 16% |
| What stands out | Fort Collins | CO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults with diabetes | 6.2% | 8.6% |
| Fewer adults who get no exercise | 14.1% | 17.7% |
| More adults in frequent mental distress | 18.7% | 16% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Reported crimes fell from 4,621 to 3,484 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Fort Collins’ property crime rate is 17.5 per 1,000 residents. Fort Collins reports more crime per resident than most U.S. towns we grade: about 76% report less. Fort Collins’ violent crime rate is 2.9 per 1,000 residents.
| Fort Collins | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 17.5 per 1,000 residents | 15.2 | 9.9 |
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.9 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Expected storm and flood damage is lower than in 79% of U.S. communities. Since 1982, 37 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Fort Collins.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Fort Collins has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers, with very little rain. July afternoons reach 89°, January nights drop to 16° and about 49 inches of snow falls in a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
16% of Fort Collins residents live below the poverty line. Since 2013, Fort Collins has added 12,179 jobs, to 83,044 in 2023. 22% of Fort Collins workers work from home.
| Fort Collins | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 22% | 18% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 20 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 16% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $85,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
1 within 15 miles of the center of Fort Collins
College town 20 of every 100 Fort Collins residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Colorado.
143,986 counted in 2010 and 169,810 in 2020; an estimated 171,500 in 2025.
U.S. Census 2010 & 2020 counts · Census Bureau estimate, July 1, 2025
28 places in Fort Collins on the National Register of Historic Places.
42 notable people were born in Fort Collins.
Home rule city and seat of Larimer County, Colorado, United States
Fort Collins is a home rule city in Larimer County, Colorado, United States, and serves as the county seat and most populous municipality of the county. It is the fourth-most populous city in Colorado with a population of 169,810 in the 2020 census, while the Fort Collins, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area has an estimated 375,000 residents. Situated on the Cache La Poudre River along the Colorado Front Range, Fort Collins is located 60 mi (97 km) north of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver and is a major city of the Front Range Urban Corridor. It is a prominent college town, home to Colorado State University, a public research university and the second-largest university by enrollment in …
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
2 towns share a border with Fort Collins.
| Town | CO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Collins | #59 | B+ | D | C− | A | A |
| Windsor | #22 | A | D | A | A | A |
| Timnath | #9 | A | D | B+ | A | A+ |
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
By most measures, yes. Fort Collins grades B+ overall, better than 70% of U.S. towns and #59 of 158 in Colorado. It grades A for health, C− for safety and A for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Within Colorado, it does better than 47% of towns.
Yes. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
42 notable people were born here, including Jake Lloyd and Jon Heder.
