Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
3 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Colorado town. Settled in 1859, this town now has 1,842 residents.
Idaho Springs’ best subject grades are an A+ for walkability and civic life and an A for health; its weakest is a D− for hazard risk. Idaho Springs’ midsummer high is 78°F, where Colorado’s towns sit at 89°F and U.S. towns at 85°F. No town in Colorado scores lower than Idaho Springs on hazard risk. Idaho Springs's crime rate is higher than 92% of U.S. towns, with 10 violent crimes reported to the FBI in 2025. Idaho Springs’ density of trails is 2.7 miles per square mile, against 1.3 in Colorado’s towns and 0.4 across U.S. towns. On history, just 1 of Colorado’s 218 towns do better. The biggest park or preserve is Arapaho National Forest, at 98 acres. Idaho Springs has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade.
Where Idaho Springs beats most towns, and one thing worth knowing.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Colorado), ordered by how far Idaho Springs is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 229 in 1870, a peak of 2,502 in 1900, 1,782 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1881 and 2 maps from 1957 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Idaho Springs. Close and well known come first.
Big draw17 mi TheatreRed Rocks Amphitheatre
Big draw26 mi Stadium & arenaEmpower Field at Mile High
26 mi Stadium & arenaBall Arena
27 mi Stadium & arenaCoors Field
13 mi MountainMount Blue Sky
29 mi National ParkRocky Mountain National Park4.2M visitors a yearRed Rocks Amphitheatre: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Empower Field at Mile High: Thelastcanadian, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ball Arena: KM Newnham, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Coors Field: Matt Kozlowski, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Mount Blue Sky: Lookinhere, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Rocky Mountain National Park: Charles M. Sauer -- Charlessauer, CC BY-SA 3.0
Who provides power, water and the rest in Idaho Springs, 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 Idaho Springs.
Flood insurance has paid one claim in Idaho Springs since 1998. FEMA puts 78% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to avalanches, and 18% to inland flooding. Households here have drawn federal disaster aid in 2 declared disasters, most recently in 2013.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Public schools: the Clear Creek School District No. Re-1. Its one school is below. Idaho Springs’ only public school teaches 144 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Carlson Elementary SchoolLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–6 | Grades PK–6 | 144 | C+ |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CO on state tests and graduation
Idaho Springs’ rate of thefts and burglaries is 30.4 per 1,000 residents. The violent crime rate for Idaho Springs comes to 6 per 1,000 residents.
| Idaho Springs | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 6 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 30.4 per 1,000 residents | 15.2 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
A quarter of adults in Idaho Springs have obesity; 73% had a checkup this year. On the CDC’s 26 measures, Idaho Springs is ahead of Colorado on 3 and behind on 1. In Idaho Springs, 28% of adults sleep under 7 hours.
| Idaho Springs | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 28% | 30% | 36% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 25% | 26% | 35% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 73% | 71% | 79% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 19% | 18% | 16% |
| What stands out | Idaho Springs | CO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer uninsured adults | 8.1% | 11.1% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 7% | 9.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 9.2% | 7.8% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Summer afternoons peak near 78° in July, and January nights bottom out around 12°; snowfall runs to about 106 inches a winter. Winters in Idaho Springs are cold, snowy and summers pleasant, with very little rain.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
The share of working residents in Idaho Springs who work locally: 15%. Employers in Idaho Springs added 82 jobs between 2013 and 2023, to 835. The top destinations are Denver (15%), Georgetown (10%) and Aurora (5%). Half of commuters travel less than 25 miles.
| Idaho Springs | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 15% | 7.7% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 27 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 6.9% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $89,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The going rate for rent in Idaho Springs is $1,548 a month. In the year to September 2026, typical home values slipped 1.8%. Nearly three quarters of Idaho Springs households own their home.
| Idaho Springs | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,548 a month | $1,808 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 74% | 71% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
For Idaho Springs, the midpoint age is 43.3 years. Age groups here sit within 4 points of the Colorado average. Among adults 25 and older here, 49% hold a bachelor’s degree or more. Population is up 2.9% here since 2020, to 1,842 by the Census Bureau’s 2025 estimate.
| Idaho Springs | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachelor’s degree or more, 25+ | 49% | 44% | 29% |
| Median age | 43.3 years | 38.3 years | 40.5 years |
| Aged 65 or older | 17% | 15% | 18% |
Somewhere between 39% and 67% women
The Census survey reached too few of Idaho Springs’ residents to say more: its margin here is ±14.1 points. Across Colorado, 49.3% of residents are women.
| Idaho Springs | CO | U.S. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 10 | 5% | 10.9% | 11.6% |
| 10 to 17 | 15.4% | 10.1% | 10.3% |
| 18 to 24 | 10.7% | 9.1% | 9.1% |
| 25 to 34 | 12.3% | 15.7% | 13.7% |
| 35 to 44 | 11.8% | 14.6% | 13.2% |
| 45 to 54 | 17.4% | 12.2% | 12.2% |
| 55 to 64 | 10.5% | 11.8% | 12.7% |
| 65 to 74 | 10.3% | 9.6% | 10.2% |
| 75 and older | 6.6% | 5.9% | 7% |
| No diploma | 6.1% | 7.1% | 10.4% |
| High school | 15.1% | 19.7% | 26% |
| Some college | 18.8% | 19.2% | 19.1% |
| Associate’s | 10.7% | 8.3% | 8.8% |
| Bachelor’s | 28.7% | 28.1% | 21.6% |
| Graduate | 20.7% | 17.6% | 14.1% |
Census population estimates, 2025 · U.S. Census Bureau · ACS 2020-2024 5-year estimates · in a town of 1,800, single groups can be off by several points
6.8 miles of trail wind through 4 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Arapaho National Forest | 0.2 mi | 98 |
| 2. Ballfield Complex | — | 7 |
| 3. Courtney/Riley/Cooper Park | — | 2 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Idaho Springs
About 8 of every 100 Idaho Springs residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Colorado.
5 places in Idaho Springs on the National Register of Historic Places.
4 notable people were born in Idaho Springs.
City in Colorado
Idaho Springs is a statutory city in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. Located in Clear Creek Canyon in the mountains upstream from Golden, it lies some 30 miles (50 km) west of Denver. As of the 2020 United States census, Idaho Springs had a population of 1,782, making it the most populous municipality in the county. Founded in 1859 by prospectors during the early days of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, the town was at the center of the region's mining district throughout the late nineteenth century. The Argo Tunnel drained and provided access to many lodes of ore between Idaho Springs and Central City. During the late twentieth century, the town evolved into a tourist center along...
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Idaho Springs.
| Town | CO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Idaho Springs | — | — | B− | D | B+ | A |
| Central | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Idaho Springs has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Central isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare Idaho Springs with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
3 times the nonprofits per person than the typical Colorado town.
That is 4.5 years of the area's median household income ($105,762 across the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
4 notable people were born here, including Joseph H. August and Elsie Eaves.
