Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Lamar is a solid, middle-of-the-road choice. It grades C overall, ranked 128th of 158 in Colorado, with no subject far below average. Its best mark is schools: its public schools beat 54% of Colorado towns on state tests and graduation. Its lowest everyday mark is in incomes: the median household income is $53K, and 21% of residents live below the poverty line. A typical home there costs about $180K, 3.4 years of the county’s $54K median household income. Lamar’s average trip to work is 10 minutes, below both Colorado’s towns (25 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). Only 12 of Colorado’s 218 towns score lower on health. Lamar is home to Lamar Community College.
Where Lamar beats most towns.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Colorado), ordered by how far Lamar is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 566 in 1890, 7,687 in 2020. The archive holds 6 old photos and papers going back to 1902 and 2 maps from 1953 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Lamar, 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 Lamar.
Lamar is healthier than towns with similar incomes and has hotter summers than nearly all U.S. towns, but it has poverty well above the Colorado rate.
The median property tax bill is $441, against $2,602 across Colorado, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The median rent in Lamar is $858 a month. The typical Lamar home is worth about $180,000, down 0.8% in a year, 66% below the Colorado typical home. 64% of households own their home in Lamar.
| Lamar | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $858 a month | $1,812 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 64% | 71% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its public schools are run by the Lamar School District No. Re-2. The largest public high school is Lamar High School, with 393 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lamar Middle SchoolLargest public middle schoolGrades 6–8 | Grades 6–8 | 275 | C− |
| Lamar High SchoolLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 393 | B− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CO on state tests and graduation
6.9 miles of trail in 6 parks and preserves. Lamar’s trail density is 1.3 miles per square mile. The biggest park or preserve is Willow Creek Park, at 25 acres.
| Lamar | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conserved land | 9.8% | 6.8% | 4.3% |
| Miles of trail per square mile | 1.3 miles per square mile | 1.3 | 0.4 |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Willow Creek Park | 0.3 mi | 25 |
| 2. Escondido Park | — | 4 |
| 3. McCorkle's Park | — | 3 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 78% of U.S. communities. Since 1979, 9 flood insurance claims have been paid out in Lamar.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
July afternoons average 94°, hotter than in 95% of U.S. towns; January nights average 16.4°.
Lamar has chilly winters and hot summers, with very little rain. Among 159 Colorado towns, just 6 have a higher July high than Lamar. About 30 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| Lamar | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 94°F | 89°F | 85°F |
| January low | 16°F | 17°F | 22°F |
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Against the 6,829 U.S. towns with household incomes like Lamar’s, it is healthier than 69%, so its C+ isn’t only a matter of income.
Lamar beats the Colorado average on 0 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 16. 20% of Lamar adults 18 to 64 have no health insurance. Among 159 Colorado towns, just 8 have a higher share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Lamar.
| Lamar | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 20% | 10% | 8.1% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 12% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 70% | 71% | 79% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 15% | 19% |
| What stands out | Lamar | CO |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 19.6% | 9.2% |
| More uninsured adults | 19.5% | 11.1% |
| More adults with COPD | 8.3% | 5.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
The average commute for its 3,222 working residents takes 9.7 minutes, against 25.2 across Colorado.
49% of Lamar’s working residents work right in town. Since 2013, Lamar has added 601 jobs, to 2,912 in 2023. Only 10 of the 159 Colorado towns we compare have a lower median household income than Lamar.
| Lamar | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 49% | 7.5% | 8% |
| Median household income | $53,000 | $95,000 | $80,000 |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Only 2 of the 93 Colorado towns we compare have a lower violent crime rate than Lamar. Lamar's reported crime rate is well below Colorado's. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
| Lamar | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0 per 1,000 residents | 2.3 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 11.4 per 1,000 residents | 15.5 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
1 within 15 miles of the center of Lamar
About 6 of every 100 Lamar residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Colorado.
5 places in Lamar on the National Register of Historic Places.
10 notable people were born in Lamar.
City in Colorado, United States
Lamar is the home rule municipality that is the county seat of and the most populous municipality in Prowers County, Colorado. The city population was 7,687 at the 2020 United States census. The city was named after Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, a Confederate soldier and diplomat who wrote the Mississippi Secession Ordinance, and after the Civil War, went on to serve as U.S. Secretary of the Interior and U.S. Supreme Court Justice. Lamar is the home of Lamar Community College, and is the largest city in southeastern Colorado.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Lamar grades C overall, better than 28% of U.S. towns and #128 of 158 in Colorado. It grades C+ for health and B− for schools. Jobs & income is its weak spot, with a D.
Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B−.
10 notable people were born here, including Ken Curtis and Gene Milford.
