Denver, the state capital · Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0How Colorado stacks up
Colorado’s schools stretch a dollar: 27th in spending per pupil, yet 5th on the Nation’s Report Card. On balance it grades B−, which places it 24th. It offers healthy residents (only 16% of adults in fair or poor health) and a growing population, but at the cost of above-average crime and high costs.
Each subject puts the official state figure beside a measure built from our town grades. How this works
Safety
38th of 51C26/100 Higher crime than most states. Measured by the FBI, violent crime here comes to 438 per 100,000 residents, 33% above the national figure. 72% of residents live in bottom-quarter towns, among them Denver and Colorado Springs.
Add property crime, weighted as our town grades weigh it, and it ranks 4th highest.
Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, state estimate 2025.
Measure: reported crime per resident over the engine’s three crime years (property + 4 × violent), as in our Safety grades. 47 Colorado towns of 10,000+ against 3,410 nationally. Covers 86% of residents of Colorado’s 10,000+ towns.
Where most people live, crime runs higher
Johnstown lands in the high-crime quarter on property crime; its violent-crime rate is below the typical U.S. town’s. At the safe end sit Windsor (#279), Severance (#346) and Fruita (#543) in the national ranking of towns of 10,000+. The quarter reporting the most crime per resident takes in Aurora, Lakewood and Thornton.
| State | Safest quarter | Most-crime quarter | Split |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Hampshire | 42% | 0% | |
| Rhode Island | 37% | 0% | |
| New Jersey | 35% | 20% | |
| Pennsylvania | 29% | 37% | |
| Maine | 29% | 15% | |
| Colorado | 6% | 72% |
Where county or state police patrol
Town figures come from each police department’s own reports to the FBI, and a town needs enough of the last three years reported to count. That covers 86% of the people in Colorado’s towns of 10,000+. Longmont and Federal Heights have too few years reported to count. Highlands Ranch, Security-Widefield and Pueblo West are among 23 places that report no crime of their own; county or state police patrol them, and their crimes aren’t counted by town. Among its neighbors, Wyoming counts the most (100%) and Nebraska the least (55%).
Schools
25th of 51B−52/100 Middle of the pack for schools. It spends $15,889 per pupil (27th) and scores 5th, more than the spending would predict. Measured on the one test every state gives, 36% of its students reach Proficient (5th highest). Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Steamboat Springs ranks highest, at #342.
In the class of 2023, 82.7% graduated on time, 13th lowest; graduation counts as much as test results in the grade.
Spending: $15,889 per pupil, 25th lowest. Shown for context, not graded.
Source: NCES, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2024, public schools; EDFacts graduation rates; Census school finance.
Measure: graduation rate and test results, averaged; each district’s state-test proficiency is put on the NAEP yardstick (its result ÷ the state average × the state’s NAEP proficiency) so districts compare across states. 72 Colorado towns of 10,000+ against 5,230 nationally.
Cost of living
36th of 51C30/100 Pricier than the typical state. Colorado homeowners pay a typical $2,602 a year in property tax (23rd lowest). Home prices tell another story, 5.6 times income (6th highest). Few residents live in a top-quarter town; its best showing is Federal Heights, #476 nationally.
A typical home costs 5.6 years of median household income, 6th highest.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: our cost-of-living score: home value, rent and tax bill against area income, plus the share paying 30%+ for housing. 72 Colorado towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Health
3rd of 51A+96/100 Healthy, town after town. Only Vermont puts more residents in the nation’s healthiest quarter of towns. Compared with 19% nationally, 16% of adults here report fair or poor health. No neighbor beats it on health; Kansas comes closest.
Source: CDC PLACES 2025 release (BRFSS model estimates).
Measure: our health score: seven CDC PLACES measures (general, physical and mental health, obesity, diabetes, smoking, inactivity). 72 Colorado towns of 10,000+ against 5,218 nationally.
Housing
30th of 51C+42/100 A few more renters than average. Compared with 65% nationally, 66% of homes here are owner-occupied. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Black Forest ranks highest, at #40.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: share of occupied homes that are owner-occupied. 72 Colorado towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Natural hazards
25th of 51B−52/100 Typical natural-hazard risk. Expect inland flooding above all; it makes up 58% of FEMA’s estimate. Natural hazards are expected to cost $138 a year per $100,000 of buildings, the 24th highest rate in the country. Its towns mostly sit mid-table; Grand Junction ranks highest, at #764.
Four federal major-disaster declarations since 2015, 6th fewest.
Behind the figure: inland flooding 58%, hail 19%, wildfire 13% of FEMA’s expected losses.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index v1.20 (Dec. 2025): expected annual building loss over building value, all census tracts; FEMA disaster declarations.
Measure: FEMA National Risk Index: expected yearly building loss from 18 natural hazards, as a share of building value. 72 Colorado towns of 10,000+ against 5,239 nationally.
Commute
31st of 51C+40/100 Slightly longer drives to work. Fort Carson ranks #9 of 5,235 U.S. towns for commute times. Getting to work takes 25.2 minutes on average (26th shortest). Every neighbor scores higher, Wyoming, Nebraska and Kansas among them.
Source: Census ACS 2020–24 5-year.
Measure: average one-way commute of the town’s workers. 72 Colorado towns of 10,000+ against 5,235 nationally.
Growth
3rd of 51A+96/100 Growing nearly everywhere. Only North Dakota and one other state put more residents in the nation’s fastest-growing quarter of towns. Between 2010 and 2020 it grew 14.8%, the 6th fastest change among the states. It leads its neighbors on growth, ahead of Nebraska.
Builders took out permits for 6.9 homes per 1,000 residents in 2025, 12th most.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 and 2020 decennial counts; Census building permits.
Measure: population change between the 2010 and 2020 censuses. 70 Colorado towns of 10,000+ against 5,079 nationally.
How Colorado compares to its neighbors
Colorado beats every neighbor on health and growth; on cost of living and the commute, every neighbor beats it.
| Colorado | Wyoming | Nebraska | Kansas | Oklahoma | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | B− 5424th of 51 | B+ 7414th of 51 | C+ 4429th of 51 | C+ 4031st of 51 | D 1444th of 51 |
| Safety | C 2644th official · 6% in top towns | B 645th official · 4% in top towns | B 6212th official · 6% in top towns | D 1446th official · 3% in top towns | C− 2039th official · 3% in top towns |
| Schools | B− 525th official · 7% in top towns | C+ 429th official · 4% in top towns | B− 5422nd official · 7% in top towns | C+ 4033rd official · 2% in top towns | D− 350th official · 0% in top towns |
| Cost of living | C 3023rd official · 1% in top towns | A 9212th official · 52% in top towns | C+ 3635th official · 14% in top towns | B+ 6628th official · 54% in top towns | A− 829th official · 29% in top towns |
| Health | A+ 964th official · 59% in top towns | C 3422nd official · 4% in top towns | B− 507th official · 2% in top towns | B+ 7019th official · 29% in top towns | D 1440th official · 4% in top towns |
| Housing | C+ 4237th official · 10% in top towns | C+ 3810th official · 0% in top towns | D 1034th official · 0% in top towns | C 3028th official · 7% in top towns | D 1238th official · 1% in top towns |
| Natural hazards | B− 5228th official · 11% in top towns | B 6026th official · 23% in top towns | D 1233rd official · 0% in top towns | C+ 4420th official · 4% in top towns | C− 2237th official · <1% in top towns |
| Commute | C+ 4026th official · 13% in top towns | A 923rd official · 88% in top towns | A+ 965th official · 98% in top towns | A 867th official · 81% in top towns | A− 7612th official · 41% in top towns |
| Growth | A+ 966th official · 70% in top towns | D 1245th official · 12% in top towns | B+ 7021st official · 49% in top towns | C 3438th official · 20% in top towns | B 6427th official · 52% in top towns |
Each cell: the subject’s grade and score, the state’s rank on the official figure (1st = the better end), and the share of residents of 10,000+ towns living in a nationally top-quarter town. Neighbor names open their report cards.
How this report card works
Two measures, side by side. The left card is the figure a state agency or federal survey publishes for the whole state, ranked against the other 49 states and D.C. The right card is built from our town grades: of everyone living in the state’s towns and cities of 10,000+, the share whose town falls in the national top quarter of 10,000+ towns. A state can do well on one and not the other; that difference is often the story.
Scores and grades. Each subject’s score (0–100) is the state’s standing among the 50 states and D.C.: the two measures’ percentiles averaged, then ranked again, the same method as our town grades. 100 is the best state, 0 the last. Letters use the town-grade scale (A+ from 95, A from 85, A− from 75 … D below 15). The overall score weighs safety 18, cost of living 18, schools 16, health 14, commute 10, housing 8, natural hazards 8, growth 8 (out of 100). D.C., a single city, is left out of the town measure and graded on official figures alone.
What it is not. A state figure averages everyone, so it cannot show whether a state is evenly good or a mix of very good and struggling places. The town measure shows the mix but leaves out towns under 10,000 and towns missing data. Neither says anything about any one neighborhood.
Schools use the Nation’s Report Card because each state’s own tests are set to different bars. Hazards use FEMA’s expected building damage, the same loss rate behind our town hazard grades. Sources are named under each figure. How grades work