3.4% of Watkins residents live below the poverty line, where Colorado’s towns sit at 8.4% and U.S. towns at 9.6%. Just 4% of the town’s working residents have a job in town. In Watkins, the middle household income is $158,000. The top destinations are Denver (25%), Aurora (19%) and Centennial (5%).

4%work in town

	Watkins	Colorado towns	U.S. towns
Median household income	$158,000	$95,000	$80,000
Average trip to work	33 minutes	25 minutes	25 minutes
Below the poverty line	3.4%	8.4%	9.6%
Working residents who work in town	3.9%	7.7%	8%

Where working residents work

In Watkins4%

Denver25%

Aurora19%

Centennial5%

Commerce City5%

18 mi

median commute distance

353

jobs based in Watkins

Balanced

jobs vs. working residents

Full pageWatkins’ work & commute pageOpen the page

The jobs here353 jobs based here · Balanced Where people work4% work in Watkins Commute times33 minutes · The average commute How far they goHalf commute less than 18 miles

Census LEHD 2023 · ACS

Health

How healthy Watkins is

The town beats the Colorado average on 1 of 26 CDC measures and trails it on 3. 16% of Watkins adults report frequent mental distress, close to Colorado’s towns (16%) and below U.S. towns (17%). Among adults locally, 71% had a checkup this year.

	Watkins	Colorado towns	U.S. towns
Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES)	71%	71%	79%
Binge drink (CDC PLACES)	19%	18%	16%
Obesity (CDC PLACES)	27%	26%	35%
High blood pressure (CDC PLACES)	29%	27%	35%

26 measures vs. Colorado

1 better22 too close to call3 worse

What stands out	Watkins	CO
More adults seeing a dentist	67.9%	64.6%
More older adults who have lost all their teeth	13.2%	9.2%

The Medical Center of Aurora & South Hospital

13.5 mi away · emergency room

1 of 3

care shortages: mental health

Full pageWatkins’ health reportOpen the page

Everyday habitsFewer adults who get no exercise Hospitals & doctors nearby13.5 miles to an ER · The Medical Center of Aurora & South Hospital How adults are doingFewer adults in fair or poor health Every CDC estimateBetter than CO on 1 of 26

CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA

Outdoors

Conservation land takes up 3.1% of Watkins

Watkins’ trail network density stands at 0.5 miles per square mile.

3.1%conserved

	Watkins	Colorado towns	U.S. towns
Miles of trail per square mile	0.5 miles per square mile	1.3	0.4
Conserved land	3.1%	6.9%	4.3%

3.1%

conserved · 486 of 15,753 acres

12 mi

of trails · 0.5 per sq mi

Full pageWatkins’ outdoors pageOpen the page

Trail map12 miles of trail, mapped Pick a walkPick a walk Conserved land3.1% conserved · 486 acres protected Questions“Where can I hike in Watkins?”

Housing

A larger share of households in Watkins are owner-occupiers than in the typical Colorado or U.S. town

Homes in Watkins are typically worth about $509,000, down 4.1% in a year, close to the Colorado typical home.

$509KZillow home value

Typical home value

Watkins$509K

Colorado$529K

−4.1%

value change, 1 year

homes sold in May

Full pageWatkins’ housing & cost-of-living pageOpen the page

Prices over the yearsDown 4.1% in a year Years of income to buyA typical home costs 3.2 years of income RentsRents Vs. the neighbors1 bordering town

Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center

Keep exploring

Everything we know about Watkins

17pages on Watkins

The big questions

Schools1 school HealthBetter than CO on 1 of 26 CDC measures Cost of living$509K typical home · down 4.1% in a year Work & commute$158K median household income · 353 jobs here Natural hazardsFEMA risk higher than 69% of U.S. communities · hail

Out and about

Outdoors12 mi of trails · 3% conserved land PlacesAttractions70 nearby · Plains Conservation Center 9 mi LibraryBennett Branch Library CollegesCommunity College of Aurora is 12.1 mi away

The story

HistoryClimate88° summer highs · 49″ of snow

Day to day

NewsWeatherHandbookZIP code 80137 Town SquareNeighbors

After high school

Colleges nearby

3 within 15 miles of the center of Watkins

Community College of AuroraCommunity college · Public · Aurora12.1 mi$4,470 in-state tuition Arizona College of Nursing-AuroraUniversity or college · Private for-profit · Aurora14.1 mi$24,653 tuition University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical CampusUniversity or college · Public · Denver14.2 mi$10,383 in-state tuition

About 4 of every 100 Watkins residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Colorado.

Prices by family income, graduation and earnings →

About Watkins

Census-designated place in Colorado, USA

Watkins (also called Box Elder) is an unincorporated town and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Arapahoe and Adams counties, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The census-designated place borders Aurora, and the Watkins post office, which lies within the Aurora city limits, has the ZIP Code 80137. At the United States Census 2020, the population of the Watkins CDP was 682.

From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)

Area: 27 sq mi
Elevation: 5,525 ft
ZIP code: 80137

Questions about Watkins

Short answers, built from the data on this page.

Is Watkins, CO a good place to live?

Watkins has fewer than 1,000 residents, too few for fair grades; the figures below are still real.

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Is Watkins a good place to live?

847 people, and everyone knows the way

Watkins in pictures

Red Rocks Amphitheatre and 50 more within 40 miles

Moving to Watkins: who provides what

The data

The schools Watkins’s kids attend

Top of a high hazard risk in Watkins: hail

Watkins has snowy winters and pleasant summers

Typical low → high °F

Most of Watkins’ workers head elsewhere: there are 0.9 jobs for each of them