Colorado Springs, CO
**Military and aerospace anchor of the Front Range — permits accelerating +85%.** Colorado Springs runs HPI **+37.7% over 5yr** with **YoY +1.64%** modest sustained. **P/I 4.95 moderate (right at CO state median), R/I 23.9% comfortable, Cap proxy 3.14% tight**. MHV $432K. **Permits 7.54/1k strong** (above CO state median 5.40), **Permit YoY +85.4% major acceleration**. **50/50 SF/multi balanced** — unusually high multifamily for Mountain West. 2 counties (El Paso 730K + Teller 25K). Migration +1,405 (+0.19% steady). **Unemployment 3.6% — matches CO state median, healthy**. Bachelors 41% high (military officer corps). Anchored by **U.S. Space Command HQ** (officially Colorado Springs after 2023 reversal), Peterson SFB, Schriever SFB, Cheyenne Mountain SFS, Fort Carson Army, USAF Academy, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon, USOC, Pikes Peak.
The numbers that matter most
What an investor checks first when sizing up a new metro — affordability ratio, rent vs income, cap rate proxy, and where the market is moving. Each metric shown vs. state and national medians for instant context.
moderate
Price to income
4.95×
The single most-cited 'is this market still cheap' check. Below 3× and you're in an affordability tailwind.
- vs Colorado
- 4.95×=
- vs U.S.
- 3.43×
Benchmark
ACS median home value ÷ median HHI
comfortable
Rent to income
23.9%
What share of a typical household's income goes to rent. Below 30% means tenants can absorb modest rent increases.
- vs Colorado
- 23.9%=
- vs U.S.
- 23.3%
Benchmark
(HUD FMR 2BR × 12) ÷ median HHI
tight
Cap rate proxy
3.1%
Rough first-pass yield assuming a 35% expense ratio. Not an underwriting number — a 'is this even worth modeling' filter.
- vs Colorado
- 2.8%+0.3
- vs U.S.
- 4.4%
Benchmark
(FMR 2BR × 12 × 0.65) ÷ ACS median home value
steady
Net migration
+0.19%
Forward-looking demand signal. Positive net migration drives rent growth and absorbs new supply.
- vs Colorado
- 0.21%
- vs U.S.
- 0.04%+0.15
Benchmark
IRS net migration ÷ population
pipeline accelerating
Permit pipeline
7.54
permits per 1,000 residents
Forward-supply indicator. Above ~5 means the metro is building meaningfully relative to its size; below 2 means supply is tight.
- vs Colorado
- 5.40+2.14
- vs U.S.
- 3.49+4.05
Benchmark
Census BPS permits TTM ÷ population × 1,000
healthy
Unemployment
3.6%
Tighter unemployment means higher wages, more rental demand, lower vacancy.
- vs Colorado
- 3.6%=
- vs U.S.
- 4.0%-0.4
Benchmark
BLS LAUS, latest month
Section index — click any row to jump
What the data says about Colorado Springs
Colorado Springs, CO is home to 755,081 residents in 2 counties — El Paso and Teller. The metro pulled 5,692 building permits over the trailing twelve months according to the Census Bureau Building Permits Survey — 7.54 per 1,000 residents, well above the national pace of 3.49 and above the Colorado state median of 5.40. The cap rate proxy sits at 3.14% — tight — and the price-to-income ratio is 4.95 moderate (right at the Colorado state median of 4.95). Median household income is $87,180 — high — and the median home value is $432K. The BLS LAUS unemployment rate is 3.6% — matches the Colorado state median, healthy.
The structural story is the military and aerospace anchor of the Front Range. Colorado Springs is the most concentrated military metro in the country by share of payroll. The roster:
- Fort Carson (Army, ~25,000 active-duty soldiers) — 4th Infantry Division and the 10th Special Forces Group.
- Peterson Space Force Base (the original Space Force base, now home to Space Operations Command).
- Schriever Space Force Base (Space Delta 6 and the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense).
- Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station (the legendary NORAD bunker).
- U.S. Air Force Academy (4,400 cadets, ~5,000 employees).
- U.S. Space Command HQ — officially Colorado Springs as of 2023 when the Biden administration reversed the Trump-era decision to move it to Huntsville, Alabama. This was a major political victory for Colorado Springs and is one of the structural drivers behind the +85.4% permit YoY.
Plus the defense contractor cluster: Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon, L3Harris, BAE Systems, General Dynamics, Boecore, Parsons — most of the Space Command supply chain has Colorado Springs offices. And the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee headquarters, the U.S. Olympic Training Center, and the Olympic & Paralympic Museum are all in downtown Colorado Springs.
The county view tells the concentration story:
- El Paso County (730,323 residents, 5,586 permits TTM = 7.65 per 1,000) — Colorado Springs proper, Fountain, Manitou Springs, Monument, Falcon, Peyton, Black Forest. 98% of the metro pipeline. Permit YoY +87.14%.
- Teller County (24,758 residents, 106 permits = 4.28 per 1,000) — Woodland Park, Cripple Creek, Divide, Florissant. Small mountain county west of Pikes Peak.
Construction is unusually balanced — 50% single-family / 50% multifamily (2,872 SF / 212 multi-2-4 / 2,608 multi-5+). This is the most balanced SF/multi split in any T5 metro. The high apartment share reflects the 25K-soldier Fort Carson rotation cycle and the Space Command HQ growth. Apartments are concentrated in downtown Colorado Springs, the Powers Boulevard corridor, and the Briargate / Northgate suburbs near the USAF Academy.
What's changing: net IRS migration is +1,405 returns (+0.19% of population) — modest, slightly below the Colorado state median. According to IRS Statistics of Income, Colorado Springs gets about half its in-migration from California (Los Angeles, San Diego, Orange) and about a third from Texas (Bexar/San Antonio, El Paso, Travis/Austin). The military rotation pattern is the wildcard — it doesn't show up in IRS data because soldiers stationed here often retain home-of-record addresses elsewhere.
Owner-occupancy 67%, vacancy 5.1% (very low — supply is genuinely tight), bachelors 41% (high — military officer corps), median age 35.4 (younger than most Mountain West metros, military-driven).
So what does an investor do?
- If you're hunting cash flow — Colorado Springs does NOT pencil. The cap proxy at 3.14% tight is the second-tightest in the queue (after Stockton's 2.7%). The 50% multifamily share means the apartment supply is also tight — you'll be competing with new builds.
- If you're playing appreciation — Colorado Springs is the measured Front Range — military payroll smoothing the cycle, less speculative volatility than Denver. The Space Command permanent location decision is the structural tailwind. Buy and hold for the Space Command + Fort Carson decade. Focus on Falcon, Monument, and Peyton — closer to the bases and the Powers corridor growth.
- If you already own here — hold and add. The +85.4% permit YoY says builders see what you see. Watch the Pentagon's force-posture decisions — any further military build-up at Fort Carson directly translates to housing demand.
Where prices are and where they've been
FHFA House Price Index — repeat-sales index across the metro, sized against this metro's median household income and benchmarked against the Indiana metros average and U.S. metros average.
5-year price appreciation
+37.7%
FHFA HPI · Q1 2020 → Q4 2025
+1.6% YoY
$431,600 median home value
Colorado Springs home prices climbed 37.7% over the last 5 years according to the FHFA repeat-sales index — a modest appreciation pace for a Midwest metro of this size. The 1-year change has cooled to 1.6%, signaling the post-2022 surge has unwound into steady-state appreciation.
See the chart below for how the metro's appreciation curve stacks up against the Indiana metros average and the U.S. metros average. The gap between the metro and the national line is the "catch-up" or "lag" signal — and the slope tells you whether the gap is widening or closing.
How to read it
- 01Colorado Springs ran **+37.7% over five years** — modest by Mountain West standards (Denver and Boise both ran much hotter), beating the U.S. metros average (+34.3%) by only 3 points.
- 02**Recent YoY is +1.64%** — modest, sustained. Colorado Springs has avoided the cooldown that hit Denver harder, but it never had the explosive 2020-2022 spike either.
- 03Inside Colorado, Colorado Springs ranks **#5 of 7 for 5-year HPI** — middle-bottom of the state.
- 04U.S. metros ran **+34.3%** over the same window. Colorado Springs basically tracked the national average.
- 05The takeaway: Colorado Springs is the **measured Front Range** — military payroll smoothing the cycle, less speculative volatility than Denver. The defense + aerospace anchor is the entire thesis.
Where the value tier sits — top 2 counties by home value
| County | Median home value | Median HHI | Price-to-income | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Teller County | $445,000 | $80,666 | 5.52× | stretched |
| El Paso County | $431,000 | $87,470 | 4.93× | moderate |
How to read the FHFA House Price Index
FHFA HPI is a repeat-sales index — it tracks the price change of the same properties over time, smoothing out new construction and luxury transactions. It's built from the mortgage data the GSEs (Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac) already see, which makes it free of MLS survey error and immune to listing-feed gaps.
- 01Repeat-sales method. Tracks the same properties over time, so new construction and luxury transactions don't skew the trend.
- 02Federally sourced. Built from GSE mortgage data — no MLS survey error, no commercial license required to publish.
- 03Slope, not level. Watch the slope of the line, not the absolute index value — a steepening curve is a more reliable buy signal than the level.
The rent ladder
HUD Fair Market Rent by bedroom count, sized against this metro's median household income and benchmarked vs Indiana and the U.S.
Typical 2-bedroom rent
$1,735
/ month · HUD FMR FY 2026
23.9% of median HHI
A typical 2-bedroom in costs the median household 23.9% of their income — 0.6 points above the U.S. average (23.3%) right at Colorado (23.9%).
HUD calls anything above 30% "rent-burdened." This metro sits comfortably under that line, which means tenants can absorb modest rent increases — and landlords have headroom on rent hikes before pushing tenants out of the market.
Fair Market Rent — by bedroom count
| Bedroom | Monthly | Annual | % of median HHI | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 BR | $1,464 | $17.6K | 20.2% | comfortable |
| 2 BR | $1,735 | $20.8K | 23.9% | comfortable |
| 3 BR | $2,413 | $29.0K | 33.2% | rent-burdened |
Why HUD Fair Market Rent matters
FMR is HUD's 40th-percentile rent estimate by bedroom count — refreshed every fiscal year, sourced from Census surveys (not commercial listing data), and used as the cap for Section 8 voucher payments. Three things investors should know:
- 01Defensible benchmark. Federal source, no commercial license required to publish or compare against.
- 02Section 8 ceiling. A property at or below FMR is voucher-eligible — government-paid rent at the FMR cap.
- 03Conservative estimate. 40th percentile means more than half of actual market rents in the metro come in higher.
Labor market direction
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — LAUS (unemployment) + CES (nonfarm employment), benchmarked against the U.S. average.
Unemployment rate
3.6%
BLS LAUS · latest month
Colorado Springs's labor market is healthy, with unemployment running at 3.6% — 0.4 points below the U.S. metros average (4.0%).
For an investor, tighter unemployment means higher wages, more rental demand, and lower vacancy. The trend chart below shows how the metro's unemployment has moved over the last 30 months.
Unemployment rate
3.6%
Nonfarm jobs
—
Median household income
$87,180
ACS 5-year
How to read the labor market
Two BLS series tell you almost everything you need about a metro's labor market: LAUS (unemployment, refreshed monthly) and CES (nonfarm payroll counts, refreshed monthly). LAUS is the tightness signal; CES is the size and direction signal.
- 01Unemployment is rental demand. Tighter labor markets mean higher wages and lower vacancy — landlords have pricing power when employers are competing for workers.
- 02YoY change is the trend signal. A negative pp YoY change means the labor market tightened over the last year — usually a leading indicator for rent growth.
- 03Nonfarm growth is supply absorption. Positive nonfarm payroll growth absorbs new housing supply and supports the rent + price trajectory together.
What's being built
U.S. Census Bureau, Building Permits Survey — trailing 12 months, broken out by structure type, with the YoY change as the directional signal.
Total permits TTM
5,692
Census BPS · trailing 12 months
+85.4% year-over-year
7.54 permits per 1,000 residents
Colorado Springs pulled 5,692 building permits over the trailing 12 months, a meaningful jump 85.4% year-over-year. That works out to 7.54 permits per 1,000 residents, vs the U.S. metros average of 3.49.
Single-family vs multifamily mix matters: 5+ unit permits are lumpy (developers file for entire projects at once), while single-family permits are smoother and more reliable as a demand signal. The chart below breaks out the monthly mix.
Single family
2,872
trailing 12 months
2–4 unit
212
trailing 12 months
5+ unit
2,608
trailing 12 months
How to read the supply pipeline
Census BPS publishes building permit counts every month at the county level, by structure type. Single-family permits are the smooth signal — they reflect ongoing builder demand. 5+ unit permits are lumpy and project-level — one apartment approval can spike a month.
- 01Permits per 1,000 residents. The size-adjusted comparison number. Above ~5 means the metro is building meaningfully relative to its population; below 2 means supply is tight.
- 02YoY change is the direction. Year-over-year change in TTM permits tells you whether builders are leaning in or pulling back. Watch this number for trend reversals.
- 03Mix matters for cap rates. Heavy 5+ unit permitting tends to compress cap rates; single-family-dominated pipelines preserve them.
All 2 counties, ranked by population
Census Bureau (population, ACS demographics) + Census Building Permits Survey.
How to read it
- 01**El Paso County leads with 5,586 TTM permits = 7.65 per 1,000** — Colorado Springs proper, Fountain, Manitou Springs, Monument, Falcon, Peyton, plus the unincorporated areas around Fort Carson, Peterson SFB, Schriever SFB, the USAF Academy, and Cheyenne Mountain SFS. **98% of the metro pipeline.** Permit YoY **+87.14%**.
- 02**Teller County** (Cripple Creek, Woodland Park, Divide, Florissant) issued **106 permits = 4.28 per 1,000** — small mountain county west of Pikes Peak. Permit YoY −7.83%.
- 03Colorado Springs runs **7.54 permits per 1,000 residents** — above the national 3.49 and well above the Colorado state median of 5.40.
- 04**Permit YoY +85.4%** — major sustained acceleration, **one of the strongest in the queue**. Builders are betting on military payroll growth and Space Command's permanent presence.
- 05**50% single-family / 50% multifamily** (2,872 SF / 212 multi-2-4 / 2,608 multi-5+) — **the most balanced SF/multi split in the queue**. Reflects the 25K-soldier Fort Carson cycling and the Space Command growth.
How to read the map
- 01**El Paso County (the urban core) is densest at 7.65 per 1,000** — Colorado Springs proper, Fountain, Falcon, Monument, the unincorporated suburbs around the military bases.
- 02**Teller County (west, Pikes Peak) at 4.28 per 1,000** — Woodland Park, Cripple Creek, Divide. Mountain rural growth.
- 03**The pattern is concentrated** — El Paso carries 98% of the pipeline. Teller is mountain second-home / outdoor recreation country.
- 04**El Paso builds at 7.65/1k vs the Colorado state median of 5.40** — 42% above the state average. Military payroll growth is the structural driver.
- 05El Paso County hosts **U.S. Space Command HQ** (officially Colorado Springs after the Biden administration reversed the Trump-era move to Huntsville in 2023), Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, Fort Carson Army post, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee headquarters.
| # | County | Population | Median HHI | Home value | Permits TTM | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | El Paso County | 730,323 | $87,470 | $431,000 | 5,586 | +87.1% |
| 2 | Teller County | 24,758 | $80,666 | $445,000 | 106 |
Similar metros nationally
5 metros closest to Colorado Springs by population and median household income — head-to-head on the metrics that matter for an investor.
Peer set
5
metros nearest by population + HHI
Colorado Springs is closest in size to Stockton, Boise City, Des Moines, Charleston.
The table below ranks every metric — green cells mark the best value in the column, rust cells mark the worst. Colorado Springs is highlighted as the focal row.
| Metro | Pop | Med HHI | Home value | P/I | Cap proxy | HPI 5y | Permits/1k | Migration | Unemp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
★Colorado Springs | 0.76M | $87K | $432K | 4.95× | 3.1% | +37.7% | 7.54 | +0.19% | 3.6% |
Stockton, CA | 0.78M | $89K | $495K | 5.59× | 2.7% | +34.5% | 3.12 | +0.17% | 6.4% |
Boise City, ID | 0.77M | $83K | $434K | 5.25× | 3.0% | +45.7% | 11.86 | +0.65% | 3.2% |
Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA | 0.71M | $84K | $252K | 3.00× | 4.1% | +41.5% | 7.80 | +0.05% | 3.3% |
Charleston-North Charleston, SC | 0.80M | $82K | $345K | 4.20× | 4.0% | +69.1% | 9.01 | +0.42% | 4.1% |
Madison, WI | 0.68M | $87K | $345K | 3.97× | 3.8% | +53.4% | 10.22 | -0.24% | 2.4% |
How to read this comparison
Peer metros are picked by population + median household income — the closest five matches nationally — so the comparison is apples-to-apples on size and economic class. Sun Belt entrants like Las Vegas and Nashville are included when they fall in range, which is why this peer set spans both the Midwest and the Sun Belt.
- 01Green = best in column. The cell with the most-favorable value for that metric, accounting for whether higher or lower is better.
- 02Rust = worst in column. The cell with the least-favorable value. Combined with the green markers, this is your at-a-glance "where does my metro win and where does it lose."
- 03Cap proxy is the yield lens. Cap rate proxy = (FMR 2BR × 12 × 0.65) ÷ median home value. A first-pass yield filter, not an underwriting number — but it puts the peer set on a single comparable scale.
Where people are moving in from
IRS Statistics of Income — Tax Year 2022. Excludes intra-metro suburban churn.
Net migration
+1,405
tax returns · IRS SOI · TY 2022
+0.19% of metro population
949 from top origin
The IRS data lags by ~2 years (households file taxes the year after they move), but it's the only nationwide county-to-county migration data sourced from administrative records, not survey estimates. The table below shows the top origin counties — the gravitational sources of new residents.
Top origin counties — where new residents are coming from
| Origin county | Tax returns |
|---|---|
| Arapahoe County, CO | 949 |
| Douglas County, CO | 840 |
| Denver County, CO | 764 |
| Pueblo County, CO | 679 |
| Maricopa County, AZ | 563 |
| Jefferson County, CO | 560 |
Who lives in Colorado Springs
U.S. Census Bureau · American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates · 2019–2023 vintage.
Who lives here
- Median age
- 35.4
- Owner-occupancy
- 67.0%
- Bachelor's+
- 41.0%
Colorado Springs young Midwest metro: Median age 35.4, 67.0% owner-occupancy 41.0% holding a bachelor's degree or higher. Stable, educated, and mostly homeowner-driven.
The catch: 51.6% of renter households are rent-burdened (paying 30%+ of income on rent) — high enough to flag as a constraint on rent growth even though the headline rent-to-income ratio looks comfortable.
- Median household income
- $87,180
- Median age
- 35.4
- Bachelor's+ degree
- 41.0%
- Owner-occupancy rate
- 67.0%
- Vacancy rate
- 5.1%
- Rent burdened (30%+)
- 51.6%
Data sources
| Metric | Source | Type | Vintage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home prices | FHFA — House Price Index | Index | Q4 2025 |
| Fair market rents | HUD — Fair Market Rents | Administrative | FY 2026 |
| Unemployment rate | BLS — Local Area Unemployment Statistics | Survey | Jan 2026 |
| Nonfarm employment | BLS — Current Employment Statistics | Survey | Jan 2026 |
| Building permits | Census — Building Permits Survey | Survey | Mar 2026 TTM |
| Migration flows | IRS — Statistics of Income, Migration Data | Administrative | Tax Year 2022 |
| Demographics | Census — American Community Survey 5-Year | Survey | 2019–2023 |
| Household income | Census — American Community Survey 5-Year | Survey | 2019–2023 |
Page last refreshed: April 9, 2026