Fort Collins has plenty to offer, but the price of admission usually comes with traffic, sky-high rent, and a calendar that fills itself.
If you want the upside of Fort Collins without the daily grind, the answer is almost always a good suburb. The catch: not every suburb is worth the move.
So we ranked them. Using Saturday Night Science, we pulled the numbers on every place within commuting distance of Fort Collins: incomes, home prices, unemployment, schools, the works. The result is a no-nonsense ranking of where you actually want to live.
Table Of Contents: Top Ten | Methodology | Summary | Table
The 10 best suburbs to live around Fort Collins for 2026:
What’s the best suburb of Fort Collins? Timnath ranks as the best suburb of Fort Collins for 2026 based on the most recent Census and FBI data. If you happen to be a resident of Timnath, you’re probably not too surprised to find it on the top our list.
We’ll tell you what makes each of these 10 Fort Collins ‘burbs better than the rest–but first, a bit about our methodology.
Feel free to check out some more reading about Colorado:
The 10 Best Fort Collins Suburbs To Live For 2026
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Timnath is always mentioned as one of the best suburbs in the Fort Collins area. We’ll tell you the good about “Awesome Timnath.”
Everyone here is rich; families average $178,257 a year, which is the highest in the Fort Collins region. And only 0.57% are out of work. Homes average more than $675,534 each.
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Population: 12,411
Median Income: $119,385
Unemployment Rate: 1.5%
Poverty Rate: 4.6%
More on Berthoud: Data | Cost Of Living | Movers
Berthoud is the second best ‘burb we looked at near Fort Collins for 2026.
It ranks 6th for incomes in the area and only 4.77% of residents lack insurance, good for 7th best.
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Here in Mead, it’s really safe, and residents are just about as rich as you’ll see in the Fort Collins metro area.
The bad side? Schools are more crowded, and the cost of living puts a large part of the city out of reach for most families.
But price is based on demand and a lot of people want to live in Mead.
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Population: 10,130
Median Income: $124,572
Unemployment Rate: 2.3%
Poverty Rate: 5.2%
More on Severance: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
Severance ranks as the 4th best suburb of Fort Collins for 2026.
You won’t find many better places to raise your kids in the region than in Severance and the schools are some of the best around.
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Population: 37,914
Median Income: $127,028
Unemployment Rate: 4.5%
Poverty Rate: 6.0%
More on Windsor: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
Coming in as the fifth best is Windsor.
Windsor gets kudos for having the 4th most expensive homes in the Fort Collins area, where houses sell for an average of $577,242. However, the cost of living here is among the highest in the area.
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Population: 18,049
Median Income: $120,150
Unemployment Rate: 4.2%
Poverty Rate: 4.6%
More on Firestone: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
Firestone is proud of its 6th place finish on this list. And here’s why.
Most residents have great jobs and the unemployment rate sits at 4.19%.
According to online reports, Firestone is quickly becoming one of the more affluent suburbs in the Fort Collins area, meaning you need to get in soon.
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Population: 8,871
Median Income: $107,500
Unemployment Rate: 0.5%
Poverty Rate: 2.4%
More on Milliken: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
The 7th best suburb on our list goes to Milliken.
Milliken schools are some of the best in the region, and crime is really low. The cost of living makes it a lot more desirable for many families, especially first-time home buyers.
And, it’s only 19.7 miles to downtown, which is a good thing.
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Population: 5,844
Median Income: $85,956
Unemployment Rate: 0.8%
Poverty Rate: 8.0%
More on Estes Park: Data | Crime | Cost Of Living | Movers
Estes Park is growing quickly, and for a good reason. Crime is far below average, and most residents are gainfully employed. Even the cost of living is reasonable.
A solid 7.84% of people lack insurance, good for 14th in the area.
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Population: 11,798
Median Income: $107,017
Unemployment Rate: 6.5%
Poverty Rate: 8.8%
More on Wellington: Data | Cost Of Living | Movers
Is ‘Everything Better In Wellington?’
Almost.
It placed 9th on our list thanks to the fact that it’s really expensive to live here, but the schools are great, so you get what you pay for in that regard.
10. La Salle, CO
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Population: 3,061
Median Income: $95,833
Unemployment Rate: 1.5%
Poverty Rate: 7.9%
More on La Salle: Crime | Movers
And rounding out the top ten for 2026 is La Salle.
This city is far above average in every category, and the best part? It’s far more affordable than the other cities listed above. So, you get a big bang for your buck here.
Methodology: How We Determined The Best Suburbs Around Fort Collins for 2026
Figuring out the best suburbs around Fort Collins was simple. We used Saturday Night Science to find things people like about living in the suburbs and then locate the suburbs with those things.
We analyzed the newest American Community Survey data for 2020-2024 to research each suburb. We decided upon the following criteria:
- Low unemployment rate
- High median household incomes
- Population density (lots of things to do)
- High home values
- A lot of college-educated people
- Low poverty
- High rate of insured families
We defined a suburb as being within 30 miles of Fort Collins.
Additionally, we limited the analysis to places that have over 2,000 people. This left us with a grand total of 18 suburbs to evaluate around Fort Collins.
We ranked each place with scores from 1 to 18 in each category, where 1 was the “best.
Next, we averaged the rankings for each place to create a quality-of-life index.
Finally, we crowned the city with the best quality of life index, the “Best Suburb near Fort Collins.” We’re lookin’ at you, Timnath.
This result may differ from our state-wide data as we did not include commute times and crime for this analysis to allow for a more extensive selection of suburbs.
We updated the data for 2026. This report is our eleventh time ranking the best Fort Collins suburbs. Skip to the end to see the list of all the suburbs ranked from best to worst.
Summary: Welcome to the Best Fort Collins ‘Burbs of 2026
We said it once, and we’ll say it again–life in the big city isn’t for everyone. At least not all the time.
The best suburbs of Fort Collins are .
So if you’re craving the amenities of a larger city like Fort Collins but don’t want to deal with the drawbacks, one of these suburbs might be for you.
For more Colorado reading, check out:
Table: Best Fort Collins Suburbs
| Rank | City | Population | Median Income | Average Home Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Timnath, CO | 8,941 | $178,257 | $675,534 |
| 2 | Berthoud, CO | 12,411 | $119,385 | $606,279 |
| 3 | Mead, CO | 5,919 | $125,357 | $556,277 |
| 4 | Severance, CO | 10,130 | $124,572 | $495,599 |
| 5 | Windsor, CO | 37,914 | $127,028 | $577,242 |
| 6 | Firestone, CO | 18,049 | $120,150 | $570,741 |
| 7 | Milliken, CO | 8,871 | $107,500 | $450,806 |
| 8 | Estes Park, CO | 5,844 | $85,956 | $684,046 |
| 9 | Wellington, CO | 11,798 | $107,017 | $470,775 |
| 10 | La Salle, CO | 3,061 | $95,833 | $438,351 |
| 11 | Longmont, CO | 99,406 | $90,671 | $556,720 |
| 12 | Loveland, CO | 78,410 | $84,604 | $500,792 |
| 13 | Eaton, CO | 5,867 | $106,294 | $466,373 |
| 14 | Ault, CO | 2,425 | $95,049 | $437,166 |
| 15 | Johnstown, CO | 8,111 | $63,763 | $192,658 |
| 16 | Greeley, CO | 110,806 | $69,881 | $420,463 |
| 17 | Platteville, CO | 2,928 | $74,500 | $519,062 |
| 18 | Evans, CO | 22,396 | $75,563 | $394,719 |
