Like all states, Colorado has certain places that are going on hard times. These Colorado places have an above-average percentage of people living in poverty, out of work, or not making as much as they should be.
Even as the economy continues to improve, it’s worthwhile to look at the places in each state struggling to make ends meet. So we set our sites on locating the poorest places in Colorado.
To do so, we used Saturday Night Science to analyze the newest Census data from the American Community Survey for the 77 cities in Colorado with more than 5,000 people.
$52,315 median income · 27.4% poverty · #5 lowest income in Colorado
Located in
Otero County, Colorado
La Junta, unfortunately, ranks as the poorest place in Colorado thanks to combination of low pay and and a lack of jobs.
The city of 7,140 people averages the 5th lowest median household income in Colorado and the highest poverty rate. At the very least, the cost of living ranks in the bottom 15% of place in the state, so things like housing are relatively affordable.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$45,250 median income · 20.5% poverty · #2 lowest income in Colorado
Located in
Delta County, Colorado
The second poorest city in Colorado is Delta.
The city ranks as having the 7th highest incidence of poverty and 2nd lowest median household income. However, the unemployment rate ‘only’ ranks as the 47th highest in the Centennial State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$43,283 median income · 19.0% poverty · #1 lowest income in Colorado
Located in
Logan County, Colorado
Placing as the third poorest city, Sterling’s median income ranks as the lowest.
And that’s a sign that there’s a relatively substantial jump in the quality of the economy from second to third place on our list. The poverty rate is 19.0% and ranks near the bottom of places in the state.
But what makes up for the relatively low incomes of the city is its low cost of living. The income you do make here goes further than in most parts of the Centennial State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$56,597 median income · 24.2% poverty · #8 lowest income in Colorado
Located in
Adams County, Colorado
Federal Heights ranks as the fourth poorest place in Colorado.
The town ranks as having the 8th lowest median household income and the 2nd highest incidence of poverty in the state.
That being said, there’s still a ton of cultural diversity in the city as it hosts many events throughout the year.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$52,273 median income · 21.1% poverty · #4 lowest income in Colorado
Located in
Las Animas County, Colorado
The fifth poorest city in Colorado is Trinidad.
The city ranks as having the 4th lowest median income in the state. However, an extremely low cost of living prevents a good number of folks from living in poverty as the poverty rate only ranks as the 6th highest in Colorado.
Still not the best news for Trinidad.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$53,188 median income · 21.3% poverty · #6 lowest income in Colorado
Located in
Prowers County, Colorado
Lamar ranks as the sixth poorest place in the Centennial State.
It ranks as having the 5th highest incidence of poverty and the 27th highest unemployment rate.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$62,189 median income · 22.1% poverty · #11 lowest income in Colorado
Located in
Gunnison County, Colorado
Gunnison places as the seventh poorest city in Colorado.
The city of over 6,766 ranks as having the 3rd highest incidence of poverty in the state. However, it has a very low cost of living which helps to pay the bills each month.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$49,688 median income · 15.9% poverty · #3 lowest income in Colorado
Located in
Alamosa County, Colorado
Alamosa ranks as the eighth poorest city in Colorado.
The big issue for the town is the unemployment rate which ranks as one of the highest in the state.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$56,664 median income · 17.5% poverty · #9 lowest income in Colorado
Located in
Pueblo County, Colorado
Pueblo couldn’t stay out of the top ten poorest places in Colorado; it ranks number 9.
While the median income is the 9th lowest, there are a substantial number of people that live below the poverty line. Overall, Pueblo ranks as having the 10th most people living in poverty of all the places we analyzed in Colorado.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
$54,247 median income · 15.0% poverty · #7 lowest income in Colorado
Located in
Montezuma County, Colorado
And rounding out the top ten poorest cities in Colorado is Cortez.
The city of 8,976 people ranks in the bottom 20% for both median income and poverty rate in the Centennial State.
Data | Crime | Cost of living | Movers
The receipts
Compare the top ten
Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is Colorado’s statewide median.
Colorado statewide median: $95,470
Colorado statewide median: 9.4%
On the map
Where poverty hits hardest in Colorado
Saturday Night Science
How we determined the poorest places in Colorado for 2026
The first thing that comes to most people’s minds when they think about determining the poorest places is to simply the poverty rate. That is, the number of people living below a federally established level of income for a household of a certain size.
However, we don’t think that one statistic wholly encompasses what it means to be one of the “poorest places”. So we used Saturday Night Science to look at this set of criteria from the newly released 2020-2024 American Community Survey:
- Poverty Level
- Median Household Income
After we collected the data for all 77 places with more than 5,000 people in Colorado, we ranked each place from 1 to 77 for each of the criteria, with 1 being the poorest.
We then averaged all the rankings for a place into a “Poor Score” with the place having the lowest overall Poor Score, La Junta, crowned the “Poorest Place In Colorado For 2026”. The median Colorado home is 37 years old — old enough that it pays to compare home warranty plans before something expensive breaks.
The full plate
Detailed list of the poorest places to live in Colorado
Click any column to sort. Search by city name.
| Rank | City | Poor Score | Population | Median income | Poverty | Unemployment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | La Junta | 3.00 | 7,140 | $52,315 | 27.4% | 7.9% |
| 2 | Delta | 4.50 | 9,421 | $45,250 | 20.5% | 3.7% |
| 3 | Sterling | 4.50 | 13,172 | $43,283 | 19.0% | 7.8% |
| 4 | Federal Heights | 5.00 | 14,125 | $56,597 | 24.2% | 6.5% |
| 5 | Trinidad | 5.00 | 8,286 | $52,273 | 21.1% | 7.3% |
| 6 | Lamar | 5.50 | 7,611 | $53,188 | 21.3% | 4.8% |
| 7 | Gunnison | 7.00 | 6,766 | $62,189 | 22.1% | 6.3% |
| 8 | Alamosa | 7.50 | 9,879 | $49,688 | 15.9% | 4.4% |
| 9 | Pueblo | 9.50 | 111,561 | $56,664 | 17.5% | 5.0% |
| 10 | Cortez | 11.00 | 8,976 | $54,247 | 15.0% | 4.1% |
| 11 | Fort Morgan | 11.50 | 11,605 | $64,158 | 16.0% | 6.4% |
| 12 | Sheridan | 13.50 | 6,005 | $60,608 | 14.0% | 14.5% |
| 13 | Greeley | 13.50 | 110,806 | $69,881 | 15.1% | 5.6% |
| 14 | Fort Lupton | 16.00 | 8,897 | $80,889 | 17.6% | 8.4% |
| 15 | Brush | 17.00 | 5,306 | $73,382 | 14.2% | 7.7% |
| 16 | Boulder | 18.00 | 106,433 | $87,493 | 21.5% | 6.0% |
| 17 | Evans | 19.00 | 22,396 | $75,563 | 13.5% | 7.6% |
| 18 | Grand Junction | 19.00 | 68,142 | $70,080 | 11.8% | 4.8% |
| 19 | Fort Collins | 20.00 | 170,229 | $85,070 | 15.8% | 5.4% |
| 20 | Montrose | 20.00 | 21,044 | $70,386 | 11.6% | 5.0% |
| 21 | Durango | 20.00 | 19,411 | $78,602 | 13.0% | 3.1% |
| 22 | Salida | 20.50 | 5,861 | $70,045 | 11.1% | 1.6% |
| 23 | Aspen | 23.50 | 6,756 | $74,033 | 10.6% | 2.4% |
| 24 | Craig | 27.00 | 8,991 | $72,636 | 8.9% | 2.5% |
| 25 | Northglenn | 27.50 | 38,014 | $84,030 | 10.2% | 3.7% |
| 26 | Avon | 27.50 | 5,972 | $89,027 | 12.2% | 8.1% |
| 27 | Aurora | 27.50 | 394,432 | $88,368 | 11.9% | 5.9% |
| 28 | Fountain | 29.50 | 29,300 | $86,242 | 10.3% | 5.4% |
| 29 | Golden | 30.50 | 20,417 | $98,582 | 12.6% | 3.6% |
| 30 | Colorado Springs | 31.00 | 487,887 | $84,818 | 9.0% | 5.6% |
| 31 | Wheat Ridge | 31.00 | 32,070 | $90,564 | 11.2% | 5.0% |
| 32 | Denver | 32.00 | 718,877 | $94,718 | 11.2% | 4.9% |
| 33 | Loveland | 33.00 | 78,410 | $84,604 | 8.5% | 5.4% |
| 34 | Estes Park | 35.00 | 5,844 | $85,956 | 8.0% | 0.8% |
| 35 | Lakewood | 35.00 | 156,583 | $89,792 | 9.2% | 4.5% |
| 36 | Rifle | 37.00 | 10,570 | $80,000 | 6.0% | 3.0% |
| 37 | Englewood | 37.00 | 34,129 | $86,800 | 7.7% | 4.3% |
| 38 | Longmont | 38.50 | 99,406 | $90,671 | 8.6% | 4.8% |
| 39 | Eaton | 40.00 | 5,867 | $106,294 | 9.6% | 4.5% |
| 40 | Glenwood Springs | 40.50 | 10,241 | $91,481 | 7.9% | 4.5% |
| 41 | Carbondale | 40.50 | 6,637 | $108,324 | 10.6% | 2.4% |
| 42 | Lochbuie | 42.50 | 8,609 | $97,009 | 7.7% | 2.3% |
| 43 | Brighton | 42.50 | 42,059 | $107,679 | 9.4% | 4.8% |
| 44 | Wellington | 43.50 | 11,798 | $107,017 | 8.8% | 6.5% |
| 45 | Gypsum | 44.00 | 8,941 | $115,564 | 9.6% | 0.9% |
| 46 | Westminster | 45.00 | 115,484 | $100,272 | 7.3% | 3.7% |
| 47 | Thornton | 46.00 | 144,187 | $103,088 | 7.0% | 4.5% |
| 48 | Littleton | 46.50 | 44,710 | $98,839 | 6.1% | 3.8% |
| 49 | Commerce City | 46.50 | 66,445 | $111,972 | 8.7% | 4.3% |
| 50 | Fruita | 48.50 | 13,691 | $87,184 | 4.1% | 2.5% |
| 51 | Woodland Park | 50.00 | 7,949 | $99,238 | 5.1% | 1.8% |
| 52 | Eagle | 51.00 | 7,442 | $110,398 | 6.8% | 1.5% |
| 53 | Steamboat Springs | 53.00 | 13,433 | $104,964 | 4.7% | 3.0% |
| 54 | Arvada | 55.00 | 122,634 | $117,348 | 5.8% | 3.8% |
| 55 | Broomfield | 55.50 | 76,304 | $123,874 | 6.2% | 3.8% |
| 56 | Lafayette | 56.00 | 30,602 | $119,040 | 5.6% | 3.8% |
| 57 | Dacono | 56.50 | 6,530 | $104,559 | 3.9% | 2.6% |
| 58 | Windsor | 58.50 | 37,914 | $127,028 | 6.0% | 4.5% |
| 59 | Lone Tree | 59.00 | 14,147 | $123,741 | 4.9% | 3.0% |
| 60 | Severance | 59.00 | 10,130 | $124,572 | 5.2% | 2.3% |
| 61 | Berthoud | 59.50 | 12,411 | $119,385 | 4.6% | 1.5% |
| 62 | Firestone | 60.50 | 18,049 | $120,150 | 4.6% | 4.2% |
| 63 | Milliken | 62.00 | 8,871 | $107,500 | 2.4% | 0.5% |
| 64 | Castle Pines | 62.00 | 13,388 | $191,229 | 6.9% | 2.6% |
| 65 | Monument | 62.50 | 11,735 | $128,816 | 4.7% | 4.3% |
| 66 | Parker | 66.50 | 61,783 | $133,369 | 4.4% | 3.0% |
| 67 | Louisville | 67.00 | 20,786 | $147,319 | 4.5% | 3.6% |
| 68 | John | 67.50 | 18,883 | $128,995 | 3.7% | 4.2% |
| 69 | Frederick | 69.00 | 16,651 | $129,460 | 3.3% | 3.4% |
| 70 | Castle Rock | 69.00 | 79,123 | $145,197 | 3.8% | 4.4% |
| 71 | Centennial | 69.00 | 108,201 | $131,928 | 3.3% | 4.6% |
| 72 | Timnath | 70.00 | 8,941 | $178,257 | 4.4% | 0.6% |
| 73 | Mead | 70.00 | 5,919 | $125,357 | 1.4% | 2.3% |
| 74 | Greenwood Village | 72.50 | 15,420 | $149,029 | 3.1% | 3.3% |
| 75 | Superior | 72.50 | 13,305 | $159,434 | 3.2% | 3.7% |
| 76 | Erie | 74.50 | 33,808 | $173,349 | 2.3% | 3.1% |
| 77 | Cherry Hills Village | 76.50 | 6,354 | $250,001 | 2.3% | 4.4% |
Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. 77 cities with more than 5,000 residents.
Summary
The poorest cities in Colorado for 2026
Like we said earlier, when we set out to identify the poorest places in Colorado, we weren’t sure what we’d encounter, but it ended up being some of the best places to live in Colorado.
When you look at the data, the cities and places mentioned above meet the criteria for being at the very bottom of the income ladder for everyone that lives there. Not sold on Colorado? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.
