Tag: affordability
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Colorado Cost of Living: Low inventory, persistent demand drives up housing costs in Elbert County
For decades, Elbert County was a quiet, rural outpost east of the Denver metro, popular with farmers, ranchers and people looking for open land. Large rural parcels and relatively lower prices made it an alternative to the faster-growing suburbs in neighboring counties. That began to change about a decade ago, when the western part of…
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Colorado Cost of Living: Moving closer to downtown Denver
As the mid-morning sun spills through a small window in Elizabeth Nagle’s small Denver apartment, her 12-year-old dog, Freya, gnaws intently on a small toy rabbit. On her table sits a retro, portable record player and a plate of small French pastries. Plastic moving boxes tucked in various corners of her living room quietly hint…
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Colorado Cost of Living: ‘Everything is feeling too expensive all at once’ in Adams County
Adams County real estate broker Jessica Zeleniak has watched the median age of first-time homebuyers go up drastically in the last several years. Currently, the median age for her clients hovers around 40. While the cost of housing itself is a major factor in that trend, other costs like interest rates, homeowners’ association and metro…
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Colorado Cost of Living: Struggling to get by in Jefferson County
Twenty-year-old Ashton Starcher hasn’t had a solid living space since he moved to Jefferson County in 2023. As of April, Starcher is staying with his friend and his friend’s girlfriend in a parent’s basement in Lakewood. Starcher said the ever-rising price of living in the area, even in the suburbs of Denver, has caused him…
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Address the roots of Colorado’s affordability woes
Colorado is at a crossroads just in time for today’s opening of the Colorado General Assembly. Individuals and families are not choosing to move here as much as they were. Statewide net migration was 52.5% lower in 2025 than it was in 2015, when Colorado was one of the nation’s most popular destinations for movers — and one of the nation’s fastest-growing…
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Direct primary care offers affordability, access as health care costs rise
In the Air Force, Dr. Alex Schloe used to see 22 patients a day for a primary care appointment where he would spend five to 10 minutes with each person. “It can be frustrating for the patient and for the doc,” he said. Across many primary care clinics who rely on insurance for payment, the…