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Denver Housing Overview

[0:00] Today in Denver, you can buy this beautiful 947 foot, two bedrooms, a onebath home for a cool $1.3 million. But don't worry, your barista side hustle gig is totally going to cover that mortgage. Only sort of joking. But my YouTube comments section is riddled with comments like this about how expensive Denver actually is. Man, people do not hold punches here. And in every statement, there are three truths.

[0:26] So, what's the truth about how expensive Denver actually is? Now, to be fair, that house I just showed you was supposed to be for land value, but yeah, it's a real house for sale right now. And we're going to start talking about the big elephant in the room, housing. So, whether you're buying or renting, this is where most of your paycheck is going to go in Denver. And right now, the median home price in Denver is sitting around 625,000. That's down a little bit from the peak, but let's not kid ourselves, that's still a pretty good sized number. And you're not getting a brand new turnkey place for that, at least not in most areas that you're going to want to be. You might have to be a little bit further out of town. You can get some new builds for that, but you're 20 to 30 minutes from most stuff. You're going to be looking at older homes, maybe a town home or something further from downtown. And if you're going to be financing that with a standard 20% down payment in current mortgage rates, your monthly payment with taxes and insurance is probably going to be around $3,00.

Down Payments & Rental Costs

[1:22] And if you're renting, it's not exactly cheap either. A one-bedroom apartment in Denver right now averages about $1,670 a month. That might get you $600 to $800 ft² depending on the area. But if you want something newer or downtown or with a mountain view, yeah, you're going to be paying over $1,900 to $2,100 a month easily. And if you've got a family and need a three-bedroom rental in a decent neighborhood, well, expect to be over 2,700 to $3,500 a month range. That's going to be before utilities, by the way. So, yeah, housing in Denver is not a steal. But here's the thing. You're not just paying for walls and a roof.

[1:59] You're paying to live in a place that people want to be with mountain access, with breweries, with a culture, and an actual lifestyle built into it. That's the trade-off, right? And to show you the actual affordability on housing, here's some interesting stats based purely on medium income and the medium price ranges around the country. This gives Denver a rating of 5.9, making it number 12 in the country, sitting behind places like LA, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, Seattle. And sure, you can get a 3x rating, meaning housing on average cost three times median income, but you have to move to somewhere like Fort Wayne, Indiana. I mean, come on. If you're really not valuing the quality of life here over most places in the country, then don't even consider it here. And please stop watching my videos and taking the time to comment. Now, if you are thinking of moving to the Denver area and you kind of need to make sense of it, there's a couple of ways you can do that. Just call me or text me below.

Cost Comparison Nationwide

[2:55] I'd be happy to chat with you about what you're thinking. Or you can scan this QR code, get on my weekly email to keep up to date on what's going on in the Denver market. On to number two big old elephant in the room that everyone likes to complain about is the taxes here in Colorado. Just check my comment section again. You'll find some interesting stuff, but the truth is we are very middle of the pack when it comes to the tax burden. We are number 32 out of all 50 states for taxes. Totally middle of the pack. And property taxes, well, let me tell you, as much as everyone complains about it, they've obviously never owned a home in Texas or Illinois, cuz if you did, you wouldn't have a thing to complain about. We are third lowest in property taxes in the country.

Property Taxes

[3:36] We're about half of a percent of the property value. So, if you're buying a house at say 800,000, your property taxes are going to be around $4,000 a year. cheap compared to many other states. Cheap compared to 46 other states, in fact. Next up, some ancillary things like utilities. Compared to the coasts or places with super hot summers, Denver actually isn't too bad here. And we're actually about 10 to 15% below the national average on utilities. Most folks are spending around 180 to 220 bucks a month on electric, gas, water, trash, the basics. Now, if you're in a bigger house or running the AC all summer and heat all winter, yeah, that's going to go up. But generally speaking, it's pretty manageable. Now, if you have got a large yard, heads up, to keep that grass green, you're going to need an irrigation system. And that's completely unavoidable, but you need to keep it up because one big leak, 10,000 gallons of water is going to be easy to go through if that leak happens when you're out of town. And another thing, a lot of homes here don't have central AC. Now, north of about 800,000. Yeah, AC is the norm, but not in the foothills. Why? Because you usually don't need it. But when that random 98° day comes in July, you're going to wish you had it. Now, internet, pretty simple. 70 to 100 bucks a month.

Utilities & Internet

[4:51] That's pretty much the same anywhere throughout the country. Xfinity and Century Link are your main options here. And honest, neither is amazing. Uh, but they get the job done. I'm on 1 GBTE fiber and I'm pretty happy with the solution here. Um, so between your utilities and internet, figure you're spending around 250 bucks a month total on that side of things. Nothing crazy here, but it does all add up, of course.

[5:12] And especially if you moved here from somewhere where water and trash were built into your rent. Welcome to the itemized life. On to groceries and dining. Man, that's been hard over the last few years. Everybody's felt the pinch here when going to the grocery store. And they're not cheap here either. We're sitting at about 2% above the national average depending on where you shop. Now, that doesn't sound like much, but it does add up. For a couple, you're probably looking at $6 to $800 a month for groceries, maybe more if you're shopping at Whole Foods and pretending you cook every night. Dinner out is going to cost you here. Denver has a great food scene, but even at a chill local spot, two entre, appetizer, and a couple of drinks is easily going to be 80 to 100 bucks after tax and tip.

Groceries & Food Expenses

[5:55] And that's just a random Tuesday. So, if you're someone who eats out a lot or you want to hit a few breweries on the weekend, that monthly food budget can quickly pass a thousand bucks per person. Now, in our family, there's three of us. We eat pretty good, mostly organic, and we ordered out once or twice a week on average, and we spend about $14 to $1,600 a month on groceries. Now, we don't drink and we do cook a lot at home. So, I do think if you're cooking at home all the time and would prefer King Supers, let's say, over sprouts, I mean, we don't do whole foods in our family. It's just too darn expensive. You can get that down to around $1,000 to $1,200 a month for a family of three pretty easily, I'd say.

[6:36] All right, on to transportation and insurance. Here's the thing about Denver. You need a car. Yes, we technically have public transport, and yes, there's a light rail, but unless you live and work right along one of those lines, it's just not practical for most people. This city is built for driving. Gas right now averages 360 to 390 a gallon, and that fluctuates a lot, but we're generally a bit cheaper than the national average there, too. So, if you've got a daily commute, factor in 150 to 250 bucks a month in gas, depending on your car and lifestyle.

Car Insurance & Gas

[7:07] Insurance, that one surprised me a little bit when I first started digging into it for clients. You know, most drivers in Denver are paying around $1,700 to $2,200 a year. And yes, that's a bit high for insurance, but between the hail, the snow, the traffic, and all the accidents that can happen with a lot of tourists from out of towns driving through the mountains kind of makes a little bit of sense. Also, parking downtown is a little tough. Some buildings charge about $100 to $200 a month just for a spot. So, if you're living urban, you got to factor that in, too. Bottom line, unless you're working remote and biking everywhere, car costs are very real. And with interest rates on auto loans still sitting higher than people want to admit, owning a car in Denver is not cheap anymore. All right, let's talk about healthcare and some other sneaky stuff that nobody factors in when they move here. First of all, insurance. If you've got a job with good benefits, great. You're probably paying less than the market rate. But if you're self-employed or on the marketplace, expect $400 to $600 a month per person for decent coverage. And even with insurance, basic visits still aren't cheap. You know, specialists easily 150 bucks. Urgent care with a co-ay 75 bucks just to sit in the lobby next to a guy who clearly broke his arm snowboarding.

[8:20] Um, only half joking there. But here's the stuff people really don't expect. Denver's climate can mess with you if you're not ready for it. Dry air, altitude, wildfire, smoke. Yeah, that's a thing. We're a high desert and the second you stop drinking water, you feel it. You will be buying things like humidifiers, lip balm, saline sprays, uh just to kind of keep up with our climate. It's not crazy expensive, but it's a constant purchase. You're going to go from thinking it's annoying to realizing it's just a part of the budget now. And when wildfire smoke rolls in from the west, that clean mountain air you were just dreaming of, not so clean anymore. If you've got asthma, kids with allergies, or any kind of respiratory issue, just know it's something you're going to deal with, especially when it comes to healthc care coverage. So, Denver is more expensive than the national averages. Housing, groceries, gas, it does add up fast. But here's the truth. It's expensive because it's awesome. You're not paying to live in some flat suburban sprawl with a Chili's and a strip mall. You're paying to live near mountains. To have hiking trails five to 30 minutes from your front door.

Quality of Life Trade-offs

[9:31] To wake up and ski before lunch, to live in a city with culture, craft, beer, tech, and views that will stop you in your tracks. I've been here for 25 years. I drive up and down I25 and I still look at the mountains and I'm super grateful that I'm here. This is the same conversation that people have in places like Seattle and San Diego and parts of Hawaii. Yeah, it's expensive, but the question is what kind of life are you paying for? And if you're not willing to pay to live an awesome life, what are you doing? Right? If you want affordable, there are cheaper places. If you want vibrant, active, outdoorsy, connected, that's what you're buying here. You pay more to live more. And for a lot of people, that trade-off makes total sense. And when you compare tick for tat in a lot of cities, we're not that much more expensive. 10% 15% maybe, but our median income generally makes up for that. But if you don't know what places to consider looking at if you are thinking of moving here, you need to watch this video. It will shed some light on some of your biggest concerns.