Denver County, CO

Home values #

Typical home $528,188 (Sep 2026), -1.8% over one year, -0.8% over five

• 94th pct · 161st of 3,063 US counties · median $230,451
• 65th pct · 22nd of 62 Colorado counties · median $448,803
• 33rd pct · 7th of 10 counties in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro · median $541,224

Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), typical value of homes in the 35th to 65th percentile, smoothed and seasonally adjusted; a model estimate of value, not a sale price. Data through Zillow Research.

Rents #

Typical rent $1,867/mo (Sep 2026), +0.1% over one year; price-to-rent 23.6

• 77th pct · 305th of 1,358 US counties · median $1,506
• 40th pct · 20th of 33 Colorado counties · median $1,931
• 28th pct · 6th of 8 counties in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro · median $1,944

Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), smoothed, all homes and multifamily; price-to-rent = typical home / (typical rent × 12).

What the typical home costs to carry #

Principal and interest of $2,926 a month on $528,188 at 7.40%, against an average weekly wage worth $10,201 a month: 28.7% of one job’s pay.

• payment = P·r / (1 − (1+r)^−n), P = $528,188 × 80% = $422,550, r = 7.40%/12 (Freddie Mac PMMS via FRED, 2026-10-15), n = 360 → $2,926/mo principal and interest
• wage share = payment / (avg weekly wage $2,354 × 52 / 12 = $10,201) = 29% of one average job's pay (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all covered jobs)
• years of wages = $528,188 / ($2,354 × 52) = 4.3
• price-to-rent = $528,188 / ($1,867 × 12) = 23.6

The wage is one covered job’s average, not a household’s income, so this is the share of a single paycheque and not a mortgage underwriting ratio.

Estimate. Principal and interest on the typical home with 20% down over 30 years at this week's Freddie Mac average rate; compared with the average weekly wage of all jobs covered by unemployment insurance in the area (BLS QCEW), which is pay per job, not household income.

Jobs & wages #

551,034 jobs at 44,990 employers (2026 Q1); -1.1% jobs and +4.9% average weekly wage over the year

• 98th pct · 49th of 3,221 US counties · median 8,232
• 100th pct · 1st of 64 Colorado counties · median 4,853
• 100th pct · 1st of 10 counties in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro · median 94,239

BLS Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages, all ownerships, total covered employment in the quarter's third month; over-the-year changes as published. Suppressed cells stay blank.

Drought #

D2 severe drought

Sites found: 5, searched within 0 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 0 km away are not.

US Drought Monitor current week; the highest class of any polygon containing the point.

Reservoirs #

1 USGS reservoir gauges, no capacity figures to weight

Sites found: 1, searched within 150 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 150 km away are not.

Σ(capacity × percent full) / Σ capacity over TWDB reservoirs within 150 km. Texas only; elsewhere USGS reservoir elevation/storage is listed without a capacity to normalise by.

Stream gauges #

142 gauges · 0 flooding · 8 with quality panels averaging 98 % · 57 stale

Sites found: 142, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.

USGS latest readings screened against EPA freshwater criteria (DO ≥ 5 mg/L, pH 6.5–9, conductance, turbidity, temperature); NWS flood categories where a NWPS gauge is co-located.

Groundwater #

32 wells in 0 named aquifers:

Sites found: 32, searched within 75 km of this place’s internal point. That is a disc around a point, not the area itself: sites outside the boundary are included, and sites inside it further than 75 km away are not.

USGS latest daily water levels. A single latest reading says where the table is, not which way it is moving; select a well for its 365-day trace.

Water stress #

moderate (0.32)

Σ wᵢ·termᵢ / Σ wᵢ = 0.35×0.50 + 0.2×0.02 / 0.55

Banks & federal dollars #

$61.1 bn in deposits at 163 offices of 45 banks (SOD June 2026); HHI 1,120, moderately concentrated. $6.8 bn federal obligations in FY2026 (direct payments $3.5 bn, contracts $2.5 bn), $12,413 per covered job

Deposit concentration is 1,120 across 43 banks, which the 1995 Department of Justice bank merger screen calls moderately concentrated.

HHI = Σ (share %)² over 43 banks with deposits in the county = 20.0² + 16.3² + 15.7² + … (40 more) = 1,120

FDIC Summary of Deposits: deposits at every insured office as of June 30, annual; HHI is the sum of squared county deposit shares (DOJ 1995 bank merger screen: 1000 / 1800). USAspending: obligations by place of performance for the latest complete federal fiscal year (Oct 1 to Sep 30), what agencies committed, not what they paid out; recipients are legal entities. Per-job divides obligations by BLS QCEW covered employment.

Federal obligations #

USAspending place-of-performance obligations for FY2026, by awarding agency.

That is $12,413 per covered job, against 551,034 jobs in the 2026 Q1 QCEW quarter.

per job = FY2026 obligations $6.8 bn / 551,034 covered jobs (BLS QCEW 2026 Q1, all ownerships) = $12,413

USAspending obligations are recorded where the work is performed, so a prime award performed here is counted here even when the recipient is headquartered elsewhere. Recipients are legal entities, never people.

National context, not this county #

These are United States, single-gauge, single-state and port series. None of them is keyed to this county.

The indicator registry has no county-keyed series and no geographic selection: every entry is national, a named gauge, a single state or a port. They are here as the backdrop the county's own numbers move against, and they are never this county's readings.

What changed #

Denver County, CO: 19 findings, 6 at a watch level and 13 noted

1. watchDenver County, CO's typical home value is -1.8% against a year earlier, a watch level here: typical home value below a year ago (arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: home.yoyPct = -1.7714761533689158 < 0

   arithmetic on Zillow ZHVI, county and metro files; not an official level

2. watchDenver County, CO's covered employment is -1.1% against a year earlier, a watch level here: covered employment below the same quarter a year earlier (BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level). The previous published period is not in this table, so this is a standing level rather than a change.

   Period 2026 Q1.
   Show the arithmetic

   • test: jobs.yoy.emp = -1.1 < 0

   BLS QCEW over-the-year percent change, as published; not an official level

3. watchDenver County, CO's years of wages of 4.3 scores 52 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 15 across Colorado counties, a gap of 38 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 38 = |52 across US counties - 15 across Colorado counties|
   • typical home value / (average weekly wage × 52); one average covered job, not a household

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

4. watchDenver County, CO's typical asking rent of $1,867 scores 78 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 41 across Colorado counties, a gap of 37 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 37 = |78 across US counties - 41 across Colorado counties|

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

5. watchDenver County, CO's price-to-rent ratio of 23.6 scores 90 on the 0-to-100 scale across US counties but 56 across Colorado counties, a gap of 33 points.

   Period 2026-09.
   Show the arithmetic

   • 33 = |90 across US counties - 56 across Colorado counties|
   • typical home value / (typical rent × 12); Zillow ZHVI over ZORI, same month

   position among the entities that published this metric this period; not an official level

Read all 12 findings in the full brief

Every finding is produced by a fixed rule table and a fixed sentence for each rule. Nothing here is generated prose.