Region
The Front Range
Most of Colorado lives in the strip of cities where the Great Plains run into the mountains. Denver and its suburbs, Boulder, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins, Greeley, and Pueblo are all stitched together by I-25. It's the part of the state where the address really matters: which county, which city, which school, metro, and fire district, and which stack of local taxes. Start here, because a boundary you can't see often decides the answer.
The places
Denver
A consolidated city and county with its own tax, parking, and rental rules. Its boundary decides a lot.
Open the place page ->Colorado Springs
Pikes Peak, five military installations, and big differences between a city and a county address.
Open the place page ->Boulder
University town at the mouth of the canyon, with open space, a wildfire edge, and some of the state's strictest local rules.
Open the place page ->Aurora
One city across three counties, making it a classic Colorado address check.
Open the place page ->Fort Collins
Colorado State, Old Town brick, craft beer, and the foothills at the edge of town.
Open the place page ->Lakewood
West-metro neighborhoods where the grid climbs into Green Mountain and the foothills.
Open the place page ->Golden
Colorado's territorial capital before Denver is now a walkable foothills town with Clear Creek, Coors, and the School of Mines.
Open the place page ->Longmont
This planned 1871 colony town under Longs Peak is now a tech-and-craft-beer city on the St. Vrain.
Open the place page ->Loveland
The 'Sweetheart City' of Valentine remailing and sculpture, gateway to the Big Thompson canyon.
Open the place page ->Manitou Springs
A mineral-springs resort at the foot of Pikes Peak, with the cog railway and the Cliff Dwellings.
Open the place page ->Pueblo
The Steel City on the Arkansas is known for green chile, lower costs, and working-town pride.
Open the place page ->Greeley
A planned farm colony turned cattle-and-college city at the plains' edge.
Open the place page ->Browse by county
Every address in this corner belongs to a county. Start with that county page when a town does not yet have a full guide; it gathers the local rules, rates, and notes tied to the county.
Notes from this corner
The small stories and useful rules tied to this part of Colorado.
Denver's sales tax is built in layers
A Denver sales-tax total is several separate taxes stacked together — the state, the RTD transit district, the SCFD cultural district, and the city — so it differs from a nearby suburb.
Read the note ->A lot of Denver's water starts on the other side of the mountains
Much of Denver's tap water is collected high in the mountains and moved across the Continental Divide, which is why Front Range water is a statewide question.
Read the note ->Boulder taxed itself to buy open space and drew a 'blue line' on the map
In 1967 Boulder voters approved a sales tax dedicated to buying open space, and an earlier charter 'blue line' limited city water service up the mountainside, both shaping the city you see today.
Read the note ->Why Colorado Springs sits where it does: General Palmer's plan
Colorado Springs was laid out in 1871 as a planned railroad town by General William Jackson Palmer, which is why the old grid and street widths feel deliberate.
Read the note ->Why Denver grew up where Cherry Creek meets the South Platte
Denver started at the meeting of the South Platte River and Cherry Creek during an 1850s gold rush, which is why the old city center sits where it does.
Read the note ->A small sales tax in Denver funds science and arts groups
Denver is part of the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District, a metro-area special district funded by a small sales tax that supports museums, zoos, and arts groups.
Read the note ->The Front Range porch kit
Where to next
See the other corners at Explore Colorado, browse all 64 counties and the places with full guides in the place directory, or wander the stories in the Almanac.
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