Front Range
Denver County
Property taxes, marriage licenses, vehicle services, and many public records run through Denver County. Permits and local rules may sit with a town or city instead, so match the office to the exact address.
Official county shortcuts
Take the task to the office that handles it
These links go straight to the official county or regional office shown. Check that page for current documents, hours, appointments, fees, and address-specific instructions. A city may run its own permit office.
Property tax snapshot
Typical property tax in Denver County
The average total mill levy across Denver County was about 81.6 mills for tax year 2023 — above the statewide average of about 81 mills. On a $500,000 home, that comes to roughly $2,733 a year, using Colorado's 2026 residential rules: 7.05% on school mills, and 6.8% on the rest after the local actual-value adjustment.
This is the county average across all tax areas. Your parcel's actual mill levy depends on its exact tax area — a metro or special district can add many mills on top — so confirm the real number with the county assessor.
Sales tax: the state charges 2.9% and Denver County adds no county sales tax — cities and special districts still can. See Colorado sales tax rates ->
Source: Colorado Division of Property Taxation, 53rd Annual Report (2023) — Average Levies by County.
Incorporated places in this county
These cities and towns touch Denver County. Some cross a county line. Every name opens a direct place page, and selected places include a fuller local guide.
Get to know Denver County
The history, land, and character behind the place.
History and culture
RiNo's Painted Warehouses: Denver's Open-Air Mural Gallery
In Denver's River North Art District, brick warehouses double as canvases for a self-guided mural walk that grows a little every year.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Denver's designated natural areas keep prairie inside the city
Denver keeps five designated natural areas of native prairie, wetland, and habitat tucked inside its park system, managed wild on purpose.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Ruby Hill turns a south Denver hill into a bike playground
Ruby Hill Bike Park adds slopestyle, dirt jumps, pump tracks, skills features, and a natural-surface loop to one of Denver's standout urban hills.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
Heron Pond ties north Denver back to the South Platte
Heron Pond stitches north Denver's old industrial river edge back into open space, linking natural area, park, habitat, and the South Platte corridor.
Read note ->Money and taxes (17)
Money and taxes
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 note ->Money and taxes
Denver business taxes use city accounts
Denver collects its own business taxes as a home-rule city, so a state account is rarely the whole tax setup.
Read note ->Home and property (28)
Home and property
Denver long-term rentals need a city license
Denver requires a residential rental property license for long-term rentals of 30 days or more, a separate rule from the short-term rental one.
Read note ->Home and property
In Denver, radon is a normal home test
Radon is a routine Colorado home check in Denver: test the lower floors, and a high result just means the next step is a mitigation plan.
Read note ->Water and land (18)
Water and land
Denver Water's lead service line question starts by address
Denver Water's address lookup tells you one property's lead service line risk, a firmer answer than guessing from the age of the block.
Read note ->Water and land
Denver lake and stream recreation starts with a water-quality check
Denver samples its streams and most public lakes, but urban runoff means caution is wise in city surface water no matter the latest result.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire (18)
Outdoors and wildfire
Sand Creek Greenway gives northeast Denver a continuous trail line
Denver's Sand Creek Trail work created a continuous paved route from Peoria to Quebec, with native vegetation and wildlife-habitat restoration.
Read note ->Outdoors and wildfire
A Denver park survey found native pollinator life in plain sight
A summer 2023 survey of 25 Denver parks counted 143 bee species and 33 butterfly species, with 36 bees new to the county.
Read note ->Cars and driving (18)
Cars and driving
Denver registration often starts with emissions
Denver County is in Colorado's air-quality program, so many vehicles need a passing emissions test before registration is finished.
Read note ->Cars and driving
Denver vehicle renewals do not have to start in an office line
In Denver, registration renewals are handled online, at a kiosk, by mail, or in a drop box, so the office line is usually the wrong first stop.
Read note ->Local rules (21)
Local rules
Denver is a city and a county at the same time
Denver is one of only two consolidated city-and-county governments in Colorado, so one set of offices handles both city and county business.
Read note ->Local rules
Denver sidewalk snow clearing is a property duty
Clearing the sidewalk after a Denver snowfall is the adjacent property owner's job — ramps and bus stops included, renters too.
Read note ->History and culture (23)
History and culture
Five Points keeps Welton Street's cultural heartbeat on the map
In Denver's Five Points Historic Cultural District, Welton Street is treated as a cultural main street, not a frozen museum block.
Read note ->History and culture
La Alma Lincoln Park carries a working-class Chicano neighborhood story
La Alma Lincoln Park grew railroad-side in the 1870s and 1880s and anchors Denver's Latino and Chicano history as a cultural district.
Read note ->Nearby counties
Other Front Range counties — rules, rates, and districts shift across county lines.