Front Range

Loveland, Colorado

A home-rule city that runs its own water and power utility, taxes lodging and short-term rentals, and sits astride the Big Thompson River floodplain — so the city, the utility, and the flood map all matter before you buy.

Place type: City
County footprint: Larimer
Colorado region: Front Range

Local checks

Start with the details that can change the answer

City limits, county offices, water providers, and special districts can all matter. These are the first things to check for a Loveland address.

Confirm whether the address is inside Loveland city limits versus unincorporated Larimer County — the city's Sales Tax 'Address Locator' tool settles it, and it changes who levies tax and who issues permits.
If it's near the Big Thompson River, check the FEMA/city floodplain designation before buying or building — the 2013 flood inundated more than three square miles of Loveland and destroyed two of the city's three water lines.
For a rental play, get the short-term-rental license through the city's Planning Division and register for the 3% city lodging tax — Loveland licenses and taxes short-term rentals at the city level.
Verify who provides water and power: inside the city, that's Loveland Water & Power (a city utility); just outside, it may be a separate rural water or metro district, so ask for a will-serve confirmation.

City and place links

Local governmentCity of Loveland (official)Services, rules, permits, and local departments.Local recordsLarimer County AssessorOfficial records and local lookup tools.

Larimer County task shortcuts

Go to the county office for property records, tax bills, marriage licenses, and vehicle registration. For permits, check whether the city or county serves the exact address.

Get a marriage license Larimer County Clerk and Recorder Application, document, appointment, and certificate-return steps. Look up a property Larimer County Assessor Owner, parcel, value, and assessment records from the county. Read or pay a tax bill Larimer County Treasurer Property-tax statements, balances, due dates, and payment options. Check permits and planning Larimer County Building Building permits, land-use reviews, and planning records. Permit area: Use this office for unincorporated Larimer County. Fort Collins and other towns may use their own building office. Register a vehicle Larimer County Vehicle Licensing Title, registration, plates, renewals, and county office details.

Get to know Loveland

Why this place feels like itself

Since 1946, Loveland has been the nation's "Sweetheart City" — every February, volunteers hand-stamp valentines mailed in from all 50 states and more than 100 countries with a Loveland cancellation and a love poem before sending them back out.

Loveland sits in the Big Thompson Valley where the plains meet the foothills, and the river running through it was the reason people stopped here long before the town existed. In 1858, Mariano Medina — a mountain man and guide born in Taos — set up a trading post and toll crossing on the Big Thompson along the Overland (Cherokee) Trail, a settlement that became known as Fort Namaqua. He and his family were the first permanent settlers in what is now Loveland. The town proper came with the railroad: as the Colorado Central pushed a line through the valley, farmer David Barnes gave up part of his land next to the new depot — ready for service by December 1877 — and platted a townsite. Rather than name it Barnesville after himself, Barnes named it for his friend William A. H. Loveland, president of the Colorado Central Railroad. Residents voted to incorporate the town in 1881.

The railroad turned Loveland from a river crossing into a farm-shipping town, and irrigation from the Big Thompson made the valley bloom. Sugar beets and cherries became the anchor crops: the Great Western Sugar Company opened a beet-processing factory in 1901 that ran until 1985 and was a major employer for generations, and by the late 1920s the Spring Glade orchard on the west edge of town was billed as the largest cherry orchard west of the Mississippi. Drought and wartime supply shortages ended the cherry era by around 1960, and the sugar factory eventually closed too, but the agricultural bones — the ditches, the valley farms, the grid of a working county-seat-scale town — still shape how Loveland looks and where it grew.

Keep reading about Loveland

Two identities set modern Loveland apart. One is love by mail: in 1946 the local postmaster and stamp club noticed people routing valentines through town just for the 'Loveland' postmark, and a re-mailing program was born. Every year volunteers now hand-stamp valentines sent in from all 50 states and well over 100 countries with a special cachet and a verse, earning Loveland the title 'Sweetheart City.' The other is bronze. Beginning in the 1970s and '80s, sculptors and internationally known foundries clustered here; local sculptors and the city launched Sculpture in the Park in 1984 — now among the largest outdoor juried sculpture shows in the country — and the free Benson Sculpture Garden opened in 1985. Loveland is a designated Colorado Creative District, and public art turns up on nearly every downtown corner.

Fourth Street gives Loveland a walkable downtown of murals, galleries, shops, restaurants, and older storefronts. Public sculpture extends well beyond that core. Benson Sculpture Garden places more than a hundred bronzes along paths and ponds, and Sculpture in the Park brings artists and visitors each summer. The Big Thompson River crosses the city beside trails, Lake Loveland sits among established neighborhoods, and the foothills begin west toward the mouth of Big Thompson Canyon.

Worth knowing

The Big Thompson River runs through Loveland, and the September 2013 flood damaged a wide area and disrupted water service. The city has rebuilt infrastructure and reshaped parts of the channel, but a property near the river still needs an address-specific floodplain, drainage, and insurance check.

Learn more:Colorado Encyclopedia — William A. H. Loveland City of Loveland — Remembering the 2013 Big Thompson Flood

Local reading

Local notes and nearby context

The city, county, water, roads, and nearby places that help Loveland make sense.

See all Loveland notes ->

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Getting into Rocky Mountain National Park can take a reservation

On busy stretches of the year, Rocky Mountain National Park uses a timed-entry reservation system, so a visit from the Estes Park side may need planning ahead.

Larimer County · Cars and driving

Driving Larimer County's canyons: the one weather tip worth knowing

The drive up Big Thompson Canyon west of Loveland is one of Larimer County's prettiest. One thing worth knowing before you go: in a flash flood, leave the car and climb to higher ground.