Personal loans in Colorado: what borrowers should know

Colorado by the numbers

Colorado in sixteen numbers, each beside the U.S. value and a rank where 1 is the highest of 51.

What the numbers mean for Colorado borrowers

Roughly one in 2 Colorado households earns six figures (48%), and 17% clear $200,000, while 16% live on less than $35,000. Households at the lower end often do better with a smaller loan, or with a hardship plan from the creditor they already owe.

The median household in Colorado earns $95,470 a year, 18% above the national median of $80,734, which ranks 10th among the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Think of the median as the budget a typical offer is written for; if yours is tighter, borrow less.

21% of the Colorado workforce works from home, while 14% face a one-way trip of 45 minutes or longer. Where commutes are long, a car repair is often the emergency that sends people looking for a loan; see our auto repair guide.

Poverty affects 9.4% of Colorado residents (U.S. 12.5%), and the five-year average unemployment rate was 4.6%. If you were recently out of work, wait until you have a few steady paychecks before you apply.

Largest places in Colorado

Big-city snapshot for Colorado, ranked by population; a linked name means a full local guide is available.

Of the places the Census Bureau tracks in Colorado, 70 have 10,000 or more people and 20 have 50,000 or more. The income gap between towns is wide: among places over 20,000, Erie has the highest median at $173,349 and Pueblo the lowest at $56,664. Median rent in that group ranges from $1,082 in Pueblo to $2,805 in Erie.

Mid-size Colorado communities

Places ranked 13 to 32 by population.

Measured as a year of median rent against median household income, housing weighs most in Northglenn (25%) and least in Castle Rock (17%) among these 20 places.

Counties with the most residents

Population and housing costs for the 16 biggest of 64 counties in Colorado.

Across all 64 counties, median household income ranges from $36,861 in Costilla County to $149,594 in Douglas County. Your county's costs, not the state's, set how much room a new payment has.

How Colorado earns a living

Top four employers of Colorado residents by industry, with the gap to the U.S. mix.

Professional, scientific and administrative services is the sector with the biggest gap over the national mix, employing 16% of Colorado workers (U.S.: 13%). Hourly workers with variable schedules should average several months of pay when sizing a payment.

More context for Colorado budgets

Colorado's Gini index of income inequality is 0.459 (U.S.: 0.483; higher means more unequal), 46% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor's degree, and the median resident is 37.7 years old.

Colorado renters pay a median $1,761 a month. 53% of them spend 30 percent or more of income on rent, above the national share of 51%. Size any payment to the month after rent is paid, not to your gross income.

Owners make up 66% of Colorado households. With a median home value of $539,400, 6th of 51, a house costs about 5.6 years of median household income. The owner cost burden rate, for households with a mortgage, is 30%.

Checking a lender in Colorado

License checks come first. Colorado's banking agency, per the Conference of State Bank Supervisors, is the Colorado Division of Banking, and many consumer lenders also show their state licenses on NMLS Consumer Access. Colorado also has a separate consumer-credit regulator, the Colorado Attorney General's office, which administers the state's Uniform Consumer Credit Code.

• Legitimate lenders take fees out of the loan or bill them later, never by gift card or wire first (FTC).
• CFPB complaints reach the lender and are tracked by a federal regulator.
• NMLS Consumer Access shows many lenders' licenses state by state.

Can Colorado residents use the questionnaire?

Availability of lending partners varies by state. When Colorado is not yet covered, the form tells you on the second step and lets you join an email list, with no calls and nothing else collected.

Local guides in Colorado

Prefer the view from your own city? 16 Colorado places have a full guide:

• Arvada
• Aurora
• Boulder
• Broomfield
• Castle Rock
• Centennial
• Colorado Springs
• Commerce City
• Denver
• Fort Collins
• Lakewood
• Longmont
• Loveland
• Parker
• Thornton
• Westminster