Berthoud, Colorado

Area Profile

12,411 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Berthoud, in Larimer County.

Area Score unavailable

Missing required signal: climate. AreaProfile withholds a score rather than inferring the missing dimensions.

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
OpportunityTop 32% of 3,904 cities measured65
GrowthTop 31% of 2,973 cities measured61
Housing affordabilityTop 45% of 4,223 cities measured83
Physical resilienceTop 43% of 4,182 cities measured65
AccessTop 14% of 4,226 cities measured99
Economic stabilityTop 9% of 4,226 cities measured79
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.6% and median household income $119,385, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Residential permitting has slowed: 127 units authorized over the past twelve months, 25% below the prior year.

A major airport is 12 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
12,411
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$119,385
Top 11% nationally
Density
955/sq mi
13.0 sq mi of land
Median age
39.3
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Larimer County
Colorado
Metro area
Fort Collins-Loveland, CO
Nearest major airport
FNL
12 mi · Northern Colorado Rgnl
Median home value
$533,500
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.6% is lower than 80% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.3% over the past year, to 194,301 employed residents.

48% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 87% of measured US cities.

Household income is higher than at least 89% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$12,944$119,385Top 11%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$4,959$56,260Top 12%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate4.6%Bottom 22%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute33.6 minTop 20%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher48.1%Top 13%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment194,301Top 29%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.5%Bottom 14%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-1.3%Bottom 40%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force201,633Top 30%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation71.9%Top 14%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$70,620Top 45%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$55,310Top 33%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)-0.3%Bottom 30%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate3.6%Bottom 20%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
2021202220232024119k96k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $119,385 in the 2024 ACS 5-Year. Consecutive releases share four years of sample, so AreaProfile shows them as a record of successive estimates and does not compute a year-over-year change from them.
Largest occupations — Fort Collins-Loveland, CO
OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers5,770$34,850
Retail Salespersons5,400$36,640
Cashiers3,670$35,980
Stockers and Order Fillers2,810$40,280
Waiters and Waitresses2,740$47,360
General and Operations Managers2,510$105,770

Occupational employment and wages are published for metropolitan areas rather than for individual cities or ZIP areas, so these describe the wider labor market this location sits in. 2025 OEWS, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes city-level labor data only for places of 25,000 or more. This is the figure for Larimer County, CO, which contains this city.

There are 17.9 students for every full-time teacher, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
5
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.9
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Berthoud High SchoolThompson School District R-2J72220.1
Berthoud Elementary SchoolThompson School District R-2J49517.7
Turner Middle SchoolThompson School District R-2J44816.0
Ivy Stockwell Elementary SchoolThompson School District R-2J42617.8
Berthoud Early ChildhoodThompson School District R-2J2613.0

16.3% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with rather than how the schools perform, which is why AreaProfile shows it and does not score it.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data. Schools are placed by ZIP code, so this is which schools are in this place rather than which one a particular address is zoned for — district boundaries do not follow municipal ones, and enrollment zones change. Fully virtual schools are excluded: they enroll students from across the state while reporting one administrative address, and counting them here would describe a school population this place does not have. The assessment covers grades 3 through 8, so a high school shows no proficiency figure — a dash in those columns means the test was not given at that school, not that it performed badly. Proficiency is measured against Colorado’s own standard, so it compares cleanly within the state and only broadly against other states; AreaProfile therefore ranks it within state. The directory is current, while the proficiency figures are from the last school year with national coverage before the pandemic interrupted testing.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Median rent of $1,795 takes 18% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.5 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
18.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.5×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,795
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$533,500
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.47Top 21%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate87.5%Top 26%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±3055,158Top 11%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$77$1,795Top 12%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$33,596$533,500Top 11%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income18.0%Bottom 46%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate5.4%Bottom 30%of 32,0012024 ACS 5-Year

Both affordability measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with, so the comparison is like for like. They describe housing cost against local earnings and are not a cost-of-living index — transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not included, and a place can look affordable here and still be expensive to live in for reasons this does not capture.

Growth & development

How it’s calculated →
Development Momentum
61/ 100
Top 31% of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2020 to 2025.

An AreaProfile calculation combining permit volume per resident, its direction over one and three years, population change and employment growth. Permit volume alone is not the measure.

Population has grown 29% since 2020, reaching 13,648 in 2024.

Permitting has turned downward after moving the other way the year before.

Population is still rising, but more slowly than in the preceding year.

New construction is predominantly single-family: only 0% of permitted units are in buildings of five or more homes.

At 10.2 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
127
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
10.2
Top 13% nationally
Year over year
−25%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202414k11k
Census Population Estimates Program, July 1 of each year. These annual estimates are designed for year-over-year comparison, unlike the ACS five-year figure shown as this profile's population.
Housing units permitted per year
202020212022202320242025525143
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2020 (−73%).

Physical risk

65 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are cold wave, tornado and hail.

HailElevated
Cold waveModerate
WildfireElevated
TornadoElevated
EarthquakeModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: winter weather, lightning, strong wind, inland flooding, landslide, ice storm, volcanic activity, avalanche, drought.

Hazard ratings are AreaProfile calculations derived from the FEMA National Risk Index v1.20.0 (December 2025). FEMA publishes at county level. City values are the population-weighted mean of the counties the city overlaps, using AreaProfile place-to-county land-area weights. FEMA does not endorse this presentation. Higher physical resilience means lower exposure.

These are deaths, not offences. AreaProfile does not publish reported crime, and this is not a substitute for it — it says nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Larimer County records 1.7 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, lower than most counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 11.3 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 9.7 per 100,000 residents in Larimer County.

Homicide
1.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
11.3
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
9.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
18.6
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides. The two columns overlap and should not be added.

Age-adjusted rates from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC for Larimer County as a whole — these rates are not published below county level. A county can hold both a dense city centre and a suburb whose experience of it is nothing alike, so this describes the county around Berthoud rather than Berthoud itself. That is why AreaProfile shows these figures and does not put them in the Area Score. Where fewer than ten deaths were recorded the count is suppressed at source, and a rate built on single figures moves sharply between releases. What this measure has that reported crime does not: a death certificate is filed whether or not the local police agency submitted a return that year, so the figures stay comparable between places and over time.

What this profile does not cover

Three things people look for are missing from every AreaProfile page, and each is missing for a reason rather than by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them and the weighting is documented on the methodology page.

Reported crime
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer is the only source for reported offences with national coverage and a published method, and it requires an API key AreaProfile does not hold. Arrest counts, news volume and commercial “safety scores” are not substituted in the meantime. What is published above under Safety is a different measurement — deaths rather than offences, from death certificates rather than police returns — and it covers no property crime at all.
Taxes
No tax dataset has met the source admission test for coverage, transparent methodology and update cadence. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Full cost of living
No public source publishes one with national coverage and a documented method. Housing affordability above is computed from published rent, price and income, and excludes transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes — commuting cost in particular tends to offset suburban housing savings.

Access

8 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 12 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Northern Colorado RgnlFNL12 mi8,500 ft
Greeley-Weld CountyGXY20 mi10,000 ft
Rocky Mountain MetroBJC27 mi9,000 ft

Airport identity, position and runway data come from the FAA. “Major airport” is an AreaProfile classification — a public-use civil airport with a paved runway of at least 8,000 feet — not an FAA hub designation. Distances are straight-line, not driving distance.

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Other cities in Fort Collins-Loveland, CO

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
Fort CollinsLarimer County170,22963vs Berthoud
LovelandLarimer County78,41061vs Berthoud
WellingtonLarimer County11,79865vs Berthoud

Every city here is measured on the same scale from the same source releases, so the comparison is like for like. A higher Area Score reflects AreaProfile’s standardized weighting rather than a judgment about which is the better place to live.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource periodUpdated
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle28-day NASR cycle
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)Periodic dataset versions (v1.20.0 current)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-YearAnnual (5-year estimates released each December)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
safetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
April, 2025 to March, 2026Quarterly, with a rolling twelve-month window alongside complete calendar years
schoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2024-25 school yearDirectory annually; assessment results as EDFacts releases them
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar yearAnnually, once a calendar year is complete

Profile recalculated August 30, 2026. Recalculation is not the same as new source data — each figure above shows the period its source actually covers. Read the full methodology or browse every source.

ZIP codes in Berthoud

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
8051318,271$126,72667