Centennial, Colorado

Area Profile

108,201 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Centennial, in Arapahoe County.

62out of 100
Area Score
Top 39% of 4,196 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks

Data updated · 16 sources
OpportunityTop 42% of 4,199 cities measured60
SchoolsTop 34% of 4,162 cities measured62
GrowthTop 21% of 4,224 cities measured66
Housing affordability2,825th of 4,218 cities measured59
Climate3,210th of 4,225 cities measured62
Physical resilience2,465th of 4,226 cities measured49
AccessTop 2% of 4,226 cities measured100
Economic stabilityTop 4% of 4,226 cities measured81
The quick read

Unemployment is 3.8% and median household income $131,928, putting employment conditions in the middle range of cities measured.

In the public schools here, 46% of students met the state standard in mathematics, with 17.1 students for every teacher.

Development activity is both elevated and accelerating — 493 housing units permitted over the past twelve months, up 314% on the prior year.

These sentences are written by fixed rules from the measurements below — a statement appears because a number crossed a stated threshold, and the values behind it are stored with it. No figure anywhere on this site is invented, estimated or inferred to fill a gap. How this works.

At a glance

Population
108,201
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$131,928
Top 7% nationally
Density
3,588/sq mi
30.2 sq mi of land
Median age
42.0
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Colorado
Nearest major airport
APA
2 mi · Centennial
Median home value
$658,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 3.8%, lower than in 69% of the 4,226 measured US cities.

Employment fell 1.9% over the past year, to 58,323 employed residents.

63% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 94% of measured US cities.

Median household income of $131,928 is higher than in 93% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Income of new arrivalsArapahoe County, CO’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$75,79255th percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Income of those who leftArapahoe County, CO’s figurefiling years 2022–2023$86,50272nd percentileof 4,101filing years 2022–2023
Median household income ±$5,9532024 ACS 5-Year$131,928Top 7%of 29,2232024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$1,9922024 ACS 5-Year$65,940Top 7%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate ±0.5%2024 ACS 5-Year3.3%Top 16%of 31,7732024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute ±0.8 min2024 ACS 5-Year27.0 minBottom 49%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year62.6%Top 6%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Drove alone to work ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year63.6%16th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
EmploymentJuly 202658,323Bottom 49%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (3 years)July 2026−2.9%Bottom 14%of 4,226July 2026
Employment change (year over year)July 2026−1.9%Bottom 23%of 4,226July 2026
Labor forceJuly 202660,64149th percentileof 4,226July 2026
Labor force participation ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year86.0%Top 21%of 31,5132024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wageDenver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$81,690Top 18%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Median annual wageDenver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area’s figure2025 OEWS$62,320Top 11%of 3,7292025 OEWS
Public transit to work ±0.3%2024 ACS 5-Year0.9%84th percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)July 2026+0.1%Bottom 41%of 4,226July 2026
Unemployment rateJuly 20263.8%Top 31%of 4,226July 2026
Worked from home ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year26.9%93rd percentileof 31,4332024 ACS 5-Year

Unemployment rate

2021/072022/072023/072024/072025/072026/074.72.4
Monthly unemployment rate from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, most recent value 3.8% in July 2026. It has been rising for the last 3 months, over a series running from 2020-01 to 2026-07. A break in the line is a month the Bureau of Labor Statistics did not publish for this area — it is left empty rather than estimated.

Median household income, successive ACS releases

2021202220232024132k114k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $131,928 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 — Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO

OccupationPeople employedMedian annual wage
Fast Food and Counter Workers42,810$37,070
Retail Salespersons40,340$38,470
Stockers and Order Fillers32,610$44,480
Registered Nurses30,380$101,130
Business Operations Specialists, All Other28,670$94,990
Software Developers27,010$137,610

Searches the 40 largest occupations here that have a published wage.

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.

46% of students met the state standard in mathematics and 58% in reading, across the schools here that reported results.

There are 17.1 students for every full-time teacher across 42 public schools, more than in most measured places.

Public schools
43
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
17.1
across 42 of them
Math proficiency
45.8%
Top 30% in Colorado
Reading proficiency
58.4%
Top 33% in Colorado
The 12 largest of 43 public schools, by enrollment.
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Eaglecrest High SchoolCherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of Arapah2,85120.537%56%
Smoky Hill High SchoolCherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of Arapah2,29720.042%58%
Arapahoe High SchoolLittleton School District No. 6 in the county of Arapahoe1,74822.768%84%
Littleton High SchoolLittleton School District No. 6 in the county of Arapahoe1,18719.843%67%
Thunder Ridge Middle SchoolCherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of Arapah1,10615.840%43%
Colorado Early Colleges Douglas County · charterState Charter School Institute1,03523.067%87%
West Middle SchoolCherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of Arapah1,01917.961%61%
Sky Vista Middle SchoolCherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of Arapah96917.934%48%
Laredo Middle SchoolCherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of Arapah84616.035%41%
Newton Middle SchoolLittleton School District No. 6 in the county of Arapahoe78119.557%66%
Ford ElementaryLittleton School District No. 6 in the county of Arapahoe65317.6——
Parker Performing Arts · charterDouglas County School District No. Re 163817.731%51%

33.1% of students here are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch. That describes the circumstances families arrive with, not how the schools perform, so it is shown and not scored.

Public schools only, from the NCES Common Core of Data, placed by ZIP code — which schools are in this place, not which one a particular address is zoned for. A dash in a proficiency column is a gap in the federal file, not a bad result. Proficiency is measured against Colorado’s own standard, so it is ranked within state. How to read school figures.

Prices for everything a household buys run about 6% above the national average — the Bureau of Economic Analysis index reads 105.8, against 100 for the nation. Nationally, housing drives most of the spread between places in this index; other goods vary far less.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency’s house price index for the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area is up 21% over five years, but down 0.5% over the last year. It follows repeat sales of the same homes, so it measures price change rather than which homes happened to sell.

Homeowners here who pay a tax bill pay a median of $3,588 a year in real estate taxes, about 0.55% of the median home value.

HUD’s Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom, set near the 40th percentile of recent new leases, is $2,089, close to the $2,148 tenants already here pay.

At HUD’s Fair Market Rent of $2,089 a month for a two-bedroom, keeping rent to 30% of income takes a household income of about $83,600 a year, about 63% of the median household income here of $131,928.

The typical renter household here spends 29% of its income on rent, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened. Median gross rent runs $2,148 a month.

A median home at $658,100 costs 4.4 times the median income of its owner-occupied households, $148,907, above the historic benchmark of about 3 times income.

Cost of living
105.8

Prices here run about 6% above the national average. The spread between places is driven mostly by housing — goods vary far less — and this excludes taxes.

Published for the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area as a whole. Prices are regional — people shop, commute and rent across a metropolitan area rather than within a city boundary — so this describes the cost of living around this place better than a figure drawn to its own limits would.

Rent as a share of income
29.1%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.4×
median home value ÷ owner household income
Market rent, two bedroom
$2,089
what a new lease costs · FY2026
Median gross rent
$2,148
what tenants now pay · 2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$658,100
2024 ACS 5-Year

The figures above are measured against Centennial’s median household income of $131,928, which describes the place rather than you. Enter your own and the ratio is recomputed against it. It stays in this browser.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living indexthe Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area’s figure2023105.8Bottom 33%of 3,7002023
Home price change (1 year)the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2−0.5%4th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (5 years)the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+21.4%7th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price change (10 years)the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO Metro Area’s figure2026 Q2+79.9%27th percentileof 4,1542026 Q2
Home price to income ±0.22024 ACS 5-Year4.4Bottom 13%of 26,8152024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year80.6%60th percentileof 31,7172024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±7012024 ACS 5-Year43,29199th percentileof 32,1772024 ACS 5-Year
Market rent, one bedroomFY2026$1,754Bottom 31%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, three bedroomFY2026$2,734Bottom 28%of 4,072FY2026
Market rent, two bedroomFY2026$2,089Bottom 29%of 4,072FY2026
Median gross rent ±$632024 ACS 5-Year$2,148Bottom 6%of 23,1202024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$6,3592024 ACS 5-Year$658,10094th percentileof 29,1112024 ACS 5-Year
Median property taxes ±$422024 ACS 5-Year$3,58879th percentileof 26,4402024 ACS 5-Year
Owner household income ±$5,1522024 ACS 5-Year$148,907Top 7%of 27,5482024 ACS 5-Year
Property tax rate ±0.01%2024 ACS 5-Year0.55%15th percentileof 20,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income ±1%2024 ACS 5-Year29.1%Bottom 45%of 22,9502024 ACS 5-Year
Seasonal and second homes ±662024 ACS 5-Year9389th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Second homes2024 ACS 5-Year0.2%53rd percentileof 31,8952024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate2024 ACS 5-Year2.2%22nd percentileof 31,7692024 ACS 5-Year
Vacant housing units ±2622024 ACS 5-Year1,05895th percentileof 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year

These measures come from the same ACS release as the income they are compared with. They compare housing cost with local earnings only: transport, groceries, healthcare, insurance and taxes are not in them. How to read affordability, the two rent figures and the cost-of-living index.

Development Momentum

66/ 100
Top 21% of 4,224 published city profiles
Permitting has been rising for the last 3 years of a series running from 2020 to 2025. That is the direction of the recent run. The chart below compares the first year with the last, which can point the other way.

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 1% since 2020, reaching 108,853 in 2024.

Permit activity rose in each of the 3 calendar years through 2025.

75% of the 493 units permitted over the past twelve months are in buildings of five or more homes, so new supply is concentrated in apartments and condominiums rather than detached houses.

Federal tax returns show Arapahoe County, which contains Centennial, lost about 0.8% of its residents through moves within the US in the most recent year, counting those who arrived against those who left. Households that moved in reported an average income of $75,792, below the $86,502 of households that moved out.

At 4.6 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is above the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
493
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
4.6
Top 31% nationally
Year over year
+314%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
74.6%
units in 5+ unit buildings

Population, annual estimates

20202021202220232024109k107k
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. It has been holding roughly steady, over a series running from 2020 to 2024.

People moving in and out

Net migration
−0.8%
of residents, in a year
Arrivals from another state
37%
of people moving in
Income of arrivals
$75,792
average per tax return
Income of those who left
$86,502
average per tax return

Where newcomers came from

  1. Denver County, CO 13,955 people · 29% of arrivals
  2. Adams County, CO 4,662 people · 9.7% of arrivals
  3. Douglas County, CO 4,313 people · 9.0% of arrivals
  4. Jefferson County, CO 3,448 people · 7.2% of arrivals
  5. El Paso County, CO 1,009 people · 2.1% of arrivals

Where people who left went

  1. Denver County, CO 11,897 people · 23% of departures
  2. Douglas County, CO 6,819 people · 13% of departures
  3. Adams County, CO 5,540 people · 11% of departures
  4. Jefferson County, CO 3,640 people · 7.0% of departures
  5. El Paso County, CO 1,273 people · 2.4% of departures

Based on the address on federal tax returns, compared with the same filers a year earlier. It counts people who file, and sees a move only when the address on a return changes. Domestic moves only: people arriving from abroad are left out. This is the figure for Arapahoe County, CO. IRS Statistics of Income, filing years 2022–2023.

Housing units permitted per year

2020202120222023202420251783.0
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was higher than 2020 (+1680%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 87°F and January a low of 19°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 15.0 inches.

Air quality measures a median index of 49, in the Good band, and about 17 days a year pass 100, the threshold at which the air is unhealthy for sensitive groups.

10°30°50°70°90°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station DENVER CENTENNIAL AP, 1.6 miles from this location.

Precipitation

JFMAMJJASOND2.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index2024 calendar year872024 calendar year
Annual precipitation1991-2020 Normals15.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low1991-2020 Normals19°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high1991-2020 Normals87°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months1991-2020 Normals51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 1002024 calendar year172024 calendar year
Median air quality index2024 calendar year492024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing1991-2020 Normals42°F1991-2020 Normals

Air quality

Median air quality index
49
Good on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
87
90th percentile index
Days above 100
17
unhealthy for sensitive groups

A comfortable median and a bad tail are different problems. Wildfire smoke and summer ozone show up in the worst tenth of days, not in the middle of the year.

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. Air quality is measured by EPA monitors and published by county only where a monitor sits; a county without one shows nothing rather than an estimate, and a county reading is still the county’s. How to read climate and air quality.

Physical risk

49 / 100
Physical resilience

The hazards accounting for most of this area's expected annual loss are inland flooding, hail and tornado, with inland flooding alone responsible for 36% of it. Inland flooding is independently rated low or minimal nationally, so this describes how the loss is composed, not how large that hazard is.

HailHigh
TornadoHigh
WildfireModerate

Low or minimal exposure: lightning, strong wind, inland flooding, winter weather, cold wave, earthquake, volcanic activity, heat wave, landslide, drought, ice storm, avalanche, tsunami, coastal flooding, hurricane.

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.

Violent crime
192
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year
Property crime
1,422
per 100,000 residents · 2025 calendar year

Below these are deaths rather than offenses, published for the county. The two measure different things and are not comparable with each other.

Centennial's police department reported 192 violent offenses per 100,000 residents, near the middle of places with a department reporting. Property crime runs at 1,422.

Arapahoe County records 4.0 homicide deaths per 100,000 residents a year, near the middle of counties measured. The CDC does not publish this below county level.

Firearm deaths of all intents run at 12.5 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, since the figure counts suicides and accidents as well as homicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 26.4 per 100,000 residents in Arapahoe County.

Homicide
4.0
per 100,000 residents
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.5
per 100,000 residents
Drug overdose
26.4
per 100,000 residents
Suicide
17.1
per 100,000 residents

Firearm deaths count every intent together, and nationally the majority are suicides rather than homicides, so the firearm figure and the homicide figure above it count some of the same deaths twice over. They overlap and should not be added together.

Offenses are reported to the FBI by Centennial’s own police department and shown only where it reported every month of the year; a partial year is withheld rather than scaled up. Reported crime is what police recorded, which is not the same as what happened. Death rates are crude rates — deaths divided by population, not adjusted for age — except where a count was too small for the CDC to publish and it modeled the rate, which the card marks. They come from provisional death certificate records, published by the CDC by county and not below it. So they describe the county around Centennial (Arapahoe County) rather than Centennial itself. Neither is part of the Area Score. How to read crime rates and death rates.

What this profile does not cover

Each of these is absent for a reason, not by oversight. The Area Score is calculated without them; the weighting is on the methodology page.

Taxes
Income and sales taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Property taxes are shown in the housing section but are not part of the score. The cost-of-living index above is a price level for all consumption, not a household budget, and it excludes taxes. Nothing here is individualized tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house.

Access

9 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest Centennial at 2 miles.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Broadband access ±2%2024 ACS 5-Year96.9%Top 16%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
Distance to major airportNASR current cycle2 miTop 1%of 4,226NASR current cycle
Major airports within 100 milesNASR current cycle9Top 5%of 4,226NASR current cycle
No internet access ±0.4%2024 ACS 5-Year1.7%Top 18%of 31,5882024 ACS 5-Year
AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
CentennialAPA2 mi10,001 ft
Denver IntlDEN21 mi16,000 ft
Colorado Air and Space PortCFO22 mi8,002 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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Area Score
62
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Other cities in Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
DenverDenver County718,87756Denver vs Centennial
AuroraArapahoe County394,43252Aurora vs Centennial
LakewoodJefferson County156,58346Lakewood vs Centennial
ThorntonAdams County144,18754
ArvadaJefferson County122,63453
WestminsterAdams County115,48457
Highlands RanchDouglas County102,25765
Castle RockDouglas County79,12359
BroomfieldBroomfield County76,30466
Commerce CityAdams County66,44558
ParkerDouglas County61,78365
LittletonArapahoe County44,71060

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.

Compare

Put Centennial side by side with a similar place.

Centennial vs ParkerCentennial vs Maple Valley

Moving to Centennial from somewhere else?

You get the difference in prices, rent and weather, and the income that would keep pace.

Data & methodology

Used forSourceSource period
AccessFederal Aviation Administration
Airports (NASR) — Aeronautical Data Delivery Service
NASR current cycle
SafetyFederal Bureau of Investigation, Crime Data Explorer
Summarized offense counts by law enforcement agency
2025 calendar year
Physical riskFederal Emergency Management Agency
National Risk Index
National Risk Index December 2025 (v1.20.0)
Demographics, IncomeInternal Revenue Service, Statistics of Income Division
U.S. Population Migration Data (county to county)
filing years 2022–2023
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 Normals
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWS
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
July 2026
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimate
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026
Access, Demographics, Housing, Income, JobsU.S. Census Bureau
American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates (Table-Based Summary File)
2024 ACS 5-Year
SafetyU.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics
Provisional county-level mortality by intent
March 2025 to February 2026; May 2025 to April 2026
SchoolsU.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
Common Core of Data and EDFacts assessments
2018-19 school year; 2024-25 school year
HousingU.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research
Fair Market Rents
FY2026
ClimateU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Quality System
Daily Air Quality Index by county
2024 calendar year
HousingU.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency
House Price Index (traditional, all-transactions)
2026 Q2
Current conditionsNOAA National Weather Service
National Weather Service current conditions
Live observation, read when the page opens

Profile recalculated October 8, 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 every source with how often each updates.

ZIP codes in Centennial

4 ZIP areas

Every ZIP area in Centennial with census figures of its own, largest first. The ones linked below diverge enough from the city as a whole to carry a full profile; the rest track Centennial closely, so their figures are here rather than on a page that would repeat this one. An Area Score is calculated for published profiles only, which is why it is blank on those rows.

ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeMedian home valueArea Score
8001572,316$124,702$586,30060
8011236,816$108,874$659,20063
8012232,195$128,691$634,400—
8012118,029$142,056$707,900—