Fort Morgan, Colorado

Area Profile

11,605 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Fort Morgan, in Morgan County.

42out of 100
Area Score
Bottom 2% of 2,944 profiles measured

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity3872nd of 3,904 cities measured18
Growth2690th of 2,973 cities measured22
Housing affordability2537th of 4,223 cities measured74
Climate3956th of 4,223 cities measured55
Physical resilience2907th of 4,182 cities measured38
Access3452nd of 4,226 cities measured77
Economic stability2359th of 4,226 cities measured57
The quick read

Employment conditions sit below most comparable published city profiles: unemployment is 6.0% and the Opportunity signal places Fort Morgan in the bottom 1%.

Residential permitting has slowed: 9 units authorized over the past twelve months, 86% below the prior year.

Rent takes 20% of median household income here, below the 30% threshold conventionally called cost-burdened, and the median home is 4.9 times that income.

At a glance

Population
11,605
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$64,158
Bottom 46% nationally
Density
2,170/sq mi
5.3 sq mi of land
Median age
33.5
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Morgan County
Colorado
Metro area
Fort Morgan, CO
Nearest major airport
GXY
46 mi · Greeley-Weld County
Median home value
$313,400
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 6.0% is lower than 7% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 14.3% over the past year, to 11,762 employed residents.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$7,356$64,158Bottom 46%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$2,188$26,595Bottom 25%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate16.0%Top 33%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute18.5 minBottom 13%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher18.2%Bottom 44%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment11,762Bottom 6%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-14.0%Bottom 1%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-14.3%Bottom 1%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force12,516Bottom 6%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation65.8%Top 31%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Unemployment change (year over year)1.7%Top 1%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate6.0%Top 7%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202464k51k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $64,158 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.

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

There are 15.3 students for every full-time teacher, fewer than in most measured places.

Public schools
8
2024-25 school year
Students per teacher
15.3
across all schools here
Math proficiency
Reading proficiency
SchoolDistrictStudentsPer teacherMathReading
Fort Morgan High SchoolSchool District No. Re-3 Fort Morgan94516.9
Fort Morgan Middle SchoolSchool District No. Re-3 Fort Morgan74915.3
Columbine Elementary SchoolSchool District No. Re-3 Fort Morgan42116.8
Sherman Early Childhood CenterSchool District No. Re-3 Fort Morgan40915.7
Baker Elementary SchoolSchool District No. Re-3 Fort Morgan32114.0
Green Acres Elementary SchoolSchool District No. Re-3 Fort Morgan32016.0
Pioneer Elementary SchoolSchool District No. Re-3 Fort Morgan24311.6
Lincoln High SchoolSchool District No. Re-3 Fort Morgan438.6

58.0% 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 $1,067 takes 20% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 4.9 times median household income here, above the historic benchmark of about three times income.

Rent as a share of income
20.0%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
4.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,067
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$313,400
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Home price to income4.88Top 16%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate58.2%Bottom 18%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±2894,313Top 13%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$124$1,067Top 42%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$24,766$313,400Top 27%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income20.0%Top 41%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate3.0%Bottom 19%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
22/ 100
Ranks 2690 of 2,973 published city profiles
Permitting is decreasing, measured from 2022 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 2% since 2020, reaching 11,835 in 2024.

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

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

At 0.8 permitted units per 1,000 residents, building activity is below the median for measured US cities.

Units permitted
9
12 months ending July 2026
Per 1,000 residents
0.8
Bottom 26% nationally
Year over year
−86%
vs the prior twelve months
Multifamily share
0.0%
units in 5+ unit buildings
Population, annual estimates
2020202120222023202412k11k
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
202220232024202516617
Annual totals from the Census Building Permits Survey. Permitting in 2025 was lower than 2022 (−66%).

Weather & climate

5 of the twelve months have a normal average temperature between 55°F and 80°F. July averages a high of 90°F and January a low of 13°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 14.3 inches, including 22.7 inches of snow.

0°20°40°60°80°100°JFMAMJJASOND
Solid line: normal daily high. Dashed line: normal daily low. 1991-2020 normals from NOAA station FT MORGAN, 4.3 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND2.4"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
Annual precipitation14.3"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall22.7"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low13°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Seasonal temperature swing48°F1991-2020 Normals

Climate figures are thirty-year normals, not current conditions. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today.

Physical risk

38 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HailHigh
Cold waveModerate
TornadoElevated
Inland floodingModerate
Heat waveModerate

Low or minimal exposure: strong wind, winter weather, wildfire, earthquake, ice storm, lightning, drought, volcanic activity, landslide.

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.

Morgan County records 3.5 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 15.7 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 13.9 per 100,000 residents in Morgan County.

Homicide
3.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
15.7
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
13.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
20.9
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 Morgan 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 Fort Morgan rather than Fort Morgan 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
Offences reported to police are published by department rather than by town, and only where a department reported every month of the year. No municipal department reports for this place — many smaller communities are policed by the county — so there is no figure to show. A partial year is never scaled up to look complete, and arrest counts or news volume are never substituted for it.
Taxes and full cost of living
No public source publishes either with national coverage and a method open enough to check. 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. Nothing here is individualised tax advice.
Anything about a specific address
Every figure describes an area, not a street or a house. School attendance zones, insurance pricing and the character of a neighbourhood all vary within the places measured here.

Access

7 major airports lie within 100 miles, the nearest 46 miles away.

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
Greeley-Weld CountyGXY46 mi10,000 ft
Colorado Air and Space PortCFO51 mi8,002 ft
Denver IntlDEN54 mi16,000 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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Area Score
42
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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)
ClimateNOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
U.S. Climate Normals 1991–2020 (Monthly)
1991-2020 NormalsEvery ten years (next release follows the 2001–2030 period)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
DemographicsU.S. Census Bureau
Population Estimates Program
July 1, 2024 estimateAnnual (vintage released each spring)
DevelopmentU.S. Census Bureau
Building Permits Survey
12 months ending July 2026Monthly, roughly three weeks after the reference month
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)
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

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 Fort Morgan

1 published ZIP profiles
ZIPPopulationMedian household incomeArea Score
8070116,226$70,30242