Four Square Mile, Colorado

Area Profile

23,024 residents. Public schools, jobs, income, housing cost, climate and natural-hazard risk for Four Square Mile, in Denver County.

Area Score unavailable

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

How we calculate this

How this area ranks
Opportunity2557th of 3,904 cities measured49
Housing affordability3738th of 4,223 cities measured52
Climate3739th of 4,223 cities measured59
Physical resilience2696th of 4,182 cities measured45
AccessTop 1% of 4,226 cities measured100
Economic stabilityTop 43% of 4,226 cities measured64
The quick read

Unemployment is 4.1% and median household income $80,903, putting employment conditions in the middle range of published city profiles.

Buying strains local incomes far more than renting does — the median home is 5.9 times median household income, against a historic benchmark near three — while rent takes 27% of it.

A major airport is 8 miles away, giving the area unusually direct access to the national air network.

At a glance

Population
23,024
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median household income
$80,903
Top 33% nationally
Density
8,521/sq mi
2.7 sq mi of land
Median age
31.2
2024 ACS 5-Year
County
Denver County
Colorado
Metro area
Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO
Nearest major airport
APA
8 mi · Centennial
Median home value
$474,200
2024 ACS 5-Year

Jobs & opportunity

Unemployment of 4.1% is lower than 59% of the 3,904 measured US cities.

Employment fell 2.9% over the past year, to 423,520 employed residents.

47% of adults hold a four-year degree, higher than 87% of measured US cities.

MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Median household income ±$4,372$80,903Top 33%of 29,5732024 ACS 5-Year
Per capita income ±$3,258$44,926Top 24%of 31,4202024 ACS 5-Year
Poverty rate14.8%Top 37%of 31,9002024 ACS 5-Year
Average commute27.7 minTop 45%of 31,5432024 ACS 5-Year
Bachelor's degree or higher47.0%Top 13%of 31,9192024 ACS 5-Year
Employment423,520Top 17%of 3,904June 2026
Employment change (3 years)-2.4%Bottom 16%of 3,903June 2026
Employment change (year over year)-2.9%Bottom 11%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force441,519Top 17%of 3,904June 2026
Labor force participation77.5%Top 6%of 31,9332024 ACS 5-Year
Mean annual wage$81,690Top 18%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Median annual wage$62,320Top 11%of 3,6582025 OEWS
Unemployment change (year over year)0.0%Bottom 45%of 3,904June 2026
Unemployment rate4.1%Bottom 41%of 3,904June 2026
Median household income, successive ACS releases
202120222023202481k69k
Each point is a separate five-year estimate, most recently $80,903 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

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 Denver County, CO, which contains this city.

Housing & affordability

How it’s calculated →

Prices for everything a household buys run about 6% above the national average, on the Bureau of Economic Analysis index. Housing drives most of that difference.

Median rent of $1,833 takes 27% of median household income, below the 30% threshold at which a household is considered cost-burdened.

A median home costs 5.9 times median household income here, well above the historic benchmark, at a level conventionally described as seriously unaffordable.

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.

Rent as a share of income
27.2%
Below the 30% cost-burdened threshold
Home price to income
5.9×
median home value ÷ median income
Median gross rent
$1,833
2024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value
$474,200
2024 ACS 5-Year
MetricValueCompared nationallySource period
Cost of living index105.8Top 33%of 3,6582023
Home price to income5.86Top 10%of 28,4732024 ACS 5-Year
Homeownership rate26.4%Bottom 2%of 31,8432024 ACS 5-Year
Housing units ±52110,834Top 6%of 32,3302024 ACS 5-Year
Median gross rent ±$56$1,833Top 12%of 23,4322024 ACS 5-Year
Median home value ±$25,733$474,200Top 13%of 29,3422024 ACS 5-Year
Rent as a share of income27.2%Top 11%of 23,2012024 ACS 5-Year
Vacancy rate6.4%Bottom 35%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 →

No building-permit activity is published for this location by the Census Building Permits Survey.

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 18°F.

Normal annual precipitation is 15.4 inches, including 49.0 inches of snow.

Air quality measures a median index of 55, in the Moderate band, and about 29 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-STAPLETON, 5.8 miles from this location.
Precipitation
JFMAMJJASOND2.3"
Normal monthly precipitation, in inches.
MetricValueSource period
90th percentile air quality index93.02024 calendar year
Annual precipitation15.4"1991-2020 Normals
Annual snowfall49.0"1991-2020 Normals
Average January low18°F1991-2020 Normals
Average July high90°F1991-2020 Normals
Comfortable months51991-2020 Normals
Days above AQI 100292024 calendar year
Median air quality index55.02024 calendar year
Seasonal temperature swing43°F1991-2020 Normals
Air quality
Median air quality index
55
Moderate on a typical day
Worst tenth of days
93
90th percentile index
Days above 100
29
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. They describe what a typical year looks like rather than what the weather is doing today. Air quality is measured rather than modelled, by EPA monitors, and published by county only where a monitor sits — roughly half the counties AreaProfile publishes have one, and the rest show nothing rather than an estimate. Air masses are regional, so a county reading describes the air over a place reasonably well, but it is still the county reading.

Physical risk

45 / 100
Physical resilience

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

HailHigh
TornadoHigh

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

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 — they say nothing about burglary, theft or assault.

Denver County records 4.5 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 12.1 per 100,000 — more than the homicide rate, because nationally most firearm deaths are suicides.

Drug overdose deaths run at 47.9 per 100,000 residents in Denver County.

Homicide
4.5
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Firearm deaths, all intents
12.1
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Drug overdose
47.9
per 100,000 residents · under 10 deaths
Suicide
20.4
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 Denver 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 Four Square Mile rather than Four Square Mile 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
Taxes are not published: no source covers them nationally with a method open enough to check. Cost of living now is — the index above is the Bureau of Economic Analysis price parity for this area — but it is a price level for all consumption rather than a budget for a household, its spread is driven mostly by housing, and it excludes taxes. Housing affordability is computed separately from rent, price and income, because that answers a narrower and more actionable question. 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

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

AirportCodeDistanceLongest runway
CentennialAPA8 mi10,001 ft
Denver IntlDEN17 mi16,000 ft
Rocky Mountain MetroBJC20 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 Denver-Aurora-Centennial, CO

Same metropolitan area, measured the same way
CityCountyPopulationArea ScoreCompare
DenverDenver County718,87757vs Four Square Mile
AuroraArapahoe County394,43258vs Four Square Mile
LakewoodJefferson County156,58347vs Four Square Mile
ThorntonAdams County144,18761vs Four Square Mile
ArvadaJefferson County122,63455vs Four Square Mile
WestminsterAdams County115,48461vs Four Square Mile
CentennialArapahoe County108,20164vs Four Square Mile
Highlands RanchDouglas County102,257vs Four Square Mile
Castle RockDouglas County79,12365vs Four Square Mile
BroomfieldBroomfield County76,30464vs Four Square Mile
Commerce CityAdams County66,44567vs Four Square Mile
ParkerDouglas County61,78367vs Four Square Mile

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)
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)
HousingU.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis
Regional price parities and county personal income
2023Annually, each December
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
2025 OEWSAnnual (spring release)
JobsU.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Local Area Unemployment Statistics
June 2026Monthly
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
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.