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Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
Crunching costs, sorting signals, rendering insights.
After service, the right city means keeping more of what you've earned. We scored 11 cities across Colorado for veterans: cost, taxes, and healthcare. Pueblo takes #1 for 2026.
After service, the right city means keeping more of what you've earned. We scored 11 cities across Colorado for veterans: cost, taxes, and healthcare. Pueblo takes #1 for 2026.
Veterans have unique financial considerations: pension, VA disability, GI Bill benefits all interact with local costs and taxes. Our model weights cost of living (20pts), state tax burden (20pts), and healthcare costs (15pts) for supplemental care beyond VA. Pueblo scores highest with a 94 cost index and 4.4% state tax.
Here's Pueblo by the numbers — and there's a lot to like (and a little to watch). Cost index: 94. Rent: $1,316/month. Income: $55,305/year. Home price: $283,780. Population: 111,077. The strongest category is Housing at 85; the most expensive is Healthcare at 97. Translate that rent to annual numbers, and residents are saving renters $6,948 per year vs. the national median. Over thirty years of homeownership, the property tax savings alone are staggering. Can we talk about how broken the conversation around affordability is? A city gets labeled 'cheap' and suddenly everyone assumes there's a catch — bad schools, no jobs, nothing to do. But look at the income numbers here. Look at the cost categories. This isn't a budget consolation prize. It's a genuine alternative to the coastal rat race, and the data makes that case more convincingly than any think piece.
It checks most boxes — but the healthcare costs are the asterisk. In Pueblo, the healthcare index sits at 97 — not a dealbreaker, but worth knowing about.
What to do with this data: use the ranking as a shortlist, then dig into the city profiles for trend lines and category breakdowns. The difference between #1 and #5 is often smaller than the difference between "good on paper" and "actually fits my life." Compare your top picks with our calculator to see real take-home numbers.
#1 Ranked: Pueblo — cost index 94, rent $1,316/mo, income $55,305
Veteran scoring: cost index 94, state tax 4.4%, healthcare index 97 — preserving earned benefits
Data sourced from Census Bureau, Zillow, BLS, and Tax Foundation — current as of 2026
111,077 residents · Colorado
What does daily life actually cost in Pueblo? Start with the 29% rent-to-income ratio — tight but manageable for most households. On the category level, Housing (index 85) is where the real savings show up, while Healthcare (index 97) is the line item most likely to surprise newcomers. Income at $55,305 and homes at $283,780 round out a profile that ranks #1 for clear reasons.
716,577 residents · Colorado
What does daily life actually cost in Denver? Start with the 24% rent-to-income ratio — that's the kind of margin that lets people build savings. And generally speaking, on the category level, Utilities (index 104) is where the real savings show up, while Housing (index 133) is the line item most likely to surprise newcomers. Income at $91,681 and homes at $530,920 round out a profile that ranks #2 for clear reasons.
488,664 residents · Colorado
Why Colorado Springs ranks #3: the numbers tell a clear story. At 107 on the cost index, residents save roughly 5% less than the typical American. Rent sits at $1,667/month while the median household pulls in $83,198/year. The Utilities category is particularly strong at 98, though Housing (118) lags behind. Home prices average $446,132 — $21,238 below the national median.
177,563 residents · Colorado
A closer look at Aurora: the cost index of 108 — for better or worse — breaks down to a Utilities index of 99 (strongest category) and a Housing index of 120 (weakest). And more often than not, median rent is $1,689/month — 11% below the national median — while household income sits at $84,320, meaning locals spend about 24% of income on rent. That's a healthy margin by any standard.
170,376 residents · Colorado
Real talk: What does daily life actually cost in Fort Collins? Start with the 28% rent-to-income ratio — tight but manageable for most households. And in practical terms, on the category level, Utilities (index 108) is where the real savings show up, while Housing (index 142) is the line item most likely to surprise newcomers. Income at $83,598 and homes at $556,327 round out a profile that ranks #5 for clear reasons (that's pre-tax, of course).
| Rank | City | Cost Index | Median Rent | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pueblo | 94 | $1,316 | Details |
| 2 | Denver | 113 | $1,818 | Details |
| 3 | Colorado Springs | 107 | $1,667 | Details |
| 4 | Aurora | 108 | $1,689 | Details |
| 5 | Fort Collins | 117 | $1,970 | Details |
| 6 | Lakewood | 114 | $1,733 | Details |
| 7 | Thornton | 113 | $1,888 | Details |
| 8 | Arvada | 121 | $2,053 | Details |
| 9 | Westminster | 112 | $1,788 | Details |
| 10 | Greeley | 102 | $1,442 | Details |
| 11 | Centennial | 122 | $2,056 | Details |
Our persona scoring model weights cost of living, income, rent, healthcare costs, tax burden, and population size differently based on what matters most to military veterans. Each factor contributes 10-25 points to a 0-100 composite score. Cities with the highest composite rank first. All data is sourced from federal agencies and verified research institutions. Cost of living indices are normalized to 100 (national median) using Zillow rent as the primary signal, with sub-category adjustments derived from regional BLS price data. Rankings are updated monthly as new data is released.
Pueblo ranks #1 in Colorado for this analysis with a cost index of 94 and median income of $55,305.
Pueblo scores highest for military veterans due to its below-average cost of living, median rent of $1,316/mo, and competitive median income of $55,305.
Our cost of living index uses real Zillow rent data as the foundation, indexed to 100 (national median). Sub-categories (housing, food, transport, utilities, healthcare) are derived from the overall index with regional adjustments. Data is updated monthly.
Pueblo (ranked #1) has a cost index of 94 and rent of $1,316/mo, while Centennial (ranked #11) has a cost index of 122 and rent of $2,056/mo — a 28-point difference in cost of living.
City data is refreshed monthly from Census Bureau population estimates, Zillow rent and home price indices, BLS salary data, and Tax Foundation tax rates. Last updated: 2026.
The median 1-bedroom rent in Pueblo is $1,316/month as of 2026, based on Zillow's Observed Rent Index. This is $579 below the national median of $1,895/month.
The median home price in Pueblo is $283,780, which is 5.1× the local median income. Most median-income households would stretch to buy at this ratio. The national median home price is $467,370.
Colorado has a 4.4% state income tax rate. Combined state and local sales tax averages 7.81%, and the effective property tax rate is 0.49%.
This ranking was generated using data current as of early 2026. Population and income data comes from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (5-year estimates). Rent and home price data is from Zillow's monthly releases. Tax rates are from the Tax Foundation's 2025 edition. Rankings are refreshed monthly.