Colorado

Evaluating Colorado as a relocation target starts with the statewide BEA Regional Price Parity of 103.1 - where 100 is the national average, so every point above or below translates to percent-level cost of living difference. Housing costs in Colorado index at 127.4, goods at 98.7, and services at 85.0. HUD Fair Market Rents averaged across Colorado counties put a 2-bedroom at $1,428/month, the figure HUD uses to cap Section 8 voucher payments, so it reflects real submarket rents rather than listings bias.

On the income side, BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics report a statewide median salary of $76,492 with a mean of $80,247 across 2,848,420 tracked jobs. For safety context, FBI UCR data shows a violent crime rate of 481 per 100,000 residents and a property crime rate of 2641 per 100K. These state-level reads let you benchmark Colorado against both your origin state and national medians before zooming into specific metros.

Family and education costs often decide a move. Department of Labor data for Colorado shows center-based infant care running $12,821/year, preschool at $11,013/year, and toddler care at $11,897/year. Colorado contains 7 metropolitan statistical areas in our dataset - Boulder, Colorado Springs, Denver-Aurora-Centennial and more - each with its own rent, wage and crime profile that can diverge sharply from the statewide average. The composite Life Score of 44.5/100 (F) folds all seven federal sources into one number for quick comparison.