Living in Fort Collins, CO

"Dangerous" is too broad a label for any city, but Fort Collins does sit above national averages on crime. The violent crime index is 129 and property crime hits 189 — both past the 100-point U.S. baseline. Plenty of residents live comfortably and safely, but they've usually chosen their neighborhoods carefully. If you're considering a move, visit first, drive around at night, and look up crime stats block by block. Data: FBI Uniform Crime Report.

Housing costs in Fort Collins are reasonable. Median rent sits at $1,661/month with median household income at $83,598/year — a 23.8% rent-to-income ratio. That's well within the comfort zone that most financial advisors recommend. It's not dirt cheap, but most working households can afford rent here without financial strain. Other costs like groceries and utilities will vary, but the rent picture is solid. Census ACS 2023 data.

Most people in Fort Collins are at work within 16 minutes — a pretty reasonable commute by American standards. The breakdown: 63.3% drive alone, 1.5% take public transit, and 20.2% work from home. Rush hour adds time, obviously, but the baseline is manageable.

Everything on this page is built from public government sources: rent and income figures from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey (ACS 5-Year Estimates, 2023); commute and transportation data from Census ACS tables B08303 and B08006; crime rates from the FBI Uniform Crime Report. We refresh each dataset monthly through an automated pipeline and cross-check for anomalies. No surveys, no user-submitted guesses — just official federal data presented in a way that's actually useful for people researching a move.