GlobeQuest

Where to live in Colorado Springs

Cheaper than Denver by a clear margin and shaped by two things a newcomer cannot see on a map: the military, which fills the south and north ends with people on two-to-three-year postings and makes the rental market unusually churny, and the terrain, which makes the western neighbourhoods older, hillier and more expensive per square foot while the east is newer, flatter and cheaper. Colorado bans local rent control by statute, so there is no stabilised stock to hunt. What the state gives you instead is unusually strong tenant law for the American West: since April 2024 a landlord needs cause to evict or refuse to renew, and since 2023 a landlord who accepts a portable tenant screening report may not charge you an application fee at all.

The neighbourhoods

Downtown & Southwest Downtown

USD 1,300–1,700 / month for a 1-bed

The walkable core — Tejon Street bars, the Olympic museum, a football stadium and the newest apartment blocks in the city

Young professionalsWalkableNightlifeCar-free

Commute: Walk or cycle; 10 minutes by car to most of the city

  • The only genuinely walk-everywhere part of Colorado Springs
  • Newest stock, and the buildings compete on concessions
  • Most Mountain Metro routes converge here
  • Thin on everyday retail — no full supermarket in the core
  • Street parking is metered and enforced
  • Quiet on Sundays in a way that surprises people from bigger cities

Old Colorado City & the Westside

USD 1,200–1,600 / month for a 1-bed

The 1859 townsite and the streets around it — Victorian cottages, bungalows, and Garden of the Gods at the end of the road

CharacterWalkableOutdoorsFoodies

Commute: 10–15 minutes to downtown by car or the Route 3 bus

  • Best character housing in the city at a sane price
  • Trailheads and Garden of the Gods within a few minutes
  • A real high street on West Colorado Avenue
  • Older stock — check the furnace, insulation and whether there is any cooling
  • Streets are narrow and parking is tight
  • Some blocks change character quickly; walk them at night before signing

Broadmoor, Skyway & Cheyenne Cañon

USD 1,600–2,100 / month for a 1-bed

The wealthy south-west, climbing into the foothills around the Broadmoor hotel, with the best views and the biggest trees

FamiliesQuietNatureSpace

Commute: 15–20 minutes to downtown by car; effectively car-only

  • Cheyenne Cañon and the Broadmoor trail network on the doorstep
  • Established, quiet, and the schools are well regarded
  • The best views in the metro
  • Expensive for what you get, and very little rental stock
  • Deep in the wildland-urban interface — insurance and mitigation matter here
  • No practical transit at all

Briargate, Rockrimmon & the north

USD 1,400–1,800 / month for a 1-bed

Post-1980 suburbia between the Air Force Academy and Interstate 25 — cul-de-sacs, trail spurs and the district everyone moves for

FamiliesSchoolsSpaceCommute to USAFA or Peterson

Commute: 20–25 minutes to downtown on I-25, longer at peak

  • Academy District 20 is the reason most families end up here
  • Closest to the Academy and a straightforward run to Peterson
  • Newer housing, garages, and the Santa Fe and Pine Creek trails
  • Car-dependent by design
  • I-25 northbound in the morning is the city's worst traffic
  • Almost no street life — this is a drive-to-everything part of town

Powers corridor & the east side

USD 1,100–1,400 / month for a 1-bed

The newest and fastest-growing half of the city — big-box retail, subdivisions and the most apartment supply anywhere in the metro

BudgetModern buildingsSpaceNew arrivals

Commute: 25–35 minutes to downtown by car

  • Cheapest modern stock in the city, with in-unit laundry and air conditioning as standard
  • Closest thing to a soft market — ask for a free month
  • Quick access to Peterson and Schriever
  • No character and no walkability whatsoever
  • Powers Boulevard traffic is genuinely bad and getting worse
  • You will drive across the city for anything cultural

Fountain, Security-Widefield & the south

USD 1,000–1,300 / month for a 1-bed

Fort Carson's hinterland — the cheapest housing in the metro and the highest concentration of military families

BudgetSpaceFort Carson commuteFamilies

Commute: 25–35 minutes to downtown; minutes to Fort Carson

  • The lowest rents in El Paso County by a clear margin
  • Houses and yards at apartment prices further north
  • Strong military community and services
  • Ask which water district serves the property — the Widefield aquifer had a documented PFAS problem traced to firefighting foam, the districts installed treatment, and you should read the current consumer confidence report
  • Furthest from everything the city is known for
  • Rental churn is high, so the housing stock is hard-worn

How renting works in Colorado Springs

Leases are typically 12 months and turnover is high — a base town resets its rental market every posting cycle, which means more stock comes free in summer than anywhere comparable. Colorado prohibits local rent control, so renewal increases are unregulated in amount, but state law caps them at one per twelve-month period whatever the lease says. Two Colorado statutes are worth knowing before you view anything: a landlord must accept a portable tenant screening report and cannot charge an application fee if you provide one, and since April 2024 a landlord needs cause to evict or to refuse renewal.

  1. 1

    Buy one portable tenant screening report and reuse it

    Colorado law requires landlords to accept a screening report prepared by a consumer reporting agency within the previous 30 days, at your request and expense, and forbids them from charging an application fee to anyone who supplies one. On five applications that is the difference between one modest fee and five. The landlord must also tell you they accept them before collecting information that would generate a fee.

  2. 2

    Decide the side of town before the building

    Colorado Springs is a 25-minute drive wide and the neighbourhoods barely resemble each other. Working at Fort Carson from Briargate, or at the Academy from Fountain, means the length of the city twice a day on I-25. Pick the commute first; the flat second.

  3. 3

    Ask for concessions, especially on the east side

    The Powers corridor absorbed most of the metro's new apartment construction and the buildings compete. A free month, waived admin fees or free covered parking are commonly available and rarely advertised. Downtown towers will often match. It costs nothing to ask and it is worth thousands over a lease.

  4. 4

    Check cooling, heating and the hail record

    Older westside stock frequently has an evaporative 'swamp' cooler rather than air conditioning — it works in dry June heat and poorly in the humid late-summer monsoon. Ask what a January gas bill looked like, and ask when the roof was last replaced: this is hail country and a tired roof means leaks and a landlord's insurance argument you do not want to be inside.

  5. 5

    Confirm what the utility bill covers

    Colorado Springs Utilities bills electricity, natural gas, water and wastewater on one account, so 'utilities included' means something quite different here from a city where those are four suppliers. Ask exactly which of the four the rent covers and get it in the lease.

  6. 6

    Photograph everything at move-in

    Document every room and every existing defect and email the set to the landlord on day one. Colorado requires deposits to be returned within one month of the lease ending unless the lease specifies longer, up to a maximum of 60 days, with an itemised statement of any deductions.

Upfront cost

Typically first month's rent plus a security deposit of one month, though Colorado sets no statutory cap and a larger deposit is common without US credit history. Application fees are capped at the landlord's actual screening cost, must be disclosed, and cannot be charged at all if you supply a portable screening report. There is no broker fee culture here.

Where to search

Zillow and Apartments.com — where the east-side concessions are listedBuilding websites directly for the downtown and Powers corridor blocks, which price below the aggregatorsFacebook groups by neighbourhood, and the base and unit groups for Fort Carson, Peterson and the AcademyAHRN.com and MilitaryByOwner, which carry a lot of the metro's rental houses because of the military churnCraigslist, still used for houses, duplexes and rooms on the westsideHotPads and Rent.com

Insider tips

  • Buy one 30-day portable screening report before you start applying. Colorado law does the rest.
  • Summer is when the market moves, because that is when postings change. There is more choice in June and July and less competition in January.
  • Ask about the roof. In a hail metro that question tells you more about a landlord than any reference.
  • A garage or covered parking is worth more here than the rent difference suggests — hail writes off cars, not just roofs.
  • Academy District 20 in the north and Cheyenne Mountain District 12 in the south-west are what families move for, and rents track them. Check the district boundary for the exact address, not the postal city.
  • If your commute is to Fort Carson, living north of downtown is a genuinely bad idea. Everyone tries it once.

Avoid these

  • Wiring a deposit for a place you have not seen — the standard US rental scam, and base towns attract it.
  • Paying an application fee when Colorado law says a portable screening report removes it.
  • Assuming rent control exists. Colorado bans it, so a large renewal increase is lawful with notice — though only one per twelve months.
  • Taking an older westside unit with a swamp cooler and expecting it to cope in the August monsoon.
  • Signing in the south without asking which water district serves the property.
  • Choosing a neighbourhood for its price and then discovering the commute crosses the entire city on I-25.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.

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