Castle Rock, CO — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

All states·Colorado·Castle Rock

Douglas County · Denver-Aurora-Lakewood · population 83,213

Growing fastRenter-friendly
Castle Rock, CO
Image: Wikipedia · Castle Rock, Colorado
OverviewCost of livingMoving guide
View watchlist →
56
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Castle Rock stands

Population growing 3.3% per year.

Median home $676,277
1-year -2.2%
5-yr CAGR +3.3%
vs 5-yr peak -7.5%
Population +3.3%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2022-06$676k$391k$514k$637k$760k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
40/100
Car-dependent
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
30/100
Minimal transit
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
78/100
Strong remote-work fit
Composite of city size, housing cost, state tax structure, and region's remote-work track record.

Scores are heuristic estimates from population density, state, and known transit/walkable cities. Not based on a paid Walk Score / Transit Score API — see methodology for the formula.

Rent trajectory · last 5 years

Zillow ZORI · monthly
$2,258/mo$1,780$2,103$2,426202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent117119100120202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 25.0
Lean rent

At a 25.0 price-to-rent ratio, the math is starting to lean toward renting in Castle Rock. Owner-occupier ROI requires longer holds and the assumption that prices keep appreciating roughly at the rate of rent.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
39 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
55 · w22%
Distance from peak
53 · w18%
Population growth
90 · w16%
Rent YoY
43 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
60 · w10%
Long thesis

Castle Rock has held up across the cycle: home values at $676,277 with +3.3% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.

Short thesis

Castle Rock's bear case is the boring one: the cycle is real and any market that's run hard can stall. Watch for slowing population growth, rising days-on-market, or builder discounts as the early warning signals.

About Castle Rock

Castle Rock is a city in Douglas County, Colorado, with an estimated population of 83,213. It anchors the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro area. The population has grown 3.3% per year on average between 2020 and 2024 — among the faster-growing communities in the state. The median home value in Castle Rock is $676,277 as of 2026-04, down 2.2% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +3.3% annual growth (-7.5% from the 5-year peak). Rents in Castle Rock average $2,258 per month, roughly flat year-over-year (-0.4%). The composite momentum score is 56 of 100 (Stable). Conditions are neither hot nor cold, so the local fit matters more than market timing.

▲ Bull case

●People are voting with their feet: population growing 3.3% per year since 2020 — that’s faster than ~80% of US cities.
○The data is the data: Castle Rock has at least 5 years of Zillow tracking, full Census identification, and is included in the 2-criteria momentum score on this page.

▼ Bear case

●Cooling: -2.2% over the trailing year — momentum has stalled.
○Local nuance: city-level data smooths over neighborhood differences. School zones, HOA rules, and street-level character matter — visit before deciding.

About Castle Rock (Wikipedia)

Castle Rock is a home rule town that is the county seat of and the most-populous municipality in Douglas County, Colorado, United States. The town's population was 73,158 at the 2020 census, a 51.68% increase since the 2010 census. Castle Rock is the most-populous Colorado town and the 14th-most populous Colorado municipality. Castle Rock is a part of the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO metropolitan statistical area and the Front Range urban corridor.

Source: Wikipedia · this summary is contributed and licensed under CC-BY-SA.

City facts

MayorJason Gray
Area34.742 sq mi
Elevation6224 ft
Founded1874
Density2308.19/sq mi

Extracted from the Wikipedia infobox. Values may be slightly out of date relative to the latest sources.

Playbook

Buyer

Lifestyle fit matters more than market timing in a Stable market. Take your time on the home and neighborhood; the macro trend isn't urgent. Negotiate normally.

Seller

Price competitively from day one or risk a 60+ day listing. Staging, photography, and presentation matter more in Stable markets than in Hot ones.

Investor

Stable cap rates, no big appreciation story to lean on. Underwrite this as a pure cash-flow play — the math has to work on rent alone.

Local safety & alerts

No active National Weather Service alerts for Douglas County right now.

NWS active alerts (CO)Colorado Emergency ManagementHow to prepare (NWS)

Public-safety links are official .gov sources, not curated by us. Douglas County routes NWS alerts; check the state EM portal for non-weather emergencies.

Neighborhoods of Castle Rock

2 tracked · ranked by median home value
1Red Hawk$715,828-3.0%
2The Meadows$639,243-2.4%

Cities like Castle Rock

Parker, CO53 · StableLoveland, CO57 · StableBroomfield, CO53 · StableBrighton, CO50 · Stable

Run the numbers for Castle Rock

ToolCan I afford Castle Rock?Income → city shortlistToolROI on a Castle Rock rentalCap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCRToolCompare Castle Rock to anywhereSide-by-side up to 3 citiesToolCastle Rock cost-of-livingEquivalent income elsewhere

Sources: Zillow ZHVI (home values), Zillow ZORI (rents), US Census ACS + place population. Updated when source agencies publish revisions.

Climate & natural-disaster risk

Winter (Jan)
43° / 16°
avg high / low
Summer (Jul)
86° / 56°
avg high / low
Sunny days/yr
245
~67% of year
Annual precip
17″ rain
55″ snow
Disaster risk (1=very low, 5=very high)
Hurricane
Very low
Tornado
Moderate
Wildfire
High
Earthquake
Low
Flood
Low

State-level averages from NOAA Climate Normals (1991-2020) and FEMA National Risk Index. City-level conditions can vary significantly within a state.

Local sports teams

Major professional teams the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood area cheers for. Detailed stats, schedules, and player pages on intherafters.com.

Current weather

Loading current conditions…

7-day forecast on weather.gov →

Find rentals & listings

Open current Castle Rock listings on the major real-estate sites.

Links open the live search on the destination site — results are always current.

Local news & community

Updated 2026-05-21 from Google News + Reddit RSS. Headlines link to original sources.

Local economy & environment

Humidity
54%
Dry climate
Median household income
$87,600
Colorado state median
Top industries (state-level)
TechAerospaceHealthcare

Humidity is annual average relative humidity (NOAA). Income is Census ACS 5-year estimate. Industries are largest employment sectors statewide (BLS); the local mix in a given city may vary.

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