Parker, CO — Momentum Score, Home Values & Best-For

All states·Colorado·Parker

Douglas County · Denver-Aurora-Lakewood · population 65,473

Growing fastRenter-friendly
Parker, CO
Image: Wikipedia · Parker, Colorado
OverviewCost of livingMoving guide
View watchlist →
53
Stable
Momentum score · 0–100

Where Parker stands

Population growing 2.9% per year.

Median home $692,373
1-year -2.9%
5-yr CAGR +2.9%
vs 5-yr peak -8.6%
Population +2.9%/yr

Home value trajectory · last 10 years

Zillow ZHVI · monthly
peak 2022-06$692k$402k$530k$659k$788k201620182020202220242026

Lifestyle scores

🚶
Walkability
40/100
Car-dependent
Estimated from population density. Higher = denser, more amenities within walking distance.
🚉
Public transit
22/100
Transit limited
Curated list of major US transit systems + population-based estimate. Higher = real subway/rail/bus options.
💻
Remote work fit
70/100
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
$2,277/mo$1,761$2,133$2,506202220242026

Home value vs rent · indexed to 100

Both rebased at first month of ZORI data (~2015)
Home valueRent115122100120202220242026

Rent vs buy

Price-to-rent ratio: 25.3
Rent

At a 25.3 price-to-rent ratio, renting beats buying in Parker for most shorter holds. The premium you pay to own would take many years of rent savings to recoup, and that's before maintenance, taxes, and opportunity cost on the down payment.

How the momentum score breaks down

methodology →
Home YoY
36 · w22%
Home 5-yr CAGR
52 · w22%
Distance from peak
49 · w18%
Population growth
89 · w16%
Rent YoY
38 · w12%
Home 10-yr CAGR
60 · w10%
Long thesis

Parker has held up across the cycle: home values at $692,373 with +2.9% 5-year CAGR. The bull case is structural — population, location, employer base — and holds even if next year's print is soft.

Short thesis

Parker'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 Parker

Parker is a city in Douglas County, Colorado, with an estimated population of 65,473. It anchors the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood metro area. The population has grown 2.9% per year on average between 2020 and 2024 — among the faster-growing communities in the state. The median home value in Parker is $692,373 as of 2026-04, down 2.9% over the last 12 months. Over the last five years, home values have averaged +2.9% annual growth (-8.6% from the 5-year peak). Rents in Parker average $2,277 per month, down 1.3% year-over-year. The composite momentum score is 53 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 2.9% per year since 2020 — that’s faster than ~80% of US cities.
○The data is the data: Parker 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: -2.9% 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 Parker (Wikipedia)

Parker is a home rule municipality in Douglas County, Colorado, United States. As a self-declared "town" under the home rule statutes, Parker is the second most populous town in the county; Castle Rock is the most populous. In recent years, Parker has become a commuter town at the southeasternmost corner of the Denver metropolitan area. The population was 58,512 at the 2020 census. Parker is now the 19th most populous municipality in the state of Colorado.

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

City facts

Area22.455 sq mi
Elevation5834 ft
Founded1864
Density2727.40/sq mi
Named forJames Parker

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 Parker

19 tracked · ranked by median home value
1Ponderosa Hills$934,148-1.5%
2Homestead Hills$933,725-1.4%
3Reata North$892,174-3.0%
4Grand View Estates$829,230-3.0%
5Sierra Ridge$755,474-3.5%
6Douglas$738,285-2.6%
7Meridian Village$736,855-4.1%
8Horseshoe Ridge$718,354-3.5%
9Challenger Park$688,992-3.5%
10Rowley Downs$685,377-3.9%
11Stonegate$677,924-2.5%
12Willow Ridge$668,718-4.8%
13Antelope Heights$667,594-3.7%
14Hidden River$644,239-2.8%
15Bradbury Ranch$640,081-2.7%
16Willow Park$614,072-4.4%
17Stroh Ranch$613,604-4.1%
18Clarke Farms$589,830-3.6%
19Cottonwood$503,034-1.9%

Cities like Parker

Castle Rock, CO56 · StableBrighton, CO50 · StableCommerce City, CO52 · StableLoveland, CO57 · Stable

Run the numbers for Parker

ToolCan I afford Parker?Income → city shortlistToolROI on a Parker rentalCap rate, cash-on-cash, DSCRToolCompare Parker to anywhereSide-by-side up to 3 citiesToolParker 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 Parker 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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