Center, Colorado.
Typical home $184,377 (-1.9% in a year).
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$402 (+71%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $3,618 -2%
- $187,994$184,377 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $13,549 -7%
- $197,925$184,377 since Sep 2021
Monthly payment to buy the typical home
Home value × that month's 30-year mortgage rate, 20% down, principal and interest. This is the line households feel: prices and rates compound each other.
- Center$968
- Colorado$2,777
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Center, CO fell 1.9% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Center, Saguache County, Colorado
Center is a town of 1,929 people in Saguache County. Unemployment in Saguache County was 4.9% in August 2026, and the county had 5.5% fewer jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Saguache County work in schools and health care, then farming.
Written by AI Claude Sonnet 5.5 wrote this on 23 October 2026 from the figures here, a list of nearby places and what it knows. It can be wrong or out of date.
What it’s like
The place. Center is a small town in the San Luis Valley, in Saguache County, with homes that are among the more affordable in the region. Incomes in the county run below the state's typical level, and a four-year degree is held by a smaller share of adults than in many places. Winters are cold, with January the coldest month and a fair amount of snow, while summers are warm in the daytime and the year is fairly dry.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, in farming, in shops and in government. Across Saguache County, the largest workplaces include Center Consolidated School District, Prime Packing and Aspen Produce. Getting to work is quick for most people, and nobody works from home to speak of. Jobs across the county fell somewhat last year, and unemployment is a little higher than it was a year ago.
Things to do. The San Luis Valley Conservation Area is a protected area a short drive away. A longer drive brings you to Great Sand Dunes National Park, and the Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuge is another protected area worth the trip. The valley's rivers and reservoirs, such as the Alamosa River, are also a longer drive from town.
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- 1,031households
- 17%of adults have a degree
- 12 mintypical commute
- 0%work from home
What people in Saguache County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Saguache County had 1,670 jobs in 2025, 5.5% fewer than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in January, with highs near 32° and lows near 4°; warmest in July, with highs near 80° and lows near 48°. About 25 inches of snow and 7 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Center Ssw weather station, 4 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Saguache County
- Center Consolidated School District No. 26 Jt. of the countSchool district104FTE
- Prime PackingProduce, fresh, merchant wholesalers77
- Moffat School District No. 2 in the county of Saguache andSchool district53FTE
- Aspen ProduceVegetables, fresh, merchant wholesalers42
- Mountain Valley School District No. Re 1School district41FTE
- Power Zone EquipmentOil measuring and dispensing pumps manufacturing28
- Ponderosa PartnershipBeef cattle ranching or farming23
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 4 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 170 people in all across the county; Center has one of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24); FTE marks full-time equivalent staff. Not listed: many offices and banks, which need not report to OSHA; military bases, whose staff OPM withholds; and, in about half the states, city and county governments.
Natural hazards
- LightningVery high
- DroughtRelatively high
- Cold wavesRelatively high
- LandslidesRelatively moderate
- AvalanchesRelatively moderate
- HailRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Center’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively high. It is meant for planning, not a substitute for a local risk assessment or a flood map: FEMA’s index.
From the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 census and its American Community Survey (2020–2024 five-year estimates), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. A survey, so each figure has a margin of error, and figures it is not sure of are left out. More on Saguache County.
Center home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Center$184,377
- Colorado$529,013
- United States$366,157
When this market ran hot
Each cell is that month's year-on-year home-value growth. Read left to right, top row is the latest year — the 2021–22 band is the boom.
Market heat, inside the city limits
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Center6
Zip codes with a Center address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Center — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.