Simla, Colorado.
Typical home $345,641 (+3.2% in a year). Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$879 (+94%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Up $10,865 +3%
- $334,776$345,641 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Up $36,866 +12%
- $308,775$345,641 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.
- Simla$1,814
- Colorado$2,777
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, a typical home here doubles in price every 31 years.
Typical home values in Simla, CO rose 3.2% over the past year — faster than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Simla, Elbert County, Colorado
Simla is a town of 601 people in Elbert County. Unemployment in Elbert County was 4.0% in August 2026, and the county had 5.1% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Elbert County work in schools and health care, then professional services.
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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Simla is a very small town on the high plains of eastern Colorado, with few enough residents that neighbors tend to know one another. Homes here cost less than many people would expect to pay elsewhere in Colorado. Winters are cold, with December the coldest month and highs staying above freezing only on the milder days, while July brings hot afternoons.
Work. Residents work mostly in schools, hospitals and social care, with others in professional and business services, the building trades and shops. Across Elbert County, the largest workplaces include the Elizabeth School District, Walmart and Safeway. The county has added jobs over the past year, though unemployment has risen a little compared with a year earlier.
Things to do. The Calhan Paint Mines Archeological District is an archaeological site a longer drive away. It is the one nearby place worth naming, and it suits a day trip for anyone who enjoys open country and the long history of the plains.
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What people in Elbert County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Elbert County had 5,138 jobs in 2025, 5.1% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 42° and lows near 15°; warmest in July, with highs near 86° and lows near 56°.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Matheson Southeast weather station, 13 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Elbert County
- Elizabeth School DistrictSchool district362FTE
- WalmartWarehouse clubs and supercenters194
- SafewaySupermarkets and other grocery stores90
- Big Sandy School District No. 100JSchool district62FTE
- Twin Rivers DeliveryCourier services57
- School District No. C-2 in the county of Elbert and State ofSchool district53FTE
- ViaflexTank lining contractors52
- Elbert School District No. 200School district50FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 8 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 529 people in all across the county; Simla has none 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
- HailVery high
- WildfireRelatively high
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- DroughtRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Simla’s census tracts, against the rest of the country; all of them together, relatively moderate. 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 Elbert County and the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO metro.
Simla home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Simla$345,641
- 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.
- Simla6
Zip codes with a Simla address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Simla — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.