Watkins, Colorado.
Typical home $508,882 (-4.1% in a year). Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO metro.
to buy the typical home at today's mortgage rate — +$1,157 (+76%) since Jan 2020.
- 1 year
- Down $21,737 -4%
- $530,619$508,882 since Sep 2025
- 5 years
- Down $14,542 -3%
- $523,424$508,882 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.
- Watkins$2,671
- Colorado$2,777
- United States$1,922
At the last five years' pace, prices here aren't rising.
Typical home values in Watkins, CO fell 4.1% over the past year — slower than the nation's +1.2%.
Living in Watkins, Arapahoe County, Colorado
Watkins, in Arapahoe County, had 682 people in the 2020 census. Half its households earn more than $158,173 a year and half less, against $101,087 across Arapahoe County; 3% of its people live below the poverty line. Unemployment in Arapahoe County was 4.6% in August 2026, and the county had 0.3% more jobs in 2025 than the year before. The most people in Arapahoe 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 It can be wrong or out of date.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. Watkins is a very small community on the open plains east of Denver, home to fewer people than most towns of any size. Household incomes here run well above the county's, and poverty is uncommon. A typical home costs more than many buyers might expect for a place this quiet. Winters are cold, with December the coldest month, and summers are hot, with July the warmest. The year brings only a modest amount of rain and melted snow.
Work. Many residents work in schools, hospitals and social care, in professional and business services, in shops, or in banks, insurance and property. Across Arapahoe County, some of the largest workplaces are the Cherry Creek School District, the Aurora school district and MorningStar Senior Living. The typical commute is a long one, and only a small share of people work from home. Unemployment across the county is higher than it was a year ago, and the number of jobs there has grown only slightly.
Things to do. Most outings mean a longer drive into Denver. Among the best known stops are the Denver Art Museum, a museum, and the Denver Zoo, while the Denver Botanic Gardens, a botanical garden, offers a quieter day among the plantings. For a game, Empower Field at Mile High and Coors Field are both stadiums a longer drive away.
Report a mistake
- 3%below the poverty line
- 33 mintypical commute
- 6%work from home
What people in Arapahoe County work in
Employed residents by industry, from the Census survey. Arapahoe County had 340,945 jobs in 2025, 0.3% more than the year before (Bureau of Labor Statistics).
Weather through the year
Coldest in December, with highs near 44° and lows near 18°; warmest in July, with highs near 90° and lows near 60°. About 14 inches of rain and melted snow a year.
Average daily high and low, 1991–2020, at the Denver International Airport weather station, 10 miles away (NOAA).
Largest workplaces in Arapahoe County
- Cherry Creek School District No. 5 in the county of ArapahSchool district7,440FTE
- Aurora Joint District No. 28 of the counties of Adams and ASchool district5,408FTE
- MorningStar Senior LivingAssisted-living facilities with on-site nursing facilities2,800
- Western States Fire ProtectionFire sprinkler system installation2,400
- Raytheon_Aurora_CO2,032
- Littleton School District No. 6 in the county of ArapahoeSchool district1,809FTE
- Dish NetworkCentralized administrative offices1,785
- Swedish Medical CenterGeneral hospital1,584FTE
Staff on average in 2025, as each workplace reported it to OSHA with its injury records: 491 workplaces with 20 or more staff, 72,119 people in all across the county; Watkins has none of its own. School districts come from the Common Core of Data (NCES, 2023–24) and hospitals from their Medicare cost reports (CMS, 2023); 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
- Winter weatherRelatively high
- WildfireRelatively moderate
- TornadoesRelatively moderate
- LightningRelatively moderate
- Cold wavesRelatively moderate
FEMA’s National Risk Index (December 2025) rates the risk each natural hazard poses to the people, buildings and farms in Watkins’ 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 Arapahoe County and the Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO metro.
Watkins home values
Zillow measures a city over its municipal boundary. Against the state and national figures, mid-tier homes, smoothed and seasonally adjusted.
- Watkins$508,882
- Colorado$529,013
- United States$366,157
Sellers are cutting prices on about 1 in 3 Watkins listings — the market is roughly in balance.
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
Share of listings with a price cut
The early-warning dial: sellers cut when buyers stop reaching. Rising cuts cool a market months before prices notice.
- Watkins38.65%
- United States26.90%
Homes for sale
Active for-sale inventory. More supply hands power to buyers.
- Watkins28
New listings per month
Sellers arriving at the market.
- Watkins6
Zip codes with a Watkins address
A different geography, not a breakdown. The figure above covers the municipality; these zips cover everywhere the Post Office calls Watkins — often including townships beyond the city limits. Both come straight from Zillow, and they are not expected to average out.