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Black Forest.

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15,738people live here $145,460median household income▲ 80% above US $856,200median home value▲ 157% above US

Black Forest is an unincorporated community in El Paso County, CO. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in Black Forest

Black Forest is an unincorporated community in Colorado with household incomes running above the national average, a highly educated workforce, and schools with class sizes near the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. Black Forest deals with home prices well above the national average, commute times longer than most cities, cold winters, and heavy snowfall.

The good

Higher-than-average incomes
Highly educated workforce
Average class sizes

The not so good

High home prices
Above-average commute times
Cold winters
Heavy snowfall — 102" per year

How Black Forest compares

Median household income

Black Forest$145,460

Colorado avg$95,470

US$80,734

Median home value

Black Forest$856,200

Colorado avg$539,400

US$332,700

What it takes to move to Black Forest

Based on Black Forest's median rent, home value and household income

To buy

$171,240

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $85,620
Homes cost 5.9× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Job market

4.1% county unemployment

Unemployment in El Paso County is 4.1%, close to the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

El Paso County (county-wide)

Safety

320 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

Black Forest doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the El Paso County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs close to the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 969/100k · Policed by El Paso County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting around▲ 16% above US

30 min average commute

Traffic is a real factor here. The 30.1 minute average means plenty of commuters are pushing 45 to 60 minutes on a bad day. Proximity to work matters more here than it might elsewhere. 7 in 10 workers drive to work; 29% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

65%

Work from home

29%

Carpool

5.7%

Walk

0.7%

Other

0.3%

Climate

Summers are warm, with highs around 83°F, and winters are cold and harsh, with lows dropping to 19°F. It's a dry climate with limited rainfall.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▲ 57% above US

57% bachelor's degree or higher

This is a highly educated city, with over half the adult population holding a college degree. That tends to shape the job market and the broader culture, and it's a solid indicator of a strong professional scene.

Schools

3 public schools inside the boundary

There are 3 public schools inside the boundary and 1 private school. The student-to-teacher ratio is 16:1, close to the national average of 16:1. Smaller class sizes are generally a positive sign for a district.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument (32 miles away). There are 3 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

Black Forest's strongest points are household incomes running above the national average and a highly educated workforce; the main tradeoffs are home prices well above the national average and commute times longer than most cities. It tends to suit remote workers (29% of workers here already work from home) and college-educated professionals.

See all the data for Black Forest →·All Colorado cities →