Living in Manitou Springs, CO
El Paso County
Manitou Springs is a small (roughly 4,500-4,900-resident, genuinely declining), historic Victorian-era resort-and-arts town in El Paso County -- and, critically, it is NOT an isolated mountain town. It sits six miles west of downtown Colorado Springs via US-24, a real 10-15 minute drive, and many residents commute into Colorado Springs for work; this direct commuter relationship is a defining, honestly-disclosed fact distinct from Buena Vista's and Georgetown's genuine mountain-town remoteness elsewhere in this Colorado batch. Manitou Springs was built from the 1870s onward around mineral springs the Ute people had long used, developed into a wellness-tourism resort town, and reinvented itself as an artist's colony beginning in the 1970s after a period of economic decline -- it now draws a real, sourced 750,000+ visitors per year as the gateway to Pikes Peak, home to both the Pikes Peak Cog Railway and the historic Manitou Incline. Unlike Buena Vista's genuine growth, Manitou Springs' population is honestly declining -- World Population Review cites -7.67% since the 2020 Census, down from a peak of 5,399 residents in 2019 to a current estimate in the 4,500-4,900 range depending on source. Cost of living and housing both run meaningfully above the national average (BestPlaces cost-of-living index 110.3; Zillow typical home value $548,503, though Redfin's most recent median sale price ran considerably higher at $736,000 in a low-volume, price-volatile market), while property tax is a real positive (0.43% effective rate, well below the national median). Manitou Springs' defining hazard story is also genuinely distinct from Buena Vista's or Georgetown's: the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire did not burn the town directly, but its 18,000-acre burn scar created a real, well-documented, ongoing post-fire flood and debris-flow risk specific to Manitou Springs, compounded by the town's own steep-canyon terrain and multiple drainage basins -- a structural flood vulnerability the town continues to actively manage rather than a one-time historical footnote.
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Learn moreHousing
Taxes
Not independently sourced at the El Paso County level this session. Colorado's top state income tax rate is 4.40%. See the Colorado hub page for the statewide property tax context -- do not treat that figure as Manitou Springs-specific.
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Get local guidanceThe tradeoffs
Pros
A real, direct, sourced commuter relationship to Colorado Springs (6 miles, 10-15 minutes to downtown) that most genuine mountain towns in this dataset don't offer -- Manitou Springs residents can access a much larger metro's job market without living inside it; a genuine, distinctive historic Victorian-era arts-and-tourism identity built around real mineral springs and Pikes Peak gateway status (750,000+ annual visitors); a walkable historic downtown core; and a clearly favorable property tax rate (0.43% effective, well below the national median).
Cons
A genuinely, disclosedly declining population (-7.67% since the 2020 Census, down from a 2019 peak) -- a real contrast with Buena Vista's growth elsewhere in this Colorado batch, worth understanding rather than assuming every small Colorado mountain town is in growth mode; cost of living and housing both run meaningfully above the national average (BestPlaces index 110.3), with home-price figures disagreeing significantly by source in a real, low-volume, price-volatile market; a genuinely high combined sales tax (9.03%, driven by Manitou Springs' own municipal rate); and a real, ongoing, structural post-Waldo-Canyon-Fire flood and debris-flow risk specific to the town's steep-canyon terrain, distinct from -- and arguably more persistent than -- a typical wildfire-risk disclosure.
Who this fits
Best for: Best fits movers who want genuine small-town, walkable, historic-arts-town character with real, short-drive access to a much larger metro's job market and amenities (Colorado Springs, 6 miles away) -- a fundamentally different tradeoff than Buena Vista's or Georgetown's more remote mountain-town settings elsewhere in this Colorado batch.
Maybe not for you if: Movers specifically seeking a genuinely growing small Colorado mountain town should note Manitou Springs' real, disclosed population decline and look to Buena Vista instead within this batch. Anyone highly risk-averse to flood/debris-flow exposure should take Manitou Springs' real, ongoing, structurally-driven post-Waldo-Canyon-Fire flood risk seriously, particularly for property near the town's steep-canyon drainage basins. Buyers seeking the lowest possible cost of living should note Manitou Springs' above-national cost-of-living index and genuinely high 9.03% combined sales tax.
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