Cost of Living & Housing in Manitou Springs
Manitou Springs runs meaningfully above the national average on cost of living and housing -- a real, current fact for this historic tourist-and-arts town directly adjacent to Colorado Springs -- while carrying a favorable property tax rate and a genuinely high combined sales tax.
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Learn moreCost of living runs above both the national and Colorado averages
BestPlaces cites a cost-of-living index of 110.3 for Manitou Springs -- 10.3% above the national average and 8.5% above Colorado's own statewide average (base record), consistent with a small, tourism-driven town sitting directly adjacent to a larger metro.
A genuinely wide home-price spread in a low-volume market
Zillow's typical home value is $548,503; Redfin's most recent median sale price ran considerably higher at $736,000 (up 12.3% year over year); Movoto cited a $724,999 median sold price in April 2026 but a lower $599,000 median list price by August 2026 (base record). Redfin itself flags this as a low-volume, price-volatile market -- pull current listings for a specific property search rather than relying on any single citywide median.
Property tax is a real positive, sales tax is genuinely high
Manitou Springs' effective property tax rate is cited at 0.43%, well below the national median, with a median annual bill of $1,841 (base record). Combined sales tax, by contrast, runs a genuinely high 9.03% -- 2.90% state + 1.23% El Paso County + 3.90% City of Manitou Springs + 1.00% special district -- notably higher than Buena Vista's 8.15% elsewhere in this Colorado batch, driven by Manitou Springs' own high municipal rate.
Colorado's flat 4.40% state income tax applies here, with no local add-on
Colorado taxes individual income at a flat 4.40% rate (subject to a TABOR-driven mechanism that can temporarily lower it in state revenue-surplus years -- see colorado.js for the full mechanism). Manitou Springs and El Paso County levy no separate local income tax on top of the state rate.
Key takeaways
- Manitou Springs' cost of living runs above both the national average and Colorado's own statewide average (BestPlaces index 110.3).
- Home-price figures vary widely by source and month ($548,503-$736,000+ depending on aggregator) in a genuinely low-volume market -- verify current listings directly rather than relying on a single median.
- Manitou Springs' effective property tax rate (~0.43%) is a real positive, but its combined sales tax (9.03%) is genuinely high -- notably higher than Buena Vista's 8.15% elsewhere in this Colorado batch.
- Colorado's flat 4.40% state income tax applies with no Manitou Springs-specific local add-on.
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