Living in Colorado Springs, Pikes Peak & Pueblo

Colorado Springs anchors this region's genuinely large, multi-installation military economy (the Air Force Academy, Peterson and Schriever Space Force Bases, Fort Carson) alongside a real, currently-reviving "Silicon Mountain" semiconductor sector -- both layered onto a distinctly more conservative political character than the Denver metro (El Paso County runs roughly 18 points more Republican than Colorado overall). South of the city, Pueblo carries a genuinely separate industrial identity built on a still-operating steel plant (EVRAZ Rocky Mountain Steel, successor to the historic Colorado Fuel & Iron Company) and a substantial Hispanic-heritage cultural identity rooted in that same mill's immigrant labor history -- and Pueblo runs meaningfully cheaper than every other city in this region, ranked the most affordable of 11 tracked Colorado cities in one comparison. Fountain offers the closest off-post proximity to Fort Carson's main gate at a genuinely working-class price point, Cañon City pairs real Royal Gorge/Arkansas River outdoor recreation with an unusual concentration of state correctional-facility employment, and Manitou Springs -- just six miles from downtown Colorado Springs -- gives the region its most walkable, historic, Pikes Peak-gateway resort-town character.

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Last reviewed: 2026-08-26. Independent research; see individual place pages for metric-level source attribution. This is not financial, tax, or legal advice -- confirm current figures with a local professional before making a decision.