Empire vs Idaho Springs

A side-by-side comparison of Empire and Idaho Springs: population, income, housing, and more.

Empire and Idaho Springs are places in Colorado. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Idaho Springs has the higher population (1,968 vs 549 in Empire). Idaho Springs has the higher median household income ($85,450 vs $63,092 in Empire). Idaho Springs has the higher median home value ($434,900 vs $297,600 in Empire).

Population, income & housing

	Empire	Idaho Springs
Population	549	1,968
Median age	44.5 yrs	39.8 yrs
Median household income	$63,092	$85,450
Median home value	$297,600	$434,900
Median gross rent	$1,566	$1,175
Housing units	327	832
Homeownership rate	59.0%	68.9%
Bachelor's degree or higher	18.4%	50.0%
Unemployment rate	4.4%	3.1%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Empire	Idaho Springs
Population	303 → 549 (+81.2%)	1,858 → 1,968 (+5.9%)
Median household income	$46,250 → $63,092 (+36.4%)	$43,886 → $85,450 (+94.7%)
Median home value	$223,400 → $297,600 (+33.2%)	$250,500 → $434,900 (+73.6%)
Median gross rent	$667 → $1,566 (+134.8%)	$948 → $1,175 (+23.9%)

Empire

Population

303549

Median household income

$46,250$63,092

Median home value

$223,400$297,600

Median gross rent

$667$1,566

Idaho Springs

Population

1,8581,968

Median household income

$43,886$85,450

Median home value

$250,500$434,900

Median gross rent

$948$1,175

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Empire	Idaho Springs
Under 5	0.4%	3.5%
5 to 17	14.0%	13.3%
18 to 24	3.6%	12.8%
25 to 34	15.5%	15.5%
35 to 44	22.4%	9.8%
45 to 54	11.7%	14.7%
55 to 64	15.5%	13.0%
65 to 74	14.8%	10.0%
75 and over	2.2%	7.6%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Empire	Idaho Springs
White (non-Hispanic)	88.3%	77.1%
Black or African American	0.5%	2.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.2%
Asian	0.4%	0.0%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.0%	0.0%
Some other race	0.0%	1.5%
Two or more races	7.3%	3.7%
Hispanic or Latino	3.1%	15.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Empire	Idaho Springs
No high school diploma	18.2%	7.9%
High school graduate	28.7%	18.0%
Some college or associate's	34.7%	24.1%
Bachelor's degree	14.0%	29.0%
Graduate or professional degree	4.4%	21.0%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Empire	Idaho Springs
Drove alone	64.3%	45.4%
Carpooled	7.2%	11.3%
Public transit	6.9%	0.0%
Walked	20.4%	21.5%
Bicycle	0.0%	0.0%
Worked from home	1.3%	21.8%
Other means	0.0%	0.0%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Empire	Idaho Springs
1-unit, detached	55.4%	64.1%
1-unit, attached	1.5%	3.4%
2 to 4 units	23.9%	5.3%
5 to 19 units	0.0%	15.5%
20 or more units	0.0%	3.5%
Mobile home & other	19.3%	8.3%

Poverty & households

	Empire	Idaho Springs
Poverty rate	12.9%	11.1%
Average household size	1.80	2.57
Mean commute (minutes)	21	23
Median year structure built	1972	1938