Highlands Ranch, Colorado
Moving to Highlands Ranch
What it costs, who actually runs an unincorporated community, where people live, how the four DCSD feeders work, and what to do on your first weekend. Every number checked at the source.
By Connor Tien, DougCo Social · Updated September 2026 · Photo: HRCA
← All Douglas County towns, compared
Highlands Ranch is the biggest community in Douglas County and it is not a city, which confuses almost everyone who moves here. Four rec centers, an 8,200-acre wilderness area with elk in it, 26 parks, 70-plus miles of trails, a stone mansion from 1891 and a Town Center with a clock tower, all run by a handful of organizations that fit together like puzzle pieces (the Metro District's words, not mine). The five guides under this page are the long version: the cost of living from the Census, the schools from the district, the services from whoever provides them, and the fun stuff from the people who run it. If a fact has a number, its source is listed at the bottom.
The Highlands Ranch Guides
Start with the moving guide, then go where your questions are.
Photo: HRCA
Moving to Highlands Ranch
Cost of living from the Census, who actually runs an unincorporated community (the Metro District, HRCA, Douglas County), your water, power, gas and trash providers, the C-470 commute and a year at about 5,900 feet.
Read the moving guide →Photo: HRCA
Highlands Ranch Neighborhoods
Northridge, Eastridge, Westridge and Southridge, BackCountry, the golf club, Town Center and the 55-plus communities: what HRCA covers everywhere, which sub-associations add their own dues, and where the schools and rec centers sit.
Photo: HRCA
Highlands Ranch Schools
The four DCSD high schools (Highlands Ranch, Mountain Vista, Rock Canyon, ThunderRidge), the three schools consolidating in fall 2026, the four charters in town, and how assignment and open enrollment work.
Photo: HRCA
Things to Do in Highlands Ranch
The four rec centers, the 8,200-acre Backcountry, the Mansion and its growing Historic Park, 26 parks and 70 miles of trails, Town Center, where to eat, and the events that come back every year.
Photo: HRCA
New Resident Checklist
Driver license in 30 days, plates in 90, emissions, voter registration, DougCoAlert, water that transfers with the title, your HRCA card, trash, the library and the local stuff, in order.
Highlands Ranch at a Glance
The numbers, each with its year and its source.
Local tip: If a listing site quotes a 2025 population for Highlands Ranch, ask where it came from. The Census Bureau publishes yearly estimates for incorporated towns like Parker and Castle Rock, not for census-designated places. The two honest numbers are the 2020 count (103,444) and the Metro District's own 103,000.
Who Runs What
No city hall, so here is the org chart the Metro District publishes for new residents.
Local tip: The one question that trips up newcomers: HRCA is not a tax and it is not the Metro District. It is your HOA, and the assessment ($696 for 2026) is a separate bill from your property taxes. The moving guide walks through who sends which bill.
Why People Land Here
The short version of what the community was built around.
The recreation comes up first. HRCA runs four full recreation centers, and every homeowner is a member: Northridge (opened 1982, renovated and expanded to 62,600 square feet in 2018, with a covered tennis pavilion and an aqua climbing wall), Eastridge (1997, two indoor and two outdoor pools, a climbing wall), Westridge (2001, an indoor turf field and batting cages) and Southridge (2005, a lazy river, a pottery studio and the Wildcat Mountain Auditorium). Then there is the Backcountry Wilderness Area, 8,200 acres that Shea Homes conveyed to HRCA in 2006 and 2009, with more than 25 miles of natural-surface trails, an archery range, horse programs, summer camps and, as of this year, bison.
Then it is the parks and trails between the neighborhoods. The Metro District maintains 26 parks, four dog parks, 2,644 acres of open space and more than 70 miles of trail that link the neighborhoods to each other, and it says more than 4,700 homes back directly to open space. Douglas County adds Highland Heritage Regional Park with its amphitheater and turf fields, and the 71-mile High Line Canal Trail runs through.
And the history is real, not a marketing line. The stone house at the center of the community was started in 1891 by Samuel Allen Long, passed through John Springer, Waite Phillips, Frank Kistler and the Phipps family, and was a working ranch until 1976. Shea Homes gave the Mansion to the Metro District in 2010, the District spent 18 months restoring it and opened it to the public in June 2012, and on April 30, 2026 Shea conveyed another 197 acres of ranchland around it, so the Historic Park is growing to almost 250 acres. Add Douglas County schools, a hospital of its own (UCHealth Highlands Ranch, opened 2019), a Children's Hospital Colorado campus, and a Town Center with a farmers market on Sundays and an Oktoberfest in September, and you have the case.
Explore Highlands Ranch
The rest of the site, sorted for a newcomer.
Moving somewhere else in the county? We have guides for Castle Rock, Parker, Lone Tree and Castle Pines.
FAQ
No. The Highlands Ranch Metro District answers this one on its own site: Highlands Ranch is an unincorporated community of more than 103,000 residents in Douglas County. There is no mayor or city council. The Metro District (a special district with a seven-member elected board) builds and maintains parks, trails, open space, major-road landscaping and storm drainage and runs the Mansion and the Senior Center; Douglas County handles law enforcement through the Sheriff, streets, planning, elections and motor vehicles; the Highlands Ranch Community Association is the homeowners association with the four rec centers and the Backcountry; Highlands Ranch Water delivers water and sewer; South Metro Fire Rescue covers fire.
The 2020 Census counted 103,444 people in the Highlands Ranch census-designated place, up from 96,713 in 2010, on 24.27 square miles. The Metro District uses 103,000 and describes the community as 22,000 acres, founded in 1981 and 12 miles south of Denver. Because it is not a city, the Census Bureau does not publish a yearly population estimate for it the way it does for Parker or Castle Rock.
Per the American Community Survey (2020-2024), the median value of an owner-occupied home in Highlands Ranch is $712,700, median monthly owner costs are $2,823 with a mortgage and $810 without, and median gross rent is $2,531. Median household income over the same period is $159,307 in 2024 dollars. On top of the mortgage, every home pays HRCA assessments ($696 for 2026, billed quarterly) and some neighborhoods add a sub-association fee.
HRCA says the recreation portion ($158 a quarter in 2026) is membership to all four recreation centers (Northridge, Southridge, Eastridge and Westridge) and the operation of the 8,200-acre Backcountry Wilderness Area, and the administrative portion ($16 a quarter) covers architectural control, covenant enforcement, billing and community events. Membership is automatic when you buy in Highlands Ranch; the title company sends your paperwork to HRCA, and you pick up an $8 membership card at any rec center.
Douglas County School District. Every address has an assigned neighborhood school, and families can apply to any other DCSD school through open enrollment. The district groups Highlands Ranch into an East region (the Highlands Ranch High School and Rock Canyon feeders) and a West region (the Mountain Vista and ThunderRidge feeders), and four DCSD charter schools have Highlands Ranch addresses.
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Sources
Every figure on this page was read at the source on September 29, 2026. Population and housing numbers are the Census Bureau's; who-does-what, the history and the park counts are the Metro District's; the rec centers, the Backcountry and the assessments are HRCA's; school groupings are the district's. Photos are HRCA's, used with credit.
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, Highlands Ranch CDP (2020 and 2010 counts; ACS 2020-2024): census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/highlandsranchcdpcolorado/PST045224
- Highlands Ranch Metro District, About the Metro District: highlandsranch.org/government/about-highlands-ranch
- Highlands Ranch Metro District, How Highlands Ranch Operates: highlandsranch.org/government/about-highlands-ranch/how-highlands-ranch-operates
- Highlands Ranch Metro District, History: highlandsranch.org/government/about-highlands-ranch/history
- Highlands Ranch Metro District, Historic Park planning (April 30, 2026 conveyance): highlandsranch.org/news-events/project-updates/historic-park
- Highlands Ranch Metro District, New Resident Welcome: highlandsranch.org/resources/new-resident-welcome
- HRCA, About HRCA: hrcaonline.org/About
- HRCA, About Highlands Ranch (four neighborhoods, Backcountry, history): hrcaonline.org/About/Highlands-Ranch
- HRCA, Highlands Ranch History timeline: hrcaonline.org/About/History
- HRCA, Assessments (2026 rates): hrcaonline.org/property-owners/assessments/pay-assessments/pay-online
- HRCA, Residential Property Owner Information (membership card, sub-associations): hrcaonline.org/Property-Owners/Residential
- Highlands Ranch Water (formerly Centennial Water and Sanitation District): highlandsranchwater.org/about-us
- Douglas County School District, Departments (East and West Highlands Ranch regions): dcsdk12.org/about/departments
- Douglas County School District, Charter Schools: dcsdk12.org/schools-academics/schools/charter-schools
- South Metro Fire Rescue, About Us: southmetro.org/about-us
- Douglas County Sheriff's Office: dcsheriff.net/
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