Parker, Colorado
Moving to Parker
What it costs, where people live, how the three school feeders work, which water district you are in, and what to do on your first weekend. Every number checked at the source, with our own photos.
By Connor Tien, DougCo Social · Updated September 2026
← All Douglas County towns, compared
Parker has a real downtown on Mainstreet, a Sunday farmers market from May through October, the 500-seat PACE Center, an ice trail at Discovery Park in the winter and a reservoir with a staircase trail, and new restaurants keep opening along Mainstreet. The five guides under this page are the long version: the cost of living from the Census, the schools from the district, the utilities from the Town, and the fun stuff from actually going. If a fact has a number, its source is listed at the bottom.
The Parker Guides
Start with the moving guide, then go where your questions are.
Moving to Parker
Cost of living from the Census, the 8 percent sales tax, who your water, power, gas and trash providers are, the E-470 commute and what a year at 5,900 feet feels like.
Read the moving guide →Parker Neighborhoods
Downtown, Stonegate, The Pinery, Pradera, Canterberry Crossing, Stroh Ranch, Meridian Village, Cottonwood and more: who runs each one, which water district you are in, the pools and the schools.
Parker Schools
The three DCSD feeders (Chaparral, Legend, Ponderosa), how the district assigns a neighborhood school, how open enrollment works, and all nine charters in town with addresses.
Things to Do in Parker
Discovery Park and the ice trail, the Cherry Creek Trail, the Rueter-Hess Incline, the PACE Center, Mainstreet, where to eat, and the events that come back every year.
New Resident Checklist
Driver license in 30 days, plates in 90, emissions, voter registration, DougCoAlert, water, power, gas, trash, the library card and the local stuff, in order.
Parker at a Glance
The numbers, each with its year and its source.
Local tip: Two population numbers, both right. The Census estimate (65,985) is a July 2025 figure for the town as the Census draws it; the Town's 72,147 is its own count inside current boundaries on January 1, 2026. If a moving site quotes 65,473, that is an older vintage.
Why People Land Here
The short version of what I hear from readers who moved in the last few years.
Mainstreet comes up first. The Town calls it a Western-Victorian downtown, and it is a real one: the PACE Center (a 500-seat theater the Town opened in October 2011), Discovery Park next to the library with a play fountain all summer and an ice trail all winter, The Schoolhouse (the 1915 Parker Consolidated Schoolhouse, restored and reopened in 2018), the Sunday farmers market that closes the street from Mother's Day to Halloween, and a few blocks of restaurants and bars we keep writing about because they keep changing.
Then it is the trails and the water. The Cherry Creek Regional Trail runs more than eight paved miles through town from Norton Farms Open Space to Stroh Ranch Park, with an equestrian trail alongside, and the Town says it will eventually connect Cherry Creek State Park to Castlewood Canyon State Park. Rueter-Hess Reservoir, the 75,000 acre-foot reservoir Parker Water finished in 2012, now has paddle days, fishing and a 132-step incline run by Douglas County. And the schools: Douglas County School District, with an assigned neighborhood school for every address and open enrollment on top.
And the growth is real, which is a good thing if you are arriving. The Census counted 58,512 people in 2020 and estimates 65,985 in 2025, AdventHealth Parker broke ground on a seven-story tower in 2025, and in the last year we have covered a luxury movie theater, a butcher shop on Mainstreet, a cantina in the old Wild Goose and a park expansion with 17 pickleball courts. You are not moving to a town that is finished.
Explore Parker
The rest of the site, sorted for a newcomer.
Moving somewhere else in the county? We have guides for Castle Rock, Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree and Castle Pines.
FAQ
The Census Bureau estimated 65,985 people as of July 1, 2025 (Vintage 2025), up 13 percent from the April 2020 estimates base of 58,381; the 2020 Census counted 58,512. The Town of Parker's own count is about 72,147 people inside Town boundaries as of January 1, 2026, on 22.4 square miles.
Per the American Community Survey (2020-2024), the median owner-occupied home value in Parker is $646,300 and the median gross rent is $2,096 a month. Median household income over the same period is $133,369 in 2024 dollars. The combined sales tax rate is 8 percent for addresses inside the RTD boundary (Town 3, state 2.9, county 1, RTD 1, SCFD 0.1) and 7 percent outside it.
The Census reports a mean travel time to work of 26.1 minutes for Parker workers (ACS 2020-2024). The Town puts Parker 20 miles southeast of Denver. E-470 is the all-electronic toll road on the north side of town; Parker Road (State Highway 83) and Lincoln Avenue are the free routes to I-25. RTD Route 483 connects Parker to the Lincoln and Nine Mile light rail stations.
Douglas County School District (DCSD). Every address has an assigned neighborhood school, and families can also apply to any other DCSD school through open enrollment. The district groups Parker into three high school feeders, Chaparral, Legend and Ponderosa, and nine DCSD charter schools have Parker addresses.
Yes. The Town of Parker describes itself as known for its Western-Victorian downtown. Mainstreet holds the PACE Center (opened October 2011, a 500-seat theater), Discovery Park with its summer play fountain and winter ice trail, the Parker library, The Schoolhouse (the 1915 Parker Consolidated Schoolhouse) and the restaurants, coffee shops and bars we cover every week.
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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; the Town's own count, tax rates, history and providers are the Town of Parker's; park and trail details are Parker Parks and Recreation's; school groupings are the district's.
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, Parker town (population V2025; ACS 2020-2024): census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/parkertowncolorado/PST045224
- Town of Parker, About Parker: parkerco.gov/159/About-Parker
- Town of Parker, History: parkerco.gov/167/History
- Town of Parker, Sales and Use Tax Rates: parkerco.gov/1787/Sales-and-Use-Tax-Rates
- Town of Parker, Services Provided by Others (utility providers): parkerco.gov/142/Services-Provided-by-Others
- Town of Parker, Public Transportation: parkerco.gov/1244/Public-Transportation
- Parker Parks and Recreation, Discovery Park: parkerrec.com/1948/Discovery-Park
- Parker Parks and Recreation, Cherry Creek Regional Trail: parkerrec.com/315/Cherry-Creek-Regional-Trail
- Parker Arts, Our Story (PACE Center, The Schoolhouse, Discovery Park dates): parkerarts.org/our-story/
- Parker Water and Sanitation District, Rueter-Hess Reservoir: pwsd.org/2193/Rueter-Hess-Reservoir
- Douglas County School District, Parker Region schools: dcsdk12.org/parker
- Douglas County School District, Charter Schools: dcsdk12.org/schools-academics/schools/charter-schools
- AdventHealth Parker (opened 2004, tower groundbreaking 2025): adventhealth.com/locations/hospitals/parker
- E-470 Public Highway Authority: e470.com/
- Douglas County, Rueter-Hess Recreation: douglasco.gov/rueter-hess-recreation/
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