🇺🇸 North America

FIRE Number for Denver, United States

Name: Denver, United States
Address: Denver, United States

United States

Mile-High Mountain Living, Craft Beer Culture, and 300 Days of Sunshine

FIRE Score Based on safety, healthcare, infrastructure & expat friendliness

Denver sits at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, offering FIRE retirees an unmatched combination of outdoor adventure, urban culture, and over 300 days of sunshine per year. The city has evolved far beyond its frontier roots into a sophisticated metro with a thriving craft beer scene, excellent farm-to-table dining, and world-class skiing just 90 minutes away. Housing costs have climbed significantly in recent years but remain well below coastal cities, and Colorado's flat state income tax keeps the overall tax burden moderate. For anyone who values hiking, biking, skiing, and an active lifestyle, Denver is hard to beat.

Lean FIRE, FIRE, and Fat FIRE for Denver

Needed to retire here is the portfolio that, in a historical backtest, would have lasted your retirement at your chosen confidence and length. Status is the verdict for your portfolio. The 4% rule benchmark is shown underneath each figure for reference only.

Use my own healthcare cost

Lifestyle	Needed to retire here	Monthly Cost
Lean FIRE	$1.29M	$4,300/mo
FIRE	$2.16M	$7,200/mo
Fat FIRE	$5.61M	$18,700/mo

Cost data: Q1 2026 · High confidence

Cost of Living Breakdown for Denver

All cost and FIRE figures assume a single adult.

Lean FIRE Lifestyle

$1.29M

A modest apartment in an outer neighborhood like Montbello or Aurora. You need a car, and housing plus transportation take up more than half the budget. The upside is that Denver's best asset -- hundreds of free hiking trails in the Front Range foothills -- costs nothing. Brewery taprooms offer affordable socializing, and the 300 days of sunshine help. Ski days are a stretch at this budget, but hiking and biking season runs most of the year.

FIRE Lifestyle

$2.16M

A three-bedroom house in Wash Park or the Highlands, or a modern condo in LoDo. You dine regularly at the city's best restaurants, hold an Ikon Pass for skiing at Vail and Copper Mountain, and keep Broncos season tickets. A late-model SUV handles mountain trips year-round. At $10,000 a month, Denver is genuinely affluent -- the city's moderate cost of living compared to the coasts means this budget stretches well.

Fat FIRE Lifestyle

$5.61M

A large estate in Cherry Hills Village with mountain views. You have a full-time housekeeper, a cook who comes in several times a week, and a personal assistant. You dine wherever you want, travel first class, and hold a private box at Empower Field. A second home in Aspen or Vail is feasible at this budget. You support Denver's arts and hospital institutions as a major donor. The combination of city amenities and immediate Rocky Mountain access defines the lifestyle.

Retirement Confidence

The 4% rule is a great starting point. Here we go a step further and test your plan against real market history.

Enter your portfolio on the homepage to backtest a retirement in Denver against market history.

How this is calculated

This is a real historical backtest. We run your plan through every retirement-length window in US market history (1871–2022): a 75% stock / 25% bond portfolio, rebalanced annually, with withdrawals raised each year for that period's actual inflation. The success rate is the share of those historical start years in which the money lasted the full length without running out.

Your confidence level sets the bar: at Balanced (90%), a survival rate of 90% or more reads "You can retire here", within 10 points below is "Close — worth a closer look", and lower is "Not quite yet". The same level sizes the "Needed to retire here" target. Retirement length also drives it — early retirees planning 40–50+ years see lower survival than the 30-year baseline.

Healthcare, Visa & City Overview

climate Mild

healthcare Excellent

english Widely spoken

safety Exercise caution

visa Easy

Timezone

MST (UTC-7)

Currency

USD

Language

English

Avg. Temperature

51°F / 11°C

Internet

200+ Mbps average

Airport

Denver International Airport (DEN)

Frequently Asked Questions About Retiring in Denver

What is the FIRE Number for Denver, United States?

The FIRE Number for Denver ranges from $1.29M (Lean FIRE lifestyle) to $5.61M (Fat FIRE lifestyle). A FIRE retirement requires a portfolio of approximately $2.16M, based on estimated monthly costs of $7,200 and a 4% safe withdrawal rate.

How much does it cost to retire in Denver?

Monthly living costs in Denver range from $4,300 (Lean FIRE) to $7,200 (FIRE), covering housing, dining, groceries, healthcare, transportation, entertainment, and utilities.

What is healthcare like in Denver for retirees?

Healthcare in Denver costs approximately $700 to $750/month depending on coverage level. Connect for Health Colorado Silver plan; Colorado premiums are moderate.

What is the weather like in Denver?

Continental semi-arid with cold, dry winters and warm summers The average temperature is 51°F / 11°C.

How safe is Denver for retirees?

Moderate – typical for a mid-size US city, improving in many neighborhoods