Is Denver Still One of the Most Popular Cities to Move To?
Is Denver Still One of the Most Popular Cities to Move To? A Look at the 2025 Trend
For years, Denver ranked among the hottest destinations in the country for newcomers — a city synonymous with growth, opportunity, and a lifestyle unlike anywhere else. But as we move through 2025, many people are asking the same question: Is Denver still one of the top cities people are moving to? The answer is… sort of.
The Denver metro area remains a major magnet for newcomers, but it no longer dominates national migration lists the way it once did. Whether Denver qualifies as “one of the most moved-to cities” depends on how you define “most.” The full picture is a bit more nuanced.
Between 2020 and 2024, Metro Denver added roughly 82,000 new residents, a growth rate of about 2.8%. Much of this increase came not just from people moving in from other U.S. states, but from international migration and natural population growth — births outpacing deaths.
Even with slowed momentum, Denver remains one of the West’s most dynamic metros. Its outdoor lifestyle, strong job market, cultural amenities, and natural beauty continue to attract individuals and families seeking both opportunity and quality of life. From the tech workforce to young professionals to retirees, Denver still holds broad appeal. While Denver is still growing, it’s growing more slowly than in its peak years.
A recent analysis found that people today are nearly 50% less likely to move to Denver compared to the period between 2019 and 2025. Additionally, net migration into the metro has shifted significantly:
In 2015, Denver saw around 44,000 new residents move into the area.
In recent years, that number has fallen to about 13,000 — a nearly 70% decline in domestic migration.
This cooling trend mirrors shifts happening in many higher-cost metros, while lower-cost Sun Belt cities (in Texas, Florida, the Carolinas, and parts of the Mountain West) are seeing much faster growth. Compared to these rapidly expanding areas, Denver’s inbound migration is now considered modest.
Denver is still very much a growing metro — just not a top-growth one. It remains an attractive, stable destination for newcomers, supported by strong economic fundamentals and a lifestyle that consistently ranks high on national quality-of-life lists.
But today’s movers are spreading out more widely across the country, and cities with lower housing costs or warmer climates are absorbing more of the migration boom.
In other words: Denver is no longer the "boom town" it once was — but it continues to be a steady, desirable, and sought-after place to call home.
