Poll: Nearly 90 Percent of Coloradans Consider Cost of Living a "Very Serious Problem"

What's keeping Coloradans awake at night? Survey says that it's most likely the cost of living and health care or the government and political divide, according to the 2025 Pulse poll by the Colorado Health Foundation.

The CHF created the Pulse Pull in 2020 to cover "a range of important health issues this year and every year" and  "to inform policy far into the future." This year, the organization interviewed more than 2,300 Coloradans between April and May by phone and online. It oversampled people who identified as Black, Native American and Asian or Pacific Islander as well as people from Morgan County in northeast Colorado.

According to pollsters, around 25 percent of respondents said they were registered as Democrats, while 21 percent identified as Republicans and 46 percent were unaffiliated. From their thoughts on housing, crime and homelessness to their own personal economic situations, here are some trends from this year's Pulse poll that stood out the most.

One in Five Coloradans Have Lost Wages

In this year's poll, about 19 percent of respondents said they saw their work hours or wages were reduced during the past twelve months. However, that's down from 23 percent compared to the 2021 poll.

Lost wages and hours were reported higher among the lowest incomes. About 34 percent of respondents who reported losing wages or hours said they were making less than $30,000 a year, while only 13 percent of people making more than $150,000 a year reported losing wages or hours. Among those making $30,000 to $50,000 a year, about 23 percent said they lost wages or hours, while 25 percent of people making $50,000 to $75,000 said the same.

It was also more common for non-white groups to find themselves in this category. About a quarter of Hispanic, Asian and Native American respondents said their wages and hours were reduced, compared to 22 percent of Black respondents and 16 percent of white respondents.

The trend is similar to the nearly one-in-ten Coloradans who reported being laid off. Of people who said they'd been laid off within the past twelve months, 17 percent were making less than $30,000 a year, while only 7 percent of people making $150,000 a year said they'd been laid off. Among respondents making $30,000 to $50,000 a year, 9 percent said they were laid off, while 5 percent of those making $50,000 to $75,000 per year said they were laid off, and so did 6 percent of people making $100,000 to $150,000.

Cost of Living a "Very Serious Problem" in Colorado

For many Coloradans, especially those in Denver, rent and the cost of living have been a problem for years. In the Pulse Poll, about nine in ten Coloradans have marked the state's rising cost of living as "a very serious problem" every year since 2022.

This year was no different, with 89 percent of people saying the rising cost of living was either an extremely or very serious problem. However, the 2025 poll had the highest-ever rate of people rating the cost of living as an "extremely" or "very serious" problem, with only two percent saying it's not. This comes as around 55 percent of survey respondents reported making $100,000 or more per year.

Government, Politics Bigger Issues than Housing, Immigration

Although a record-high number of Colorado Pulse respondents were concerned about the cost of living in Colorado, it still didn't outrank the government and politics this year. In previous years, the cost of living, inflation and housing affordability were the top issues, and government and politics was always the number-one issue for less than 20 percent of respondents. In 2024, only 11 percent circled government and politics as their biggest issue.

This year, 32 percent of respondents said their top concern was government and politics, up by 21 points from last year and driven by worries about President Donald Trump. Last year, it was the number-one issue for only 11 percent in the poll. The highest that rate had ever been was 19 percent in 2020, when the poll was done amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Of that 32 percent, 19 percent said they were worried about Trump's administration and 9 percent said it was Governor Jared Polis scaring them. The other 4 percent said they were worried about political divisions, not any single politician, and "other aspects of the political process," according to CHF.

Coloradans View Volunteering as Best Way to Make Change

A wave of activism has sprung up in Denver since Trump returned to office in January, with protests bringing in hundreds to thousands of attendees every month since.

Coloradans who took this year's Pulse Poll said that speaking up isn't as important as lending a hand. According to 37 percent of respondents and 56 percent of Black respondents, volunteering with organizations that support relevant causes was seen as "a very effective" way to impact a community.

The poll suggested a list of ways people can make a difference in their community: volunteering, reaching out to elected officials, speaking at public meetings and publicly expressing your support for social causes, among others. It then asked them to rate each of those actions as very ineffective, effective or very effective.

Volunteering had the highest rate of being selected as very effective, especially among urban Democrats. Almost every racial group identified in the poll marked it as "very effective" more often than the other choices. Asians and Pacific Islanders were the exception, as 38 percent of them in the poll said publicly expressing your support was very effective, making it the top choice for that group.

By far, the least popular idea was "publicly expressing your support for social causes on social media." About 56 percent of the total respondents rated that as very ineffective.

Neighborhood Crime Isn't a Huge Concern

Trump recently used crime rates to justify deploying the National Guard in Washington, D.C., but when the Pulse Poll asked people to rate how concerned they were with crime in their neighborhoods, nearly half said it's not a serious problem.

The poll gave them a list of ten problems that "some people suggest are problems facing Colorado." It included illegal immigration, gun violence, reproductive rights, drug and alcohol abuse, hunger and "crime in your neighborhood," among others. The poll then asked them to rate each issue as extremely, very, somewhat or not too serious of a problem, with an "I don't know" option as well.

About 49 percent of respondents said crime in their neighborhoods was not too serious of a problem, and 1 percent said they don't know. However, 11 percent said it's an extremely serious problem, and 25 percent said it's a somewhat serious problem.

Drug and alcohol abuse concerned people the most out of the listed issues, with 52 percent saying it was an extremely or very serious problem and 12 percent saying it's not too serious of a problem. Gun violence was seen as either an extremely or very serious problem by 41 percent of respondents.