Colorado small town named one of the 10 happiest in America

Samantha Jarpe
·1 min read
85

DENVER (KDVR) — While happiness can be subjective, a small town surrounded by gorgeous Colorado scenery might not be a bad place to look for it.

This might be why Silverton, Colorado, was recently featured on a list of happiest small towns in America by adventure website The Travel.

The tragic history and closure of the Sloan’s Lake amusement park in 1914

The website only looked at towns with populations of under 8,000 people and used poverty, crime and unemployment rate statistics to come up with the list.

A small town in Colorado’s neighbor to the south, New Mexico, claimed the top spot overall:

  1. White Rock, New Mexico

  2. Sugarcreek, Ohio

  3. Tybee Island, Georgia

  4. New Harmony, Indiana

  5. Eureka Springs, Arkansas

  6. Makanda, Illinois

  7. Caribou, Maine

  8. Apalachicola, Florida

  9. Silverton, Colorado

  10. Bisbee, Arizona

Silverton is indeed a small town, with an estimated population of only 622 in 2022. This was the second-lowest population among the top 10.

Unsurprisingly, given its location in the San Juan Mountains, it’s nestled at 9,318 feet in elevation, which is almost twice that of Denver.

According to The Travel, Silverton has a poverty rate of 19.2%, as well as an unemployment rate of 5.2%, a crime rate of 17.1% and a cost of living index of 93.2.

Denver metro has some of the worst grocery stores in the US: Report

This means that the town is slightly less expensive to live in than the average American town. For context, in late 2023, the cost of living index score for Denver was 110.2.

The old mining town features a lot of historic architecture, due in part to its status as a National Historic Landmark.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX31 Denver.