Review of Thornton, Colorado


Plenty of Housing
Star Rating - 8/29/2020
I like Denver metro, but some cities aren’t too great. Thornton being one of them. Moved here because of highway access, and convenience to DIA for business travel. Am anxious to move out of this suburb! The only thing holding me back is my house, which I love. Thank goodness we have convenient enough access to shopping, restaurants, recreation, and entertainment in surrounding cities and areas. Thornton is just housing, lacking in the above, unless you go way north. Even then Thornton’s offerings are few and not impressive at all.
Property tax is outrageous for this city that offers very little. What are they doing with our tax dollars? City planning and zoning is terrible. They just keep building more housing. It’s the 6th largest city in CO and doesn’t even have a movie theater. Just about everything south of Thornton Pkwy looks dirty, is run down, outdated, and not well maintained, including the old shopping center which is a vacant, hazardous dump the city won’t do anything about. They’d like to turn it into apartments and more housing. How about a city center with some nice stores, good restaurants, and movie theater, which would improve the immediate area, Thornton as a whole, and increase the value of those homes? The sales tax is higher than many nicer surrounding cities too.
The crime rate is high and just saw a stat that Thornton is only safer than 10% of US cities. According to the US Census Bureau, less than 29% of population have a Bachelors degree or higher.
On the upside, Thornton has the great climate of Colorado. Because it’s more east, we tend to get less rain, hail, and snow.
Alli | Thornton, CO
Reply to this Comment

2 Replies


Thank you Alli. My wife, 3 year old and I just moved here. Hopefully we can see some changes to your concerns soon, as they are now my concerns as well. ;-)
James | Ukiah, CA | Report Abuse

I hope you moved to somewhere more suitable for you. I stay for the friendly neighbors and the good schools. I love the nearness to the highway and monorail. I do agree that the City of Thornton needs to do better without gentrification. They have let things get run down while focusing on the newer areas of the city. I have been here 26 years and have had no issues with crime. I grew up in West Denver and Thornton is much more tame with much smaller schools. As for the Bachelors degree or any degree, it doesn't equal intelligence and not everyone participates in the Census.
Tania | Thornton, CO | Report Abuse
MORE REVIEWS OF THORNTON, COLORADO
- 1/13/2022
Whiny boomers in the reviews
Good place. Very suburbany (similar to the Springs). The houses are very small and old and...
D | Thornton, CO | No Replies

- 4/3/2015
Population is exploding
The quality of life here in not good. The traffic is bad all the time. To try to get to th...
Karen | Denver, CO | 1 Reply

- 9/4/2009
The Pros and Cons of Thornton, CO
I've lived in Thornton for the last 2.5 yrs and I have to say its a great, well located to...
dogmom | Denver, CO | No Replies

- 6/29/2006
Californian's GO HOME
If you are from California and are looking for a place to re-locate Colorado is not for yo...
Jonas | Katy, TX | No Replies