About the Town of Parker Colorado
The Town of Parker Colorado is a suburb of Denver located in the South East corner of the Denver Metro area, approximately 20 miles southeast of the city of Denver.
Parker feels like a small town but with big city conveniences just a short drive away. Most residents will tell you it’s a safe, tight nit community that is an ideal setting to raise a family.
Downtown Parker
Main Street is the heart of Parker. Main Street is the Center of Parker’s downtown district, Old Town Parker. Old Town Parker is the gathering place for Parker residents to gather, relax and socialize. Along Main Street you find locally owned restaurants, bars, and shops. Fika coffee shop is the perfect place to grab a cup of joe and watch the main street traffic pass you by or get your dance on Saturday night at the Tailgate Tavern and Grill. Most of the restaurants on Main offer patio seating and it’s a great place to go on a warm summer night.
Every Sunday morning, vehicle traffic on Main is stopped and downtown is transformed into a wonderful farmer’s market where you can find the freshest Colorado produce.
One Friday per month between the months of May and October, be sure to attend a wine walk and sample wine from Parker area business.
At the corner of Parker Road and Main Street, you will find yourself at O’brien Park. O’Brien Park features a large playground, picnic tables, basketball courts and swimming pool, with water slides. The grassy park is dotted with large evergreen trees and an ideal place to find some shade and read a book. In the South East corner of the park you will find a beautiful white Victorian gazebo indicative of Parker’s small town charm, which serves as a backdrop for many Parker events.
O’Brien Park is the venue for many of Parker’s events. During the summer you can gather up the family and see a movie in the park or go to an art festivals, a concert or Parker’s largest annual community event, Parker Days. Parker Days is a festival held one weekend in June every summer. Parker Days offers families a weekend of fun and includes a parade, live music, carnival rides and games, competitions, car show, vendors and more!
Located on the East side of Old Town Parker you will find the Pace Center, Parker’s theater and event center. The Pace Center hosts numerous plays, concerts, comedic acts and receptions throughout the year.
Across Main from the Pace Center sits Parker’s new library.
Parker Luxury Homes for Sale
Parker Parks and Recreation
Parker Parks and Recreation offers seemingly limitless activities to Parker residents. Mostly notably they offer a robust youth sports program offering many organized sports including but not limited to basketball, baseball, football, hockey, gymnastics, lacrosse, volleyball, martial arts, and much more!
Adults have almost as many choices and besides the usual sports include some leagues you may not typically see, like dodge ball and kickball.
Parker Recreation offers two large facilities for fitness and fun: The Parker Recreation Center and the Field House.
The Parker Recreation Center offers a full gym with weights and cardio equipment, a cycling studio, a triple gymnasium and auxiliary gymnasium. Recently renovated the pool area at the rec center is really quite amazing. It offers an activity pool with zero-depth entry, lazy river, water slide, aquatic climbing wall and play structure. There is also a lap pool, therapy pool, diving board and dry sauna. It’s definitely a great place to get some exercise or just enjoy some time swimming with the family.
The Parker Fieldhouse is 100,000 square foot facility of sports and action packed entertainment where you will find a large gymnasium, a turf field, and inline rink, batting cages, a climbing wall, gym and cardio equipment, an indoor running track and an indoor playground.
Parker Rec also maintains 15+ parkers throughout parker, numerous intertwining bike trials, a dog park for your furry four legged family members and an impressive skate park.
Parker Schools
Parker is part of the Douglas County school district, which has received consistent high rankings among large school districts and is one of Colorado’s highest performing school districts. With a 90%+ graduation rate, you’re child is bound to get a good education here.
Douglas County schools are all about offering choice to students when it comes to their education. The district does it’s best to make sure that students are in the best learning environment to suit their needs. Residents enjoy the options of neighborhood schools, open enrollment, magnet schools, charter schools and home education.
Parker is home to three of Douglas County’s public high schools:
Chapparal High School – the Wolverines
Legend High School – the Titans
Ponderosa High School – the Mustangs
Equestrian Community
Parker has a western vibe to it. There are many ranches surrounding the town and a on a country drive you will see horses and white split rail fences across the grassy rolling hills. It’s really quite beautiful! Parker may be the most popular town around the Denver area for equestrian enthusiasts. The Colorado Horse Park located off Bayou Gulch in Parker offers an array of training and competitions opportunities. The town of Parker also offers an equestrian center at Salisbury Park and Sports complex. There are numerous boarding facilities close to town, plenty of riding lesson opportunities and many choices if horse property is what you are looking to buy.
Parker’s Landscape
Parker’s landscape can be divided into two sections split by Parker Road, which is Parker’s main throughway which runs North and South. West of Parker Road the landscape is mostly flat with some gentle hills that are mostly grassy. Yes, there are trees but trees that have been planted by residents, communities, businesses and the town. Head East of Parker Road and you will be headed uphill and you will start to see naturally growing Ponderosa Pines. This is most evident in the wooded community of the Pinery, located in the southeast part of Parker. Many homes built on in the hills east of Parker Road offer spectacular city and mountain views.
There is an exception to the Parker Road divide among the landscape. In the southwest corner of the town of Parker lies a community named Pradera. Pradera is one of the most desirable neighborhoods within Parker and it is quite hilly and absolutely gorgeous with it’s beautiful homes situated around its award winning golf course and country club.
Showcase of Parker Real Estate for Sale
Getting around/Commuting:
There is only one freeway that runs through Parker and that is E-470. It runs through Parker on Parker’s north side and runs East and West. (Although 470 is a loop around the Denver metro area and turns north pretty quick after going through Parker.) E-470 is a toll road so many people do try to avoid it as part of their everyday commute. Although, E-470 can be quite convenient because it can get drivers to I-25 pretty quickly.
Being that Parker is on the far east side of the Denver metro area, most people need to head west if they are headed anywhere out of Parker. Besides the toll road (470), there are three main roads that drivers can take to get to I-25: Lincoln, Main or Hess. Hess is rarely used as it heads south as well as west and not a good route if you are planning to head north into the Denver area.
If you work in the DTC area of Denver, the commute from Parker is an easy one. If travelling during rush hour you will most likely hit traffic on I-25. But the commute is manageable and not too time consuming. Depending on what part of Parker you are coming from, you should be able to make it to the DTC area in about 20 to 25 minutes.
A downtown commute from Parker is a bit more daunting. If driving, you will be on I-25 for a good number of miles and will most likely hit traffic. Travelling during rush hour, you would need to plan to be on the road for and hour or more. The drive downtown without traffic is not bad at all and can probably be accomplished within 40 minutes. If you live in Parker and work downtown, it may be within your best interests to catch the light rail at one of the southern light rail stations along I-25.
Work in Aurora? The best way to get there is to take Parker Road North to I-225. Parker Road between Parker and I-225 is relatively fast with speed limits up to 55 mph. This drive can be quite quick, as long as traffic is in your favor.
Going to DIA? A drive from Parker to the airport is an easy one. Hop on E-470 north and you will find yourself at the airport in 30 to 40 minutes. Since E-470 is a toll road, the traffic is light and the speed limit is 75 most of the way.
Traffic within Parker is mostly okay. The worst traffic is along Parker Road as Parker Road is the main throughway running North and South and the only road that runs the entire length of the town. During rush hour Parker Road can get quite busy and can be a bit frustrating. But most times of the day traffic on Parker Road is moving along just fine.
Golf
There are four golf courses in the Parker area: All are private courses.
Black Bear Golf Club
Colorado Golf Club
The Pinery Country Club
The Club at Pradera
Just a few miles East of the town of Parker, you can find a public course: Spring Valley Golf Club.
Things to do in Parker
Minigolf – Golf Zone Parker offers two mini golf courses.
AMC Twenty Mile 10 – Movie theater with ten screens.
Sky Zone Trampoline Park – Indoor trampoline park offers great fun and exercise for kids and adults alike.
Castle Wood Canyon Sate Park – Just a few miles south of Parker on Parker Road (highway 83) you will find Castle Wood Canyon State Park. It’s a great place to hike, rock climb or have a picnic.
Parker Demographics
Reported by the town of Parker, as of 2015 Parker had 49,361 residents, growing at a rate of about 2.75% per year.
Summary Breakdown
| Total Population | 49,361 |
| Households: | 17,362 |
| Families | 13,268 |
| Average household size | 2.84 |
| Owner occupied housing units | 13,002 |
| Renter Occupied housing units | 4,359 |
| Median Age | 34.9 |
Households by Income
| <$15,000 | 3.0% |
| $15,000 – $34,999 | 3.0% |
| $25,000 – $34,999 | 4.4% |
| $35,000 – $49,999 | 7.7% |
| $50,000 – $74,999 | 15.8% |
| $75,000 – $99,999 | 16.4% |
| $100,000 – $149,000 | 25.2% |
| $150,000 – $199,999 | 13.5% |
| $200,000 + | 11.1% |
Population by Age
| 0 – 4 | 8.0% |
| 5 – 9 | 9.3% |
| 10 – 14 | 9.7% |
| 15 – 19 | 7.0% |
| 20 – 24 | 4.9% |
| 25 – 34 | 11.1% |
| 35 – 44 | 18.9% |
| 45 – 54 | 14.9% |
| 55 – 64 | 9.6% |
| 65 – 74 | 4.7% |
| 75 – 84 | 1.4% |
| 85 + | 0.5% |
Race and Ethnicity
| White alone | 89.0% |
| Black alone | 1.7% |
| American Indian alone | 0.4% |
| Asian alone | 3.6% |
| Pacific Islander alone | 0.1% |
| Some other race alone | 2.0% |
| Two or more races | 3.2% |
| Hispanic origin (any race) | 9.1% |
Parker makes the list:
In 2011, Parker, Colorado was made CNN Money Magazine’s top 100 places to live. Parker came in on their list at #29. In 2013, Parker moved up CNN Money Magazine’s list to #12.
In 2013, Nerdwallet listed Parker at #6 on their list of the best places in Colorado for young families. Parker also made Nerdwallet’s list of Best Places in Colorado for job seekers, #7.
In 2015, Parker came in at #9 on HomeSnacks Top 10 places to live in Colorado list. The Stonegate community within Parker came in at #1 on that same list.
In 2015, Parker came in at #5 on Onlyinyourstate.com’s 10 best places to live in Colorado.
In 2015, Parker came in at #19 on WalletHub’s best small cities in America list.
Parker came in at #4 on Movoto.com’s list of safest cities in Colorado.
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