Black Hawk

Black Hawk is a very pretty area that has been turned into a gambling town. What used to be quiet and peaceful has turned into a town busy with casinos and tour buses. However, if you dig a little deeper and find some of the homes outside of town, they can be very nice and built with great views as a background. The median home price here is $226,000 with a median household income of $59,000.

There are some great 4-wheel trails not far from here, along with hiking. For other outdoor activities there is a lot within not too far away. Because the town itself caters to tourists and gamblers, there are many job opportunities for the residents, as well as some nightlife. Some of the casinos are in older buildings that have been around since the turn of the century and are very cool to be in.

Children who live here go to Gilpin County Schools which rank a bit above average for state standards.

Black Hawk is an historic mining and gambling town along with sister city Central City. The two towns are really back to back and share the tourist gambling frenzy that is now Black Hawk/Central City.

To live in Black Hawk would be strange and I would only recommend that if you are obsessed with the town for some reason (hopefully not gambling) or if you work in the town. There are dozens and dozens of tourist buses making their way around town and I wonder even where the kids go to school? There are some apartments and homes up toward the mountains up up into town but not much of what you may imagine as a neighborhood. Some of the homes are beautiful and even museums, many are victorian looking or like a gingerbread house.

Gambling started as an industry in 1990 and has really taken off, a lot of older people come from the Denver area in buses and stay at the nearly built mega-casinos along the highway. There are also a lot of smaller casinos in the historic buildings downtown that are fun to play in have a few drink and grab dinner. The place is really unique but I would steer away from living there. The surrounding Gilpin County towards Nederland on the other hand has some great forest roads with classic mountain cabins and big properties that are worth checking out.