Gunbarrel
About Gunbarrel, CO
Formed in 1963 as a 668-home subdivision close to IBM's new plant near 63rd Street and the Diagonal Highway in northern Boulder County, Gunbarrel has grown from a bedroom community into something else — not quite a town but more than a neighborhood. Gunbarrel real estate includes single family homes, apartments and condominiums and a country club community. Its residents have worked to create a cohesive sense of community in the bifurcated and sometimes forgotten part of the county.
Gunbarrel is home to industry such as Micro Motion, defense company Lockheed Martin, a lumber yard and the Celestial Seasons tea company.
Name derived from: Different stories have evolved telling the origin of the name Gunbarrel. Some say the name came from the fact that Volney Tenny traded a gun for a farm he started in the area. Others say mailman Edward Viele named the area, remarking that a road in the area was "as straight as a gunbarrel." Another tale says the community was named for the straightness with which farmer Alonzo Allen plowed his furrows.
Year incorporated: 1963
Elevation: 5,145
Size: 1,470 acres
Did you know … ? Cobra and Shelby American car lovers across the country know Gunbarrel as the home of the Shelby American Collection, a museum dedicated to the rare muscle cars and related memorabilia. The museum, tucked away off Spine Road at 5020 Chaparral Court, is open to the public on Saturdays.
Celestial Seasonings, one of the highest-profile businesses in Gunbarrel, started in a barn on the edge of Boulder. The nationally known tea company was formed in 1969 by Mo Siegel when he and some friends hand-picked herbs and bagged them for tea.
Residents of unincorporated Gunbarrel taxed themselves to buy open space and fire department services from the Boulder Rural Fire Department.
The Gunbarrel shopping center includes a King Soopers grocery store, gas station, liquor store, dry cleaners, day care, Burger King, Subway, Quizno's, Dairy Queen, Blackjack Pizza and more
Eaton Park, Red Fox Hills Park, Twin Lakes
Population: 9,435
Population density: 1,471.9/sq mi
Median Household Income: $74,588
Avg. household size: 2.323
Age distribution:
- 12.2% are under 10
- 13.1% between 10-19
- 10.7% in their 20s
- 17.1% in their 30s
- 20.6% in their 40s
- 14.1% in their 50s
- 7.6% in their 60s
- 4.7% are over 70
Median age: 36
Relationship status:
- 58.7% married
- 27.1% single
- 11.4% divorced
- 2.7% widowed
Percent single: 15.2% of population are single males, 11.9% of population are single females
Homes with children: 27.2% have kids
Home Type:
- 65.7% single-family
- 33.2% condo
- 1.2% other
Owners v. Renters: 76.5% own; 23.5% rent
Avg. single-family home value:
- 1 BD – $441,000
- 2 BD – $344,000
- 3 BD – $372,000
- 4BD – $470,000
Avg. condo value:
- 1 BD – $154,000
- 2 BD – $171,000
- 3 BD – $210,000
- 4BD – $386,000
Home size in Sq. Ft.:
- 1,000 or less – 25.3%
- 1,000-1,400 – 12.2%
- 1,400-1,800 – 12.5%
- 2,300-2,800 – 23.3%
- 2,800-3,600 – 21.5%
- more than 3,600 – 5.2%
Median home size: 1,802 sq. ft.
Year built:
- 2000-present – 0.4%
- 1980-1999 – 56.7%
- 1690-1979 – 42.9%
Avg. year built: 1983
Commute time:
- 14.5% – 10 min. or less
- 45% – 10-20 min.
- 21.2 – 20-30 min.
- 7% – 30-45 %
- 5.9% – 45-60 min.
- 6.4% – more than 60 min.
Avg. Commute time: 22.338 min.
- July is on average the warmest month, with an average high temperature of 87 degrees.
- December and January are on average the coldest months, with average high temperatures 46 degrees, and average lows at 21 and 19 degrees, respectively.
- April and May are on average the wettest months, with an average of about three inches of precipitation.
- The highest temperature on record was 104°F in 1954.
- The lowest temperature on record was -24°F in 1990.
