Get To Know Louisville Colorado
Located seven miles east of Boulder, Louisville is a city with rich history and a dynamic present. Louisville was founded as a coal mining community in during the 1800’s and although the mines are now closed the history is not forgotten. The Old Town section of Louisville is made up of many miners cabins that are now being remodeled and expanded while holding onto the character. The streets are shaded and the community is tight knit with many activities. Growth came to Louisville during the 1970’s and 1980’s and during the 1990’s the proximity to both Denver and Boulder made this once sleepy town a regional hub. CNN/Money named Louisville #1 best place to live in their 100 best places to live report, in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011! Louisville is a very popular community because of its small town feel, proximity to both Boulder and Denver and easy access to recreation and shopping.
Just the Facts:
Population: 18,500
Area: 8.6 square miles
Major Employers:
Oracle, Level 3, Giam, Babolat USA, Sierra Nevada. Pearl Izumi.
Schools:
The City of Louisville is served by the Boulder Valley School District. A headline in 2010 read “Boulder Valley Schools Tops State 
Rankings”. The article went along with the release of school testing proficiency scores as a result of CSAP and ACT testing completed last year. BVSD had 26 “excellent” ratings awarded to 23 individual schools which was more than any other Colorado School District.
I talk to many people around the country and having a strong school district is such an asset to our community and helps preserve real estate values. However, there is a downside to this type of reporting. Many parents use this information exclusively to judge the merits of a school. The soul of a school does not show up in a rating. Locally, we have many students who speak Spanish as a second language. These students are at a big disadvantage when they take standardized tests in English. Many of the schools with lower ratings have a large ESL (English as a Second Language) population. The schools who have many ESL students have high diversity and many times have more teachers who are able to split students into small groups based on skill level. The Lafayette schools recently have made many innovative efforts to attract students to their neighborhood schools. They have created specialized engineering programs and created magnet schools focusing on math and science. The bottom line is for parents to check out the schools in person to see what they have to offer, not just relying on the test scores. For more information on each of the schools in Boulder please follow the links below.
High Schools (9th – 12th grade): Monarch High School
Middle School (6th – 8th grade): Louisville Middle School, Monarch K-8
Elementary Schools (K – 5th grade): Coal Creek, Eldorado K-8, Fireside, Louisville,
For scores for individual schools go to http://reportcard.cde.state.co.us/reportcard/CommandHandler.jsp
Real Estate Statistics:
Louisville is typically one of the more stable and sought after housing markets in our area. Typically, there are not many homes on the market at any one time.
Median Price: $614,250
Average Price: $652,601
Total number of Sales: 312
Sales Price to List Price Ratio: 99.18%
Sales $0 – $250,000: 6 (2%)
Sales $250,001 – $500,000: 62 (20%)
Sales $500,001 – $750,000: 168 (53%)
Sales $750,001 – $1 MM: 53 (17%)
Sales > $1 Million: 20 (6%)
Sales data is for the one year period ending December 31, 2019.
The chart below shows the median price of single family homes in the City of Louisville and the rest of the Boulder County communities between 1997 and 2019. Homes in Louisville have appreciated 180% since 1997! Louisville is the red line in the chart below.
Recreation:
Louisville is a quiet residential community with many great places to exercise outside. There are walking paths through most of the 
neighborhoods and larger open space areas on the edges of town. There are many parks including a dog park near old town. In the winter Eldora Mountain Resort is just a 45 minute drive up Boulder Canyon. Coal Creek golf course is a city owned 18 hole golf course. For other golfing options around the area check out this list.
Restaurants:
When I was growing up Louisville was known for its spaghetti. The Blue Parrot and Collocci’s in old town were a popular destination. The Blue Parrot remains but it has been joined by many fine restaurants such as The Huckleberry and The Melting Pot. In Centennial Valley (where Highway 36 meets McCaslin Road) there are more dining options including national chains and fast food.
Shopping:
Louisville Colorado is in a great location for shopping. The main shopping in Louisville itself is the Home Depot and Lowe’s but it is just a few minutes away from the regional shopping mall, Flatirons Crossing and just down the street from all of the great shopping in Boulder. Costco is right across the highway and so is a Wild Oats Market and a Sports Authority. If you had to drive more than 10 minutes for anything you needed I would be surprised.
Links:
City of Louisville http://www.ci.louisville.co.us/
Louisville Chamber of Commerce http://www.louisvillechamber.com/
Louisville Times http://www.lafayettenews.com/Louisville/louisville.html
Wikipedia – Louisville, Colorado http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisville,_Colorado