South of Denver, Centennial is a suburb of about 109,000 people, incorporated only in 2001 and named for Colorado's 1876 statehood centennial. It sits at the southern edge of the Denver Tech Center, so it is a place where people live and work in offices more than a place to sightsee. Streets are tidy, parks and trails such as Piney Creek are close, and Denver is about 15 miles north.
Visitors mostly come for business or use it as a base. Cherry Creek State Park is about 10 miles north for boating and hiking, and Park Meadows and Southlands handle shopping. Summer brings concerts and Movies in the Park, and the Fourth of July has fireworks. It is affluent and safe by most measures, and expensive, with homes priced well above what much of the country pays. Spring and summer hail is a real hazard. At about 5,800 feet, drink plenty of water while you adjust to the altitude.
Cities with a similar character, anywhere on the site.
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- Known as
- City of Centennial; Home of the Denver Tech Center's southern edge; Arapahoe County's incorporated suburb with a strong corporate presence
- Founded
- 2001 incorporated (Arapahoe County residents voted for cityhood in 2000; named to honor Colorado's 1876 statehood centennial)
- Languages
- English; Spanish; Chinese; Russian; Korean; Vietnamese
- Airports
- Denver International (DEN), about 30 miles northeast; Centennial Airport (APA) and Rocky Mountain Metropolitan (BJC) are general aviation only, no commercial service
- Tipping
- Restaurants 18-20%; bars $1-2 per drink; taxis and rideshare 15-20%; hotel housekeeping $3-5 per night; bellhops $2-5 per bag; counter service optional
About this data
Population is Census Vintage 2025 (July 1, 2025) via QuickFacts; land area 29.72 sq mi from Census; median value and rent from Census ACS via QuickFacts. Centennial has no dedicated tourism bureau confirmed, so the city website is used for visitor_website; the calendar is the City calendar landing page. Elevation, coordinates, founding, event months, hotel ranges, tipping, cost-of-living index, crime rates, airport distances and 1BR rent are approximate or from general knowledge and not verified in this pass; web fetch was limited so confidence is lower on those. Metro figure 3,092,037 is the Denver-Aurora-Centennial MSA figure supplied for this batch, shared with Denver and Aurora (not the anchor city). Official URLs found via search but not load-tested.
