BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder isn’t as big as New York City or Washington, DC, or as much of a tourist destination as the state of Hawaii. 

But it’s asking voters if it should do what those places and others have tried in some fashion: impose a vacancy tax on residential properties that sit empty for 183 days or more out of the year. 

Boulder has between 1,000 to 4,000 such units, according to an estimate provided for a Boulder City Council study session in 2024.

The city council put this question to voters in the Nov. 3 election. If it passes, the extra tax on property owners would be $4,000 for each vacant unit, capped at $7,000. It would gradually increase each year a property remains unoccupied.

Other places that have tried a vacancy tax include Montana and Vermont, among others.  

New York City’s pied-à-terre tax on luxury properties that are not the owner’s primary residence ran into issues in late September, when a New York state judge said the city’s supplemental list of 900,000 properties was unlawful and arbitrary. The judge told the city it had to try again, but the ruling is on hold after NYC appealed. 

It’s a cautionary tale for Boulder’s proposed vacancy tax. City council member Tina Marquis, who helped pioneer the tax, said she knows legal issues could arise and said the council looked at San Francisco’s vacancy tax as an example.  

“We also learned a lot from how they wrote their tax and why they haven’t been able to implement it yet,” Marquis said. 

Marquis helped initiate the proposed tax as part of her campaign when she first ran in 2023. 

Vacant homes are an issue for Marquis because she sees that Boulder doesn’t have many housing opportunities. 

“We’ve also made a lot of changes to create more housing, but it’s disappointing when that housing isn’t used for people who live here full-time,” Marquis said. Mayor Aaron Brockett said the council started exploring the tax in 2025, but it was too close to when that year’s ballot needed to be finalized. 

“It would have been a really tight turnaround time, and there wasn’t 100% agreement that people wanted to move forward at all,” Brockett said. 

The council came back to the vacancy tax in 2026 and decided to discuss it further. The ballot measure won 7-1 and was approved to be put on the ballot. Councilmember Nicole Speer voted against the measure. 

Brockett supports the measure, saying it’ll help “raise revenue and then disincentivize empty homes.”

This tax might be a help for students looking for housing. Campbell Gunderson, a sophomore at the University of Colorado Boulder, is already looking for housing for next year in The Hill neighborhood. 

“Anytime we do find a house, it’s, like, $2,300 a person,” Gunderson said. “It’s really expensive and kind of ridiculous.”    

The average rent for a home in Boulder is about $2,895, according to Zillow.

But vacant houses are not the sole reason for the housing problems. It is a mix of scarcity, price and other factors. 

Brockett believes that if the tax passes, it won’t make a huge impact on the cost of housing or the challenging search at first.Marquis also believes it won’t have a profound effect, but that it will contribute to the vitality of Boulder. 

“Our primary role isn’t to build housing for second homeowners and administrators,” 
Marquis said. “It was to help people who are currently commuting into Boulder work here, or people who are renting to own here and stay here.” 

This story was updated on Oct. 28, 2026, with additional information.