Colorado
Buying Land in El Paso County, Colorado
El Paso County is Colorado's most populous county and home to Colorado Springs, Fort Carson, Peterson and Schriever Space Force Bases, and the Air Force Academy -- which doesn't leave a lot of room for a conventional raw-land market. What does exist is real: dryland ranching and rural-residential acreage on the eastern plains, governed by the county's own Land Development Code and, for a handful of parcels, aviation and military-adjacent considerations a typical listing won't mention.
A big metro county's rural land market: the eastern plains, not the whole county
El Paso County runs from the base of Pikes Peak out across the eastern plains toward the Kansas-facing grasslands, but the great majority of its 757,000-plus residents live inside Colorado Springs and its neighboring cities. The land buyers actually search for -- dryland ranching acreage and rural-residential lots with genuine open space -- sits almost entirely in the unincorporated eastern half of the county, anchored by the town of Calhan (sometimes called the unofficial capital of eastern El Paso County, home to the county fairgrounds) and the unincorporated communities of Yoder, Ramah, and Ellicott. This is dry, windy, high-plains grassland where it can take on the order of 15-20 acres of dryland grass to support a single cow-calf pair, which is part of why ranch parcels here run large -- listings of several hundred acres are common, alongside smaller 5- to 40-acre rural-residential tracts closer to Calhan and the Palmer Divide. This same Calhan-to-Ramah belt is also where an established commercial wind facility operates, with an expansion proposed -- see this county's wind-solar-leasing page for specifics.
That contrast matters for how you search: a listing that says "El Paso County land" without naming a specific unincorporated area near Calhan, Yoder, Ramah, or Ellicott may actually sit inside Colorado Springs, Fountain, or Monument city limits, each with its own separate zoning code -- not the county's Land Development Code. Confirm jurisdiction with the county's GIS parcel search before assuming county agricultural or rural-residential rules apply.
Zoning in transition, and what "military county" does and doesn't mean for land use
Unincorporated El Paso County land use runs through the county's Land Development Code, administered by the Planning and Community Development Department. A common rural-residential district on the eastern plains is Residential Rural (RR-5), which sets a 5-acre minimum lot size and 200-foot minimum lot width (with a slightly reduced 4.75-acre/165-foot minimum for lots abutting a section-line county road) -- though other zone districts with different minimums also exist, so confirm the specific zoning on any parcel rather than assuming RR-5 applies. As of late August 2026, the county was actively rewriting its Land Development Code with the help of an outside consulting firm and a public advisory group, with a combined draft covering zoning districts, uses, and development standards released for public comment -- a land buyer evaluating a longer-term purchase should ask the county whether the parcel's district or permitted uses are affected by the pending rewrite.
El Paso County is unusual among Colorado counties for how many military installations it hosts -- Fort Carson, Peterson Space Force Base, Schriever Space Force Base, Cheyenne Mountain Space Force Station, and the U.S. Air Force Academy. A Colorado statute (C.R.S. 29-20-105.6) requires local governments with territory within two miles of a qualifying military installation to give that installation advance notice of proposed zoning amendments, comprehensive-plan changes, or land-development regulation changes affecting the nearby area, and to consider any comments the installation submits -- a real, if procedural, layer that doesn't exist in counties without a nearby base. Separately, the county's Land Development Code contains a Commercial Airport Overlay District (CAD-O) built around FAA Part 77 and Part 150 noise and accident-potential sub-zones for the Colorado Springs Municipal Airport specifically. We could not verify a comparable, separately mapped overlay zone specific to the military bases (the kind of AICUZ-style restriction that governs some other base-adjacent jurisdictions nationally) -- if a parcel sits near Fort Carson, Peterson, or Schriever, ask the Planning and Community Development Department directly what compatibility planning, if any, applies to that specific location rather than assuming either that a formal overlay exists or that it doesn't.
Who to Call Before Buying Land in El Paso County
Well permitting for any parcel here is a state function through the Colorado Division of Water Resources -- see the state hub. We could not independently verify a county-specific military-installation land-use overlay office or program (distinct from the Planning and Community Development Department's general zoning function), so any question about compatibility planning near Fort Carson, Peterson SFB, or Schriever SFB should go to Planning and Community Development directly.
Planning & Zoning
El Paso County Planning and Community Development
Confirming a parcel's zoning district under the Land Development Code, permitted uses, the RR-5 (or other district) minimum lot size, the status of the 2026 Land Development Code rewrite, and any military-compatibility or airport-overlay considerations.
Septic / Onsite Wastewater
El Paso County Public Health -- Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems (OWTS)
Septic (OWTS) permit applications, percolation-test requirements, and licensed-installer requirements for unincorporated parcels.
GIS / Parcel Records
El Paso County GIS Open Data Portal
Pulling a specific parcel's zoning district, jurisdiction (county vs. incorporated city), and boundaries before relying on a listing description.
Assessor / Property Tax
El Paso County Assessor
Current assessed value, property tax questions, and paper parcel maps for a specific parcel.
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Tell us what you're looking at and we'll connect you with a local land specialist who can help you sanity-check it before you go further.
Get local guidanceTopics Specific to El Paso County
Sources
- Planning and Community Development — El Paso County, Colorado Government (accessed 2026-09)
- El Paso County Invites Public to Review Latest Land Development Code Draft — El Paso County, Colorado Government (accessed 2026-09)
- Land Development Code, Chapter 5 -- Zone Districts, Dimensions & Setbacks — El Paso County, Colorado Government (accessed 2026-09)
- Land Development Code (Chapter 4 -- Special Purpose Overlay & Base Zoning Districts) — El Paso County, Colorado Government (Municode Library) (accessed 2026-09)
- C.R.S. 29-20-105.6 -- Notification to military installations by local governments of land use changes — Colorado Revised Statutes (accessed 2026-09)
- OWTS Permits — El Paso County Public Health (accessed 2026-09)
- U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: El Paso County, Colorado — U.S. Census Bureau (accessed 2026-09)
- El Paso County, Colorado — Wikipedia (accessed 2026-09)
Last reviewed 2026-09