South Park Is a Real Place—and It Could Drive an Affordable Homes Boom in the Colorado Mountains

The long-running animated sitcom “South Park” is known for its cutting social satire and foul-mouthed fourth graders. But its real-life inspiration, Fairplay, CO—known for its snow-capped mountains and fly-fishing—is ripe for a construction boom.

The former gold mining town is faithfully re-created in the popular show created by Colorado natives Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who met at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

They grew up in the nearby towns of Littleton and Conifer, respectively. Each still has ties to Colorado, and they are the owners of the Casa Bonita restaurant in Lakewood, which appears in “South Park.”

Fairplay is less than a two-hour drive from Colorado Springs, which, according to the National Association of Realtors®, came in at No. 5 among the top metros with the highest annual growth in new construction. The “South Park” town, which is in Park County, is seeing a similar surge in new homes.

Driving the growth is the proximity to wealthy Summit County, with its more expensive ski resort towns of Breckenridge, Frisco, Silverthorne, and Vail, as well as the much cheaper price point.

“The bulk of my business is more and more becoming Park County,” says local Sotheby’s real estate agent Scott Lindblom. “It’s because of the value.

“The area is more affordable than Summit County, but folks also say they enjoy the feel. It’s more wide open, has great mountain views, and offers a lot of outdoor activities such as fly-fishing, hiking, and ATV trails,” he says.

While he says locals are aware that Fairplay is the town drawn in “South Park,” no one—so far, at least—has told him that is why they want to move in.

“It’s not really part of the conversation,” he says with a laugh.

While the median price for homes in Summit County is $2 million, one can pick up a comparable home in Park County for $575,000, says Lindblom.

And it’s only a half-hour drive to the popular ski resort town Breckenridge. The median home listing in Fairplay is $775,000 versus $1.79 million for Breckenridge.

The Village at Spruce Hill, which broke ground in 2023, is the largest new development, with 14 single-family homes priced from $545,000 to $650,000. Five have sold since the beginning of the year, with one under contract.

“This is a town where we see a lot of growth potential,” says developer Zak Richardson. “It’s full of successful businesses, people that are proud of their town and its history, and picturesque views of the Rockies.”

Park County is also an affordability leader in the Denver metro area, according to Realtor.com economist Joel Berner.

“At least 76% of Park County sales so far in 2024 have been for under $500,000, while for the Denver metro area as a whole, that’s just 36.1% of sales. This segment of the market has been pretty consistent in Park County since 2019, while it plummeted from 2019–22 for Denver at large,” says Berner.

“Even though Park County as a whole (like Fairplay) has strong page views per listing and days on market metrics for its new-construction listings (relative to existing ones), Park County isn’t yet a new-construction powerhouse. Just 4.3% of the listings in Park County were new builds in November 2024, compared to 14.4% for Denver as a whole.

“All in all, this is a very attractive location for both builders to tap into demand for new construction and for buyers to find affordable homes with access to both the city of Denver and to outdoor recreation in Summit County,” adds Berner.

In April, Lauren Richards moved into her new $530,000 three-bedroom, two-bath, single-story home in Fairplay. She migrated from nearby Silverthorne, where she says homeowners association fees are “insane.”

“A lot of my friends are moving from Summit to Fairplay,” she says. “An HOA fee in Summit is what I pay for my mortgage.”

She also loves that her new home came with a garage, which she says is “impossible to find” elsewhere.

She concedes that driving through the town can feel like driving through an episode of “South Park,” but she “loves it.”

“I had no idea this was the real South Park, but you can see it. The school is off Main Street, and when you go down Front Street, it looks just like the town in the show.”

Adding to the quaint, surreal feel of living on a Hollywood set is nearby South Park City, an open-air museum with 44 historic buildings that re-create an 1800s gold-mining town.

The buildings were rescued from being torn down in nearby Mosquito Range and mining towns such as Alma, Leavick, Buckskin Joe, and Montgomery, according to Colorado.com.

In a recent YouTube video, Sotheby’s agent Anthony Sole calls Fairplay “The Actual South Park Town” and takes viewers on a walking tour of Spruce Hill, downtown Fairplay, and South Park City.

“One of the coolest, funniest things about Fairplay is that this is South Park,” he says. “If any of you are fans of the show, a lot of stuff you see in the show is based off of this town. It’s super cool. Maybe a little vulgar for some of our customers.

“But that’s OK,” he adds. “I think it’s really fun.”