Denver ranks in the top two in the nation for curbside furniture finds

Taking free furniture off of someone’s curb always seems like a crapshoot, but in Denver your chances of getting something good is higher than most places…

Denver ranks second in the nation among the best cities to score free curbside furniture, according to new research from the lighting brand Pooky, trailing only Las Vegas. The study comes as college move-out season — a predictable, annual wave of discarded sofas, bed frames, tables and other bulky items — approaches its peak in May and June.

Pooky’s researchers analyzed 25 of the most populated U.S. cities using landfill tonnage data, renter population percentages and search volumes for terms such as “cheap furniture,” “furniture disposal” and “bulk trash pickup. Cities with higher levels of furniture disposal and residential turnover were identified as the richest hunting grounds for free finds.

Denver’s high ranking reflects years of rapid population growth driven by transplant workers who arrived, tried the city and relocated again as remote work reshaped where Americans live. That high turnover means bulky furnishings regularly end up on sidewalks rather than in moving trucks.

Nationally, an estimated 12 million tons of home goods — including furniture, home accessories and lighting — are thrown away each year, according to Pooky’s findings. In Las Vegas, the top-ranked city, households discard more than 547,000 tons of furniture per 100,000 residents annually, the equivalent of roughly 20,700 couches per day.

The full top 10:

1. Las Vegas, Nev.
2. Denver, Colo.
3. Boston, Mass.
4. Washington, D.C.
5. Houston, Texas
6. San Jose, Calif.
7. Nashville, Tenn.
8. Seattle, Wash.
9. San Diego, Calif.
10. Columbus, Ohio

The rise of resale platforms such as Facebook Marketplace and Freecycle has also made it easier for scavengers to monetize secondhand furniture, with listings tagged at $0 surging during the same late-spring window.