El Paso County Grew The Most In 2017: Census Data

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- The State Demography Office on Thursday announced a county-by-county analysis of Colorado population growth based on recently released data from the U.S. Census Bureau in 2017.

Data from the new Census Bureau studies shows that El Paso County (home to Colorado Springs) has the largest county population increase in the state with 12,526 new residents. The second largest 2017 population growth was Weld County with 10,390 new residents, followed by Denver, Douglas and Arapahoe Counties with 9,844, 7,577 and 6,103 new residents, respectively.

A report last year from the state demography office said the population of Colorado Springs would exceed that of Denver by 2050.

The largest growing county in the U.S. was Maricopa County, Arizona – home to Phoenix with an increase of 73,650 – close to the entire state of Colorado’s increase of 77,049, the report said. Six of the top 10 largest gaining counties were in Texas. The remaining four counties on the list were in Arizona, Nevada, California and Washington.

"Denver remains the largest populated county in the state at 704,621 but El Paso is not far behind at 699,232," the demographic office press release said. "There were gains in all but nine Colorado counties. This marks a significant change from 2011 when 36 counties experienced population declines."

The fastest growing county in the state was Crowley at 10.6% which also ranked second fastest in the nation. "The growth in Crowley was primarily due to the movement prisoners from the Kit Carson Correctional Center which was closed to the Corrections Corporation of American facility in Crowley and Bent Counties. Therefore it makes sense that Kit Carson County experienced the largest decline of population in the state (-470) and percentage (-6.2%). The percentage loss ranked second largest in the U.S.," a press release said.

Front Range counties in Colorado had 85 percent of the growth in the state, the analysis showed. The fastest growth was in rural counties, except for Weld.

"Weld County was the 14th fastest growing county in the U.S. for counties over 100,000 in population. The Greeley Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), same as the Weld geography was the 3rd fastest growing MSA in the US at 3.5%."

A larger number of people moving in than moving out, or "net migration" represents 60 percent of the population change, the analysis showed, with 40 percent related to births and deaths of people already in Colorado.

Related: Denver Population Growth: Most Newcomers Come From Colorado, Says Study

Related: Out-Migration From Colorado Reached Record in 2016

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