Rural Colorado municipalities and counties continued to lose population over the past decade while those along the I-25 corridor continued to gain.
A report released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that, according to 2020 Census data, Sterling and Logan County are among the top 10 population losers. Sterling’s population declined 7.05 percent from 14,777 in 23010 to 13,735 in 2020, placing it 10th among towns and cities on the decline.
Logan County was seventh among counties losing population, dropping 5.2 percent from 22,709 to 21,528 over the past decade.
The trend is not expected to change any time soon, according to Colorado’s state demographer. Elizabeth Garner told a Boulder housing conference back in October 2020 that rural counties could expect to continue to lose population while the metro area’s population will grow at least through 2050. Garner said she expects the state’s overall population of 5.7 million to increase by 2.4 million by 2050, nearly half of which will be in the Denver metro area.
A position paper published by the Bell Policy Group of Denver in 2018 cited lack of high-speed internet and an aging population as two reasons for declines in rural population.
“One of the critical resources needed to generate growth in rural parts of Colorado is broadband internet access,” the report said. “While many rural towns located along major highways have broadband access, almost one-quarter of rural residents don’t, including many living in large portions of the Eastern Plains and mountains.”
The Bell paper also cited the fact that one-in-four rural Colorado residents is from the “baby boom” generation and as that population dies out, there is little economic opportunity to draw young families into the area.
Among those hardest hit by population declines are Kit Carson County, with 14.3 percent population loss, and its county seat Burlington with a 25.43 percent decline. Other counties ahead of Logan in the population loss column are Bent, Conejos, Baca, Hinsdale and Las Animas counties.
Surprisingly, Hudson led the municipal population losses with almost a 30 percent decline over the past decade. That was followed by Burlington, Del Norte, Center, Mancos, Pagosa Springs, Vail, Springfield, Trinidad and Sterling rounding out the top 10 population declines.
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August 14, 2021 at 02:23AM
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Census Bureau report shows continued declines in rural Colorado populations - Journal Advocate
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