Demographics

Northern Colorado, the area between Denver and Cheyenne bisected by Interstate 25, is a growing area for all types of people.

Students come to study at the region’s universities while senior citizens retire in full view of mountain vistas. Newlyweds buy their first homes here and young professionals find their first careers.

The population of Northern Colorado grew by more than 100,000 between 2000 and 2010, from 436,691 to 554,490, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

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That number is expected to grow to more than 700,000 by 2020 and to top 1 million by 2035.

The region is anchored by three larger cities: Fort Collins, Loveland and Greeley.

The area is divided almost evenly between men and women, with a slightly higher number of women in both Larimer and Weld counties.

Both counties show high numbers of residents between the ages of 18 and 64, 66 percent in Larimer and 62 percent in Weld.

The median household income in Larimer County is slightly higher than that of Weld, with Larimer County residents bringing in $54,739 in 2010 and those in Weld County earning $52,334 in the same year.

Like the rest of the country, Northern Colorado’s unemployment rate is higher than where anyone would like it to be, but the rate has dropped in both counties this year.

Workers in Larimer County find jobs in clean energy, health care, and at one of the area’s largest employers: Colorado State University.

Weld County is home to many oil and gas workers, as well as a flourishing agricultural community.

It is an area with a ready work force that is well-educated; an infrastructure that allows convenient connections to the rest of the world, both physically and electronically; and a diverse economy as strongly rooted in agriculture and oil-and-gas drilling as in alternative-energy development and the promise of bioscience.