Greeley, Fort Collins ranked among nation’s 10 fastest-growing metro areas

The U.S. Census Bureau released new population-growth figures on Thursday and, not surprisingly, Northern Colorado continues to soar relative to the rest of the nation.

Despite the downturn in the oil and gas industry beginning during the period, the Greeley metropolitan statistical area — defined as Weld County — still managed to rank sixth in population growth among the nation’s 381 MSAs from 2014 to 2015. And the Fort Collins metro area — defined as Larimer County — wasn’t far behind, ranking 10th.

The latest figures measured growth from July 1, 2014 to July 1, 2015.

Weld County grew by 8,795 people during…