Denver Metro Population Triples in 50 Years

The seven-county Denver metro area, which represents more than half the state’s population of 5.3 million, has tripled in population over 50 years, from less than 1 million to 2.7 million in 2010, and it has continued to grow since the last decimal census.

The City and County of Denver, which struggled with a host of issues in the 1970s and 1980s, returned to regular population increases in the 1990s. But the city, which represented half the region’s population in 1960, is now at 21 percent and continues to decline relative to the suburban and exurban growth.