Colorado real estate and demographic information

Colorado Topography

With a mean elevation of 6,800 feet, Colorado is the nation's highest state. It boasts 54 peaks over 14,000 feet (known colloquially as "fourteeners"), including Pikes Peak, one of the state's leading tourist attractions. Colorado's largest city and capital, Denver is known as the Mile High City - its elevation is exactly 5,280 feet.

Colorado Demographics and Urbanization Information

Colorado remains primarily a rural state. Denver's population grew 18 percent from 1990 to 2000, but still has barely half a million residents. Only one other city, Colorado Springs, even falls in the top 50 U.S. cities (49th) with a population of 369,000. More than half of the Centennial State's population lives outside the 10 largest metro areas, an indicator that Colorado retains its frontier character even into the 21st century.

Colorado Economy and Industry

Colorado is dominated by the Rocky Mountains, and is bisected by the Continental Divide running north to south, along which sit seven of the state's largest cities. The Eastern third of Colorado is plateau, and the economy in this part of the state relies heavily on agriculture, especially livestock ranching and production of a few major crops, including sugar beets, wheat, dry beans and barley. Historically, a mining state, Colorado still produces significant amounts of coal, molybdenum, uranium, aggregates (gravel, construction sand) and gold. The world's largest gold producer, Newmont Mining Corp., is based in Denver, and the state ranks third in the U.S. in gold production.

In response to the Great Depression, which severely impacted Colorado's mining industry and agricultural economy, the state's economy began to shift more towards tourism and government employment. The establishment of the U.S. Air Force Academy and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) in the Colorado Springs area during the 1950s created thousands of military and civilian jobs; currently there are nine military facilities located in Colorado with more than 60,000 personnel.

Colorado Real Estate and Tourism

Colorado may be best known for its winter sporting industry. Thanks to its sunny, dry climate and famously powdery snow, Colorado's 25 ski resorts generate $2.5 billion in revenues annually. Despite perennial concerns over water shortages in the West generally, and reports that the ski industry may be adversely impacted by global climate change, the real estate market for second homes in upscale resort areas such as celebrity Mecca Aspen and historic Vail remains strong. Real estate sales in Eagle County (Vail) nearly doubled to a record high of $2.7 billion in 2005, while Pitkin County (Aspen) reported an average home sale price of $1.3 million compared with the U.S average of $225,000 in mid-2006.