Erie, and the nearby Carbon Valley region of Frederick, Firestone and Dacono, have grown rapidly in the last four years, while the rest of the region in Boulder County and western Weld County has stayed the same or shrunk slightly, according to recently released population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The trend is one that’s been going on for awhile. Population growth in and around Boulder County generally has been to the east in recent decades, where new buildings continue to go up. Our reporters fanned out across the county to get the scoop from folks in Erie and Firestone, which are part of the boom, as well as from Longmont, Louisville and Boulder, all places where the estimated population has remained stagnant or dropped slightly in recent years.
New residents usually mean a need for new government services, town officials say, and that’s certainly true in Erie, where workers are expanding the physical police department building as well as planning for other growth. New families also often mean new schools.
Erie saw an influx of 4,852 new people from 2020 to 2023, the most of any spot in the region. Town government workers are planning for thetown to grow to 60,000 residents in the next decade, according to Gabi Rae, communications and community engagement director. U.S. census data put the number of people in Erie at 35,269 in 2023.
The Erie Police Department has grown so quickly that the staff has had to make offices out of storage rooms, according to Lee Mathis, the police chief. The department now has started expanding its building after it projected it would not be able to hire any new officers after 2025 if it didn’t add space for people and equipment.
“Living in Erie for nearly two decades, I understand the values that make this town a truly special place. The Erie Police Department has continued to grow in tandem with the community, adapting to the evolving needs and challenges that arise,” Mathis said.
The Erie Town Hall also is going through an expansion and renovation project to make room for more staffers. In the future, governmentofficials plan to expand the Erie Community Center and the public works and parks building.
Firestone is experiencing something similar, mainly due to new homes being built, said Mayor Don Conyac. Since 2020, the town’s population has increased by just over 1,900 residents, according to the census estimate data. In 2020, Firestone’s population was 16,663; in 2023 it was estimated at 18,589.
Conyac said that he was not surprised by the town’s growth over the years and attributed it, in part, to Weld County being a little bit less expensive for homebuyers than Boulder County is. However, Conyac also made clear that town officials want to grow in an appropriate manner.
“From an aesthetic standpoint, we’re a beautiful small town. We have a full view of the Front Range,” Conyac said. “We’re small, but yet we’re close to enough amenities that people are happy with it.”
On the other side of the population scale are cities such as Longmont, Louisville and Boulder, all of which have seen some population declines, according to the census estimate data.
Kimberlee McKee, executive director of the Longmont Downtown Development Authority, said that while the overall population of the city might have gone down, the downtown population of Longmont has gone up. In Longmont, the city’s population decreased by 558, going from 99,188 in 2020 to 98,630 in 2023, according to the U.S. Census estimates.
“Since 2020, the downtown population – at least who’s living downtown – has absolutely grown,” McKee said. “With the addition of South Main Station Apartments, which is over 300 units, we certainly have seen an increase in our residential density downtown.”
McKee added that the population decline hasn’t been noticeable from the LDDA’s end, since tourism in the downtown area has remained high.
“We’ve seen quite an increase in tourists in the downtown area,” McKee said. “We hear from our business owners more and more that they’re having folks come up, whether they’re on their way to Estes (Park) coming through Longmont, or visiting for a wedding, or something like that.”
In Louisville, the city’s housing plan indicates that the city’s population peaked in 2018 with 21,525 residents, but reported 19,394 residents in 2022. Some staffers say privately that the Dec. 30, 2021, Marshall Fire may have had something to do with the decline. The fire caused more than $2 billion in property damage across both Louisville and Superior and destroyed more than 500 Louisville homes and businesses.
In Boulder, the population shrank roughly 2% to 105,898 in 2023 from 108,123 in 2020, according to the census estimate data. At the same time, the University of Colorado Boulder campus grew by roughly 2,000 students, according to its website.
Boulder’s aging demographic and high home prices create a unique situation, said John Tayer, Boulder Chamber president.
“Part of it is that we have an aging demographic, which means that a number of folks in our community have raised families here and are now living in homes where their kids have since gone,” Tayer said.
Population gains come from natural increases such as births minus deaths, and net migration, which is the number of people moving into and out of the state, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
— with additional reporting by Matthew Bennett, Amy Bounds, Dana Cadey and Hannah Cohen.
Data taken from annual estimates of the Colorado population: April 1, 2020 to July 1, 2023
Population change between 2023 to 2020
Boulder: -2,225
Erie: 4,852
Firestone: 2,126
Frederick: 2,952
Jamestown: -10
Lafayette: 6
Longmont: -558
Louisville: -784
Lyons: -56
Nederland: 21
Source: U.S. Census Bureau estimates
