Staying viable as population growth slows

State of the Region talk focus on di erent kinds of growth rates in Adams County

BY SCOTT TAYLOR STAYLOR@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

With national population growth slowing, State Demographer Elizabeth Garner suggested Adams County business and government leaders prepare for what comes next.

“If we look at our growth over 2020 through 2022, what do we see? We see a super slow down in the Denver Metro area,” Garner said, speaking at the Adams County Regional Economic Partnership State of the Region luncheon May 11 at the Delta Hotel in Northglenn. “We see Denver, Je erson, Boulder losing population.”

And while Adams County is bucking that trend, with a reliably young population, current trends show the county’s population growth slowing.

“And if we are uncomfortable with that slowing, maybe we need to look at other factors and why we are so uncomfortable,” she said.

Garner was the keynote speaker at the AC-REP luncheon that featured Governor Jared Polis and Adams County Commission Chair Steve O’Dorisio. AC-REP, the partnership group, hosts a State of the Region event each year for local government o cials and employers in the northern Metro Denver region.

Garner was the nal speaker at the event, following both O’Dorisio and Polis. While they focused on accomplishments in the state and the county, Garner’s presentation framed those actions by talking about the state’s economic condi- tion.

Economic growth follows population

Much of it starts with population, which starts with the birth rate. Birth rates are not growing as fast as they did in the past.

“ e big piece to take away from this is to know that over the last decade, the United States grew at its second slowest rate ever,” she said. “What? Yeah, the slowest since the Great Depression in the 1930s. So, Big Mama is slowing down.”

Meanwhile, Colorado’s population grew at twice the national rate, which helped keep the state