Attracting and retaining people to live, work, raise a family, and retire underlies the economic vitality of any region. Population growth is both a cause--and a consequence--of economic growth. Patterns of population growth and change reflect differences among regions to attract and retain people both as producers and consumers in their economy.

The following graphs offer a broad overview of trends in the pattern of population growth and change of Colorado with comparisons to the nation at large. The data used are those compiled by the Regional Income and Product Divisions of the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce.

Figure 1 traces Colorado's annual population for the period 1958-2023 to illustrate population patterns over time. During this 66-year period, Colorado's population rose from 1,667,000 in 1958 to 5,877,610 in 2023, for a net gain of 4,210,610, or 252.59%.

NOTE: The state population totals reported by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) are from the Bureau of Census midyear (July 1) estimates. These estimates may differ from those prepared independently in some states by various agencies and/or universities.

Figure 2 portrays Colorado's population growth in a broader context by offering direct comparisons across time with the United States. The growth indices shown here express each region's population in 1958 as a base figure of 100, and the populations in later years as a percentage of the 1958 base figure. This method allows for more direct comparison of differences in population growth between regions that may differ vastly in size.

Colorado's overall population growth was 252.59% over 1958-2023 outpaced the United States' increase of 92.31%.

Another interesting and insightful way of contrasting the population growth of Colorado is to compare its individual percentage contributions to the United States' total population over time, as shown in Figure 3. A rising share means a region's population grew faster, or declined less, than the United States' population, while a declining share shows it grew more slowly.

In 1958, Colorado's population comprised 0.96% of the United States' population, while in 2023 it equated to 1.75% thereby yielding a +0.80% share-shift.

Figure 4 shows the short-run pattern of Colorado's population growth by tracking the year-to-year percent change over 1959-2023. The average annual percent change for the entire 65-year period is also illustrated on this chart to provide a benchmark for gauging periods of relative high--and relative low--growth against the backdrop of the long-term average.

On average, Colorado's population grew at an annual rate of 1.96% over 1959-2023. The state posted its highest growth in 1972 (4.39%) and posted its lowest growth in 1988 (0.06%). In 2023, Colorado's population grew by 0.63%

Over the past six decades some states have experienced extreme swings in growth, and often such swings have tended to coincide with the decades themselves. Figure 5 again illustrates the annual percent change in Colorado's population since 1959, but this time they are overlayed with average growth rates for the decade of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, and 2020-2023.

During the 1960s, Colorado's annual population growth rate averaged 2.40%. It averaged 2.78% in the 1970s, 1.41% throughout the 1980s, 2.58% throughout the 1990s, 1.64% during the 2000s, 1.44% throughout the 2010s, 0.61% thus far this decade (2020-2023).

Figure 6 compares the decade average growth rates for Colorado noted in the previous graph with the corresponding decade averages for the nation.

Relative to nationwide population growth trends, Colorado led the nation throughout the 1960s (2.40% vs. 1.29%), outperformed the nation during the 1970s (2.78% vs. 1.10%), exceeded the nation during the 1980s (1.41% vs. 0.95%), led the nation in the 1990s (2.58% vs. 1.23%), topped the nation throughout the 2000s (1.64% vs. 0.95%), led the nation in the 2010s (1.44% vs. 0.74%), and registered above the nation over 2020-2023 (0.61% vs. 0.35%).