Fewer people are moving to Colorado, according to a census analysis by the Centennial State’s demography office. A mere 27,337 people moved to Colorado in 2020, and that number dropped to 14,731 in 2021, according to a report.
“I think it’s something we need to get ready for,” Elizabeth Garner, a state demographer, said. “To me, it makes a little bit of sense. We’ve seen the whole U.S. slow down in terms of growth.”
Almost 68,844 had moved to the state in 2015, the report noted.
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In addition to the state’s lack of people moving in, Colorado’s overall population growth has taken a hit due to decreasing birth rates and an accompanying death rate increase, Garner said.
“So it’s really just thinking more strategically of ‘how do we compete when things start slowing down?'” Garner added. “And then, there’s going to be some states, and some parts of states, that are already slowing down where we need to just think of this idea of strategic shrinkage. How do we slow down gracefully? Still fund all of the things that we love, yet with slower-growing tax base or declining tax base.”
There are “parts of Colorado that should think about strategic shrinkage and make plans for what it means,” she said.
Others, including Metropolitan State University economics professor Kishore Kulkarni, disagree with Garner’s sentiment.
Kulkarni said the decline is not a major problem. “It is just a blip in the usual trend of a high inflow of population in Colorado,” he added.
Garner said she recognizes that the pandemic has affected the data, but she believes the numbers amount to more than just a “blip.”
“So we know that it was a tough year,” she said. “However, the results from 2020 weren’t that much different than what we were forecasting, so I don’t know if 2020 was that off.”
The state’s population is expected to rise by 1.8 million people by 2050, according to Garner’s office.
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“I think what makes it odd is that people don’t feel it,” she said. “And that’s because we have what I would call a lot of visitors.”
