Demographics of Denver Metro

Denver Facts

The city of Denver, not to mention the wider state of Colorado, is blooming in terms of demographics and population. Whether it be the scenic views or the legalization of recreational marijuana, Denver has seemingly become a "go to" place in terms of places to move. This quick report shall discuss the population of the town, whether the population is increasing or decreasing, the age distribution of the town and how that compares to the wider United States, the ethnic composition of the area, the educational level of the population and how it compares to the wider population of the United States and the public health problems that are prevalent in Denver. While Denver's cost of living and other factors might dissuade some from moving there, the good seems to outweigh the bad for more and more people.

Analysis

As a metropolitan area, Denver has a population of about 2.9 million people and it is absolutely growing. This is broken up over a number of counties including Adams, Arapahoe and Boulder, just to name a few. The most populous counties/areas of the metro area are Adams at not quite half a million, Jefferson at 552,000 and Denver city/county at 648,000 (MetroDenver, 2015). As far as age distribution, the metro is fairly even dispersed except for the higher age brackets. 0-14 years, 15-29 years, 30-44 years and 45-59 years are all between 20.1 and 22.4%. The only one of those four that is more than 20.4% is the 30-44 age group. 60-74-year-old makes up 12.2% and 75+ makes up about 4.6% (MetroDenver, 2015). . As compared to the wider United States population, there are some fairly stark differences. While people under fifty years old make up a bulk of the United States population, there is most definitely a swell when looking at people from 35 to 44 years old and it is more pronounced than Denver. There is also a swell point at 10-19-year-olds. Ranging from birth to about fifty years old, there is a bit of an S-curve when peaks at 10-19 and 35-44 years old with valleys in between. When looking at Denver in particular, there is a slight spike with 30-44-year-olds but it is not a huge spike. The difference with the wider population is more pronounced with the spikes and the spikes occur twice rather than once (CensusScope, 2015).

Denver is about 70% white, five percent African-American and about eighteen percent Hispanic. About 88.8% of people in Denver are high school graduates, not quite thirty percent have four-year degrees and about 12.7% have graduate degrees. This is, one whole, much more educated than the broader population (Home To Denver, 2015). Public health concerns relating to Denver are not huge overall but they do exist. As listed on the Denver Health website, these concerns include bacterial meningitis, bed bugs, Ebola, enterovirus D68, hand/food/mouth disease, hepatitis A, influenza (flu), marijuana, measles, MERS, norovirus, pertussis (whooping cough), plague, rabies, salmonella, syphilis, tuberculosis (TB), tularemia and West Nile Virus. None of these are epidemic on their own but they culminate to form the focus of public health efforts as there will always be at least some people around the metro or at least around the country or planet that have these disorders or issues and thus the public health system must address them (Denver Health, 2015).