Fort Collins 12th among fastest-growing metros

Fort Collins and Greeley were among the fastest-growing metros in the nation last year, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

More than 14,000 people moved to Northern Colorado in a recent 12-month span, data shows. That growth was partly spurred by area universities, oil and gas activity and strong economic development, Colorado Demographer Elizabeth Garner said Wednesday.

From July 2013 to July 2014, the Fort Collins-Loveland metro area added 7,628 residents — a year-over-year change of 2.4 percent. That growth rate makes Fort Collins-Loveland the 12th fastest-growing metro in the nation.

Greeley took the No. 8 spot. The Weld County city added 7,110 new residents — a year-over-year increase of 2.6 percent. For comparison, the fastest-growing metro in the U.S. was The Villages, Florida with a 5.4 percent growth rate. The community, 60 miles northwest of Orlando, Florida, added 5,867 residents last year.

In Colorado, Greeley had the greatest growth rate during 2014, followed by Fort Collins and then Denver.

"We see that the north Front Range is a very popular area and one of the fastest-growing areas in the state," Garner said. "We also have to remember this is for July 1, 2014, which is really before the oil and gas prices started to fall. A lot of the faster growth we saw, especially in Larimer and Weld, may slow a little bit in 2015."

Local governments, state agencies and other organizations use the 2014 census numbers for a variety of reasons.

"Sometimes funds are distributed based on population. People also use them for planning purposes — looking at how fast or slow their community is growing because they need to be looking at available housing units and other community services," Garner said. The numbers are especially helpful when paired with past years.

Last year, Colorado grew by about 1.6 percent, adding 83,780 residents, according to the census. Growth in Fort Collins and Greeley spurred a stronger year-over-year growth rate in Larimer and Weld counties.

Larimer had the sixth-fastest growth rate in the state (100th in the nation). Weld had the fifth-fastest rate in the state. The county was ranked the 76th fastest-growing county in the nation. Gilpin County along the Front Range was the fastest-growing county in the state with a 5 percent year-over-year increase.

Growth in the area is manageable at this point, Larimer County Commissioner Steve Johnson said. "When we have a higher growth rate than 3 percent, then that gets a little more challenging for local governments."

Northern Colorado consistently being ranked as one of the country's best places to live may be attracting people to the region, in addition to the area's strong economy, Johnson said. The Republican commissioner said he often runs into people who have recently relocated from California, the Midwest and places with a high cost of living.

"All the options of keeping peopleout are not good ones" and may even have negative impacts on our economy, Johnson said. "We are going to continue to grow and have to face that reality. The challenge is how do we maintain our quality of life with those additional people."

"We've done a good job of keeping up with growth in the past," he said. "We just have to do good job in the future."

Growth and data reporter Adrian D. Garcia can be reached at 970.224.7835 or Twitter.com/adriandgarcia.