Weld County, Colorado

Weld County is the third most extensive and the ninth most populous of the of the  of the. The estimates that the county population was 236,857 in 2006, a 30.91% increase since. The is. The comprises Weld County.

History
On, , the created the  and the , divided by the  ( or  or  in the future Weld County). Present-day Weld County, Colorado, lay in the southwestern portion of the, bordering the.

came into existence in, comprising areas formerly part of , , , and. Weld County was organized as one of the seventeen original Colorado counties by the First Territorial Legislature on,. Until, , its boundaries included the area now comprising Weld County, , , , , , and.

Weld County is named for Lewis Ledyard Weld, a lawyer and territorial secretary. He died while serving in the Union Army during the Civil War.

In northeastern Weld County, missile silo "N-8", one of the many unmanned silos there, was the target of symbolic vandalism by Catholic peace activists in.

Geography
Weld County lies within the relatively flat eastern half of Colorado; the northeastern portions of the county contain the extensive and the Pawnee Buttes, which jut 250 feet above the surrounding terrain. Along the western border some low hills betray the presence of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains further west.

The county is served by two interstate highways: (US 87) runs through the southwestern corner and  from the south central edge northeastward to the Morgan county border. Other major roads include and, which intersect near , and , which runs through.

According to the, the county has a total area of 10,416 (4,022 ). 10,340 km² (3,992 sq mi) of it is land and 75 km² (29 sq mi) of it (0.72%) is water.

Note: All figures for area and population given above were as of the. The area has been reduced since, with the creation of the new  from part of Weld County and parts of , , and   counties.

Adjacent Counties

 * - northeast
 * - east
 * - east
 * - south
 * - southwest
 * - west
 * - west
 * - northwest

Demographics
As of the of 2000, there were 180,936 people, 63,247 households, and 45,221 families residing in the county. The was 18/km² (45/sq mi). There were 66,194 housing units at an average density of 6/km² (17/sq mi). The racial makeup of the county was 81.71%, 0.56% or , 0.87% , 0.83% , 0.08% , 13.29% from , and 2.65% from two or more races. 27.05% of the population were or  of any race.

There were 63,247 households out of which 37.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.60% were living together, 9.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.50% were non-families. 21.00% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.78 and the average family size was 3.25.

In the county the population was spread out with 28.20% under the age of 18, 13.20% from 18 to 24, 29.70% from 25 to 44, 20.00% from 45 to 64, and 9.00% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 100.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 98.00 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $42,321, and the median income for a family was $49,569. Males had a median income of $35,037 versus $25,757 for females. The for the county was $18,957. About 8.00% of families and 12.50% of the population were below the, including 14.60% of those under age 18 and 8.50% of those age 65 or over.

Economy
Weld County is Colorado's leading producer of cattle, grain and sugar beets, and is the richest agricultural county in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. It is also becoming more important as a milk producing county, with close to half of the state's cattle.