Weld County, Colorado

Weld County
	Weld County, Colorado
	; Seal
	; Seal
	Map of Colorado highlighting Weld County; Location in the state of Colorado
	; Colorado's location in the U.S.
Founded	November 1, 1861
Seat	Greeley
Area; - Total; - Land; - Water	; 4,022 sq mi (10,417 km²); 3,992 sq mi (10,339 km²); 29 sq mi (75 km²), 0.72%
Population; - (2020); - Density	; 328,981 ; 47/sq mi (18/km²)
Website	www.co.weld.co.us

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Weld County is the third most extensive and the ninth most populous of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The population as of the 2020 census was 328,981. The county seat is Greeley. The Greeley Metropolitan Statistical Area comprises Weld County.

History[]

On May 30, 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act created the Nebraska Territory and the Kansas Territory, divided by the Parallel 40° North (Baseline Road or County Line Road or Weld County Road 2 in the future Weld County). Present-day Weld County, Colorado, lay in the southwestern portion of theNebraska Territory, bordering the Kansas Territory.

Colorado Territory came into existence in 1861, comprising areas formerly part of Nebraska Territory, Kansas Territory, Utah Territory, and New Mexico Territory. Weld County was organized as one of the seventeen original Colorado counties by the First Territorial Legislature on November 1, 1861. Until February 9, 1887, its boundaries included the area now comprising Weld County, Washington County, Logan County, Morgan County, Yuma County, Phillips County, and Sedgwick County.

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.[1]

In northeastern Weld County, Minuteman III missile silo "N-8"[2], one of the many unmanned silos there, was the target of symbolic vandalism by Catholic peace activists in 2002.[3][4]

Geography[]

Weld County lies within the relatively flat eastern half of Colorado; the northeastern portions of the county contain the extensive Pawnee National Grassland 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: I-25 (US 87) runs through the southwestern corner and I-76 from the south central edge northeastward to the Morgan county border. Other major roads include US 85 and US 34, which intersect near Greeley, and Colorado State Highway 14, which runs through Ault.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 10,416 km² (4,022 sq mi). 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 2000 census. The area has been reduced since November 15, 2001 with the creation of the new Broomfield County from part of Weld County and parts of Adams, Boulder, and Jefferson counties.

Adjacent Counties[]

Kimball County - northeast
Logan County - east
Morgan County - east
Adams County - south
City and County of Broomfield, Colorado - southwest
Boulder County - west
Larimer County - west
Laramie County - northwest

Demographics[]

Historical populations
Census	Pop.	%±
1900	16,808	—
1910	39,177	133.1%
1920	54,059	38.0%
1930	65,097	20.4%
1940	63,747	−2.1%
1950	67,504	5.9%
1960	72,344	7.2%
1970	89,297	23.4%
1980	123,438	38.2%
1990	131,821	6.8%
2000	180,936	37.3%
2010	252,825	39.7%

As of the census ² of 2000, there were 180,936 people, 63,247 households, and 45,221 families residing in the county. The population density 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% White, 0.56% Black or African American, 0.87% Native American, 0.83% Asian, 0.08% Pacific Islander, 13.29% from other races, and 2.65% from two or more races. 27.05% of the population were Hispanic or Latino 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 married couples 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 per capita income for the county was $18,957. About 8.00% of families and 12.50% of the population were below the poverty line, including 14.60% of those under age 18 and 8.50% of those age 65 or over.

Politics[]

Similar to the fellow Denver Metropolitan Area county of Douglas, Weld leans Republican. Except for Lyndon Johnson’s 1964 landslide win over Barry Goldwater, it has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1936.

United States presidential election results for Weld County, Colorado^[1]
Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
Year	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	96,145	57.58%	66,060	39.56%	4,769	2.86%
2016	76,651	56.60%	46,519	34.35%	12,260	9.05%
2012	63,775	54.84%	49,050	42.18%	3,466	2.98%
2008	56,526	53.39%	47,292	44.67%	2,048	1.93%
2004	55,591	62.71%	31,868	35.95%	1,194	1.35%
2000	37,409	57.96%	23,436	36.31%	3,696	5.73%
1996	26,518	49.67%	21,325	39.94%	5,547	10.39%
1992	20,958	38.79%	19,295	35.71%	13,776	25.50%
1988	26,497	55.42%	20,548	42.98%	762	1.59%
1984	31,293	68.51%	13,863	30.35%	523	1.14%
1980	23,901	58.80%	11,433	28.13%	5,312	13.07%
1976	21,976	55.35%	16,501	41.56%	1,225	3.09%
1972	24,695	66.29%	11,690	31.38%	870	2.34%
1968	17,101	57.26%	10,420	34.89%	2,344	7.85%
1964	12,204	41.12%	17,268	58.18%	207	0.70%
1960	17,558	60.99%	11,179	38.83%	53	0.18%
1956	17,228	62.75%	10,170	37.04%	57	0.21%
1952	18,002	66.44%	8,890	32.81%	204	0.75%
1948	12,446	52.65%	10,934	46.25%	259	1.10%
1944	14,546	63.01%	8,459	36.64%	81	0.35%
1940	16,129	59.72%	10,653	39.44%	227	0.84%
1936	9,606	41.23%	12,993	55.77%	697	2.99%
1932	10,754	46.87%	11,182	48.73%	1,009	4.40%
1928	13,719	69.58%	5,762	29.22%	236	1.20%
1924	10,185	62.68%	3,406	20.96%	2,659	16.36%
1920	10,268	63.78%	5,202	32.31%	630	3.91%
1916	5,395	37.12%	8,600	59.18%	538	3.70%
1912	3,114	27.39%	4,713	41.46%	3,541	31.15%
1908	5,537	51.05%	4,650	42.87%	659	6.08%
1904	4,833	62.12%	2,555	32.84%	392	5.04%
1900	2,786	42.95%	3,386	52.20%	314	4.84%
1896	874	15.54%	4,620	82.13%	131	2.33%
1892	1,138	41.10%	0	0.00%	1,631	58.90%
1888	1,942	57.56%	1,036	30.71%	396	11.74%
1884	1,332	53.49%	765	30.72%	393	15.78%
1880	804	56.26%	373	26.10%	252	17.63%

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.[5][6]

Cities and towns[]

National grassland[]

Pawnee National Grassland

State museum and park[]

Historic trail[]

South Platte Trail

Recreational trails[]

Scenic byway[]

Pawnee Pioneer Trails

External links[]

References[]

^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/.

Coordinates: 40°32′N 104°24′W / 40.54, -104.40

This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Weld County, Colorado. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.

[1] Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/.

[1]