{"id":795344,"date":"2019-04-30T17:52:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-30T23:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/summit-countys-population-only-grew-by-three-residents-from-2017-to-2018-u-s-census-says\/"},"modified":"2019-04-30T17:52:00","modified_gmt":"2019-04-30T23:52:00","slug":"summit-countys-population-only-grew-by-three-residents-from-2017-to-2018-u-s-census-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/summit-countys-population-only-grew-by-three-residents-from-2017-to-2018-u-s-census-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Summit County\u2019s population only grew by three residents from 2017 to 2018, U.S. Census says"},"content":{"rendered":"
Crowds of residents and visitors fill Main Street during the annual Colorado BBQ Challenge event, June 2017, in Frisco. The U.S. Census estimated that Summit County’s population only saw a net growth of three new residents last year.<\/strong>
Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After years of stable, if limited, growth, Summit County\u2019s population hit a pretty big speed bump last year. According to 2018 Annual Estimates of Resident Population from the U.S. Census Bureau, Summit County only grew by 3 net residents from 2017 to 2018 \u2013 the lowest population growth charted in Summit since it dipped during the recession.<\/p>\n

While the almost non-existent growth \u2013 from 31,004 residents in 2017 to 31,007 as of July 1, 2018 \u2014 may be seen as good news for some locals tired of crowds and overburdened infrastructure, it also causes concern for businesses that need a pool of local skilled employees to draw from. The population estimate also affects resource allocation for government aid and grant programs.<\/p>\n

The Census Bureau estimates population totals from three factors \u2013 births, deaths and migration. Births and deaths are calculated from birth and death certificates logged into the National Center for Health Statistics, while net migration is calculated from four factors including tax returns, Medicare enrollment and Social Security number identification.<\/p>\n

The sum total is added to the \u201cbase\u201d population from the last general census \u2013 2010, when Summit County was estimated to have 27,994 residents \u2013 to find the current population estimate. The current population estimate does not break down the<\/p>\n

The single-digit resident growth is the lowest since the county has seen since 2010 to 2011, when population dipped by 33 residents in the wake of the recession. In the years between, the county had seen an increase of at least a few hundred residents each year.<\/p>\n

Looking at the numbers from neighboring Eagle, it seems Summit isn\u2019t the only ski resort community seeing precipitous growth slowdown. The Census Bureau estimated that Eagle only grew by a single resident, from 54,992 residents to 54,993, between 2017 and 2018.<\/p>\n

The state demography office\u2019s estimates of migration give more credence to these very low net growth counts. While the net migration number for 2018 is not available, the demography office estimated that net migration in 2017 was a net positive of 20 residents for Summit, while Eagle actually lost 113 residents.<\/p>\n

In contrast, neighboring Grand and Park counties both saw steady growth from the year before, with increases in 169 and 636 residents, respectively.<\/p>\n

Local officials and business leaders reacted to the number with a mix of astonishment and skepticism.<\/p>\n

County commissioner Karn Stiegelmeier theorized that, assuming the number is accurate, the low net population growth stems from more people moving elsewhere last year due to the high cost of living and real estate. She pointed out that many residents commute to Summit from Park, Grand and other areas, where the real estate market is not nearly as tight.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ideal is that people can live where they work and work where they live, and not be commuting because of the cost of real estate,\u201d Stiegelmeier said. \u201cSome of that goes to the short term rental market causing increased prices, it\u2019s going to push a lot of people out.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judi LaPoint, executive director of the Summit Chamber of Commerce, commented last week on how the county\u2019s low unemployment rate has left businesses scrambling for workers. LaPoint said that, assuming the census numbers are true, it\u2019s a bad sign for the county\u2019s labor market and potential for economic growth.<\/p>\n

LaPoint also attributed the apparent declining net migration to housing prices, pointing out that the average worker in Summit makes $733 a week and works 1.3 jobs. For some people, the extra work and lower pay is worth it, while for many people, especially those trying to buy a house and start a family, the financial stress and housing dead ends are too much to bear.<\/p>\n

LaPoint noted that statistics from the state\u2019s demographer\u2019s office found that biggest group moving to Summit County are young adults in their 20s, but a sharp decline in migration of people in their 30s \u2014 many of whom are looking to settle down and have kids.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have to make choices when they come here,\u201d LaPoint said. \u201cSometimes you make a choice to make less money and live a more natural, holistic lifestyle than working in the Front Range. If you don\u2019t have the basics covered here \u2014 like food, shelter, health care \u2014 it\u2019s hard not to be stressed. There are many people stretching to make ends meet every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dana Cottrell, president of the Summit Association of Realtors, said that, based on all the information she\u2019s been privy to, the census estimate is wrong, and that the population growth has not been that low.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no way we grew by only three people,\u201d Cottrell said. \u201cEverybody would have to be wrong in their projections.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cottrell referred to estimates from the state demographer\u2019s office and the Northwest Colorado Council of Governments, which estimate Summit County will see 8% growth over the next five years.<\/p>\n

Cottrell said she\u2019s also seen in her own experience that people are still rabidly buying houses in Summit, that housing prices keep climbing, and that the demand for affordable housing keeps growing. However, she admitted that many of the new buyers could be second-home or short-term-rental investors who do not wind up living here and drain inventory for full-time residents.<\/p>\n

Family & Intercultural Resource Center director Tamara Drangstveit, who assists many of Summit\u2019s working families, also shed skepticism to the accuracy of the census population estimate.<\/p>\n

She said that these counts can often be wrong because of the nature of Summit as a transient community where people are hard to track, as well as depressed numbers of \u201cuncounted\u201d residents, including immigrants who stay off the radar. Nonetheless, she said, if the number is accurate, the declining growth should not be a surprise given the cost of living.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have statistics that basically shows that when families have their first kid, there\u2019s a giant migration out of Summit,\u201d Drangstveit said. \u201cIf the census numbers are true, it is absolutely legitimate to look at how expensive how everything is for residents in Summit County.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Crowds of residents and visitors fill Main Street during the annual Colorado BBQ Challenge event, June 2017, in Frisco. The U.S. Census estimated that Summit County’s population only saw a net growth of three new residents last year.Hugh Carey \/ hcarey@summitdaily.com After years of stable, if limited, growth, Summit County\u2019s population hit a pretty big […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-795344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 03:38:15","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=795344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/795344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=795344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=795344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=795344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}