Garfield County, Colorado

Garfield County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 61,685. The county seat is Glenwood Springs. The county is named in honor of United States President James A. Garfield. Garfield County is included in the Glenwood Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Edwards-Glenwood Springs, CO Combined Statistical Area.

Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2956 sqmi, of which 2948 sqmi is land and 8.3 sqmi (0.3%) is water.

Adjacent counties

 * Rio Blanco County - north
 * Routt County - northeast
 * Eagle County - east
 * Pitkin County - southeast
 * Mesa County - south
 * Grand County, Utah - southwest
 * Uintah County, Utah - northwest

Major highways

 * I-70 (CO).svg Interstate 70
 * US 6.svg U.S. Highway 6
 * Colorado 13.svg State Highway 13
 * Colorado 82.svg State Highway 82
 * Colorado 133.svg State Highway 133
 * Colorado 139.svg State Highway 139
 * Colorado 325.svg State Highway 325
 * Colorado 139.svg State Highway 139
 * Colorado 325.svg State Highway 325

Protected areas

 * Flat Tops Wilderness
 * Grand Mesa National Forest
 * Harvey Gap State Park
 * Rifle Falls State Park
 * Rifle Gap State Park
 * Routt National Forest
 * White River National Forest

Scenic byways

 * Dinosaur Diamond Prehistoric Highway National Scenic Byway
 * Flat Tops Trail Scenic Byway
 * West Elk Loop Scenic Byway

Demographics
The 2019 Census population estimate for Garfield County is 60,061, a 6.5% increase from the 2010 Census.


 * Population density per square mile: 19.1 (2010)
 * Race Estimations (2019)
 * White alone, not Hispanic or Latino (67.4%)
 * Hispanic or Latino (29.3%)
 * Black or African American alone (1.3%)
 * American Indian and Alaskan Native alone (1.7%)
 * Asian, alone (0.9%)
 * Two or more races (2.0%)
 * Age and Sex Estimations (2019)
 * Persons under 5 years of age (6.8%)
 * Persons under 18 years of age (24.9%)
 * Persons 65 years of age and over (13.8%)
 * Female persons (48.9%)
 * Housing
 * Housing units, 2019: (24,363)
 * Owner occupied housing unit rate, 2014-2018: (66.9%)
 * Persons per household, 2014-2018: (2.73)
 * Education (2014-2018)
 * High school graduate (87.5%)
 * Bachelor's degree or higher (30.0%)
 * Income and Poverty (2014 - 2018)
 * Median household income: ($72, 898)
 * Per capita income: $32,491)
 * Persons in poverty: (8.4%)

Education
Garfield County is served by three public school districts:
 * Roaring Fork School District RE-1, serving Glenwood Springs and Carbondale
 * Garfield County School District RE-2, serving Rifle, New Castle, and Silt
 * Garfield County School District 16, serving Parachute and Battlement Mesa

The county is also home to private schools, including Colorado Rocky Mountain School in Carbondale, St. Stephen Catholic School in Glenwood Springs, and Liberty Classical Academy in New Castle.

Higher Education
The county is home to multiple campuses of Colorado Mountain College, a community college serving much of western Colorado. CMC operates a flagship residential campus at Spring Valley, just south of Glenwood Springs. Additional branch campuses in Garfield County are located in Glenwood Springs, Rifle, and Carbondale.

Politics
Voting participation rates in Garfield County are above the U.S. national average. In the 2018 general election, 65% of eligible voters participated. In the 2020 presidential election, 84.47% eligible voters participated. The county leans slightly Republican based on vote totals in elections from 2008 to 2018, with an estimated range of 2 to 1,000 votes often determining candidate outcomes for the county.

Garfield County has primarily voted for Republican Party candidates in presidential elections throughout its history, with the county only failing to back the Republican candidate ten times from 1884 to 2020. Although the county includes the relatively liberal cities of Carbondale and Glenwood Springs, this is somewhat outweighed by the nearby towns of Rifle, Silt, Parachute, and Battlement Mesa. Until 2020, the most recent Democratic win was by Bill Clinton in 1992, but Republicans were held to a plurality of the county's votes in half of the six following presidential elections prior to 2020. Notably, Barack Obama lost the county to John McCain by two votes in 2008.

In 2020, Joe Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the county since Clinton in 1992, with about 50% of the vote. No Democratic presidential candidate has won a majority of the vote in the county since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964, although in 2020, Biden was just 26 votes shy of having the majority of the vote in the county. The county's leftward trend continued significantly in 2022, during which it backed the Democratic candidates and eventual winners in every statewide race.

The county lies in Colorado's 3rd congressional district, represented by local Rifle resident Lauren Boebert.

Cities

 * Glenwood Springs
 * Rifle

Towns

 * Carbonate (ghost town)
 * Carbondale
 * New Castle
 * Parachute
 * Silt

Census-designated places

 * Battlement Mesa
 * Catherine
 * Cattle Creek
 * Chacra
 * Mulford
 * No Name