As with beehives or anthills, the populations of the cities of Colorado and the nation pulsate between the times when the sun shines and the moon beams.
Denver’s population is 28 percent larger during working hours, according to figures just released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Black Hawk’s population goes up by 2,365.3 percent every day, but its off-hour (whenever that is) population drops back to 118.
Denver’s gain ranks it fourth among the nation’s cities with populations between 500,000 and 1 million. Washington, D.C.’s gain of 71.8 percent every day tops all American cities over 250,000 in population.
New York City grows every workday by an amount greater than the population of Denver – that’s the nighttime population – but still, it is only a 7 percent gain. That’s a puny percentage on the Census Bureau scale.
In Colorado, the top gainer is a place called Meridian, maybe an office park and international business center. It goes every day from its resident population of 184 to a workday population of 7,977, a 4,235.3 percent increase.
Among the locations where it tends to get quieter during the day is Roxborough Park, southwest of Denver, which loses 48.9 percent of its population every day to work centers.
Some 25 Colorado counties show daytime population gains; 38 counties lose population during the workday.
In the Denver area, only Denver, Boulder and Arapahoe counties gain population during the day. Adams, Douglas and Jefferson counties get smaller. Figures for Broomfield, which became a county in 2001, are not available.
Staff writer Jim Kirksey can be reached at 303-820-1448 or jkirksey@denverpost.com.
