2010 CENSUS: Where have Colorado's kids gone?

The Colorado population is older than it was 10 years ago, according to the latest batch of 2010 census information.

We’re also less likely to be married with children, and more likely to have a relative — aunt, grandfather, cousin, niece — living with us.

The census report shows the changing face of family life in Colorado. For example, for the first time in recent history, fewer than half of Colorado’s households are married couples. And the percentage of married couples with children fell from 24.4 percent to 21.4 percent, or just about one in five.

El Paso County saw similar declines, though married couples still hold a slight majority. And married couples with kids make up 23.6 percent of households.

“That makes me sad,” said Cristan Gefrides, a married mother of three checking out books at the library. “I love my kids; people are missing out.”

Look at a sampling of Colorado census data.

While Colorado’s overall population grew by nearly 17 percent during the last decade, the portion of children younger than 15 declined to barely one in five residents. In El Paso County, the overall population grew by 20 percent, and the portion of children younger than 15 held essentially steady at just more than 1 of every 4. In Teller County, the overall population grew by 14 percent, and the portion of children younger than 15 declined, from more than 1 of every 4 in 2000, down to more than 1 of every 5 in 2010.

Colorado has more senior citizens and fewer children than it did a decade ago. Though the state is still slightly younger than the national median age of 36.8 years, Colorado’s median age went up from 34 to 36.

El Paso and Teller Counties are at near opposite ends of Colorado’s age scale. El Paso is among the youngest in the state; Teller among the oldest. The median age of El Paso County was 34.1 in 2010, up from 33 a decade earlier. Yet the county remains among the youngest in the state, ranking 6th-youngest among the state’s 64 counties.

The median age in Teller County was 47 in 2010, up from 39.4 in 2000. Only 5 Colorado counties had a faster increase in their median age during the decade. Teller County’s median age in 2010 was the 13th-highest in the state.

Now one in nine Coloradans is a senior citizen, compared to one in 10 a decade ago.

Ten years ago, 1 in 11 El Paso County residents was a senior citizen. In 2010, it was 1 in 10.

In Teller County, 1 in 13 people was a senior in 2000. In 2010, it was 1 in 7.

Fewer Coloradans were homeowners and more were renters in 2010, during the throes of one of the worst waves of foreclosure in the state’s history.

Homeownership dropped from 67.3 percent to 65.5 percent during the decade — and foreclosures skyrocketed. But in El Paso County, homeownership dipped only slightly, from 64.7 percent in 2000 to 64.5 percent in 2010.

In Teller County, homeownership actually increased, if only fractionally: 80.9 percent in 2000 to 81.0 percent in 2010.

The percent of vacant homes rose from 8.3 percent to 10.8 percent.

The percent of Coloradans and their children living with other relatives rose by more than a third. Overall, 5.1 percent of Coloradans now live with extended family, up from 4.4 percent a decade ago.

“It makes sense,” said Bill Gilpin, a construction worker who lives in Village Seven. “We have four families I know with family members living with them, some because of the economy, some because it is an older parent who cannot live alone.”

In 2000, Colorado was one of only seven states with more males than females. In the past decade, the state nudged closer to being almost exactly half female and half male. The percent of males in Colorado fell from 50.4 percent to 50.1 percent.

In El Paso County, the trend was the same. The male/female split in 2000 was 50.2 percent and 49.8 percent; it nearly flipped in 2010, to 49.8-percent male and 50.2-percent female.

________

Highs and lows of the census in Colorado - and how we compare

Percentage of households married with children
Highest: Douglas County, 36.1%
Lowest: Mineral County, 9.9%

Percentage living alone
Highest: San Juan County, 40.7%
Lowest: Weld County, 21.5%

Percentage single mothers
Highest: Prowers County, 8.2%
Lowest: Mineral County, 2.5%

Percentage of renters
Highest: Denver County, 50%
Lowest: Elbert County, 11.9%

Average family size
Highest: Adams County: 3.36%
Lowest: Mineral County: 2.5%

-------

Reporter Dave Philipps contributed to this report.