Talk:Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is part of WikiProject Colorado, an effort to create, expand, organize, and improve Colorado-related articles to a feature-quality standard.

[edit] Fort Lupton

I added Fort Lupton, Colorado as part of the metro area. I think it could be included. On maps of the metro area they always show Fort Lupton.

--*--

Actually, Fort Lupton is officially in the Greeley Metropolitan Area because it is located in Weld County. Fort Lupton, Dacono, Frederick, and Firestone are all quite close to the Adams-Weld county boundary. As a practical matter, these towns are Denver suburbs, even though they are officially in a different metro area.

Paul 14 November 2006

[edit] Aurora?

Why is it the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan area? I'm a native of it, and this is the first time in my life I've seen Aurora attached to Denver-Metro. I've seen Denver/Boulder area, but never Denver-Aurora area. Ken 21:28, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

That is the official Census Bureau designation, as the first line of the article reads: "The Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area is defined by the United States Census Bureau as a ten-county..." One or more "principal cities" are defined by the Census Bureau for each metropolitan area, and each of these principal cities appears in the name. I don't know what criteria are used to determine whether a city merits "principal" status, but certainly population is one of them. Aurora now has approximately 300,000 people and is among the 60-or-so largest cities in the country. Boulder, by the way, is now defined as part of the separate Boulder Metropolitan Area. Denvoran 21:52, 24 May 2006 (UTC)
I think a note should be added that no one generally considers the area "Denver-Aurora". I read an article somewhere that Aurora will someday pass Denver in population, mainly since Aurora can keep expanding East while Denver is limited since it is surrounded, but not until around 2020 or 2030. It was probably in the Rocky Mountain News or Denver Post. --Mecu 21:14, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Metropolitan Semantics

Like most metropolitan areas in the United States, the extent of the Denver Metropolitan Area is largely contextual and the subject of lively debate.

Most Colorado counties are extensive. The three suburban counties adjacent to the City and County of Denver are long and narrow, with high population densities at the end of county near Denver and very low population densities at the opposite end:

  • Arapahoe County is 72 miles long and 4 to 12 miles wide.
  • Jefferson County is 54 miles long and 4 to 18 miles wide. (The southwest corner of the county is a wilderness area.)
  • Adams County is 72 miles long and 6 to 18 miles wide.

There are several overlapping, officially designated Denver metropolitan regions:

There are many other unofficial and quasi-official definitions of the Denver Metropolitan Area.

The Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area article started life as a Denver Metropolitan Area article. While the label Denver Metropolitan Area is almost universally used in the metro area, the name of the article was changed to Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area to coincide with the United States Census Bureau designated Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area. Unfortunately, the Census Bureau also designated a Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area. The definition of the Denver Region used by the Denver Regional Council of Governments is the most common used locally.

I recommend that the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area article be retained (and possibly renamed to the more popular Denver Metropolitan Area) for general information about Metropolitan Denver. The portions of the article that deal with a specific regional entity such as the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area or the Denver Regional Council of Governments should be moved to those articles.

--Buaidh 22:54, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

The Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area includes communities such as Alma, Fairplay, Hartsel, Guffey, Lake George, Simla, and Matheson that few locals would consider to be part of the Denver Metropolitan Area, while excluding cities like Boulder, Louisville, Lafayette, and Erie that most locals do consider to be part of the Denver Metropolitan Area.

The Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area also splits the Town of Superior with the Boulder Metropolitan Statistical Area and splits the City of Northglenn, the City of Thornton, the City of Brighton, and the Town of Lochbuie with the Greeley Metropolitan Statistical Area.

--Buaidh 20:40, 9 January 2007 (UTC)