Garfield County, Colorado

For other counties with similar names, see Garfield County.
Garfield County
County
Garfield County Courthouse in Glenwood Springs
Garfield County Courthouse in Glenwood Springs
Flag of Garfield County
Flag
Motto: 
"New Energy in the Wild West"[1]
Map of Colorado highlighting Garfield County
Location within the U.S. state of Colorado
Map of the United States highlighting Colorado
Colorado's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 39°36′N 107°54′W / 39.60°N 107.90°W / 39.60; -107.90
Country United States
State Colorado
FoundedFebruary 10, 1883
Named afterJames A. Garfield
SeatGlenwood Springs
Largest cityRifle
Area
 • Total
2,956 sq mi (7,660 km2)
 • Land2,948 sq mi (7,640 km2)
 • Water8.3 sq mi (21 km2)  0.3%
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
61,685
 • Estimate 
(2024)[2]
63,167 Increase
 • Density21/sq mi (8.1/km2)
Time zoneUTC−7 (Mountain)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−6 (MDT)
Congressional district3rd
Websitewww.garfield-county.com

Garfield County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 61,685.[3] The county seat is Glenwood Springs, and the largest community is Rifle.[4] The county is named in honor of United States President James A. Garfield.[5]

Garfield County is included in the Rifle-Glenwood Springs Micropolitan Statistical Area, which also includes neighboring Pitkin County and is home to nearly 80,000 residents. The county is also included in the Glenwood Springs-Edwards combined statistical area.

History

As was the case in much of western Colorado, Garfield County historically belonged to the Ute people. For much of the 19th century, this land was guaranteed to the Ute peoples by Treaty with the United States government. The native inhabitants of the area were largely removed and sent to reservations in the early 1880s in the wake of the Meeker Massacre, in which a band of Ute members attacked the Indian agency on their reservation near the modern-day town of Meeker, killing 11 employees, including Indian agent (and town namesake) Nathan Meeker. This removal opened up vast swaths of western Colorado to white settlement.

Garfield County was founded on February 10, 1883, named in memory of President James A. Garfield, who was assassinated in September 1881. In April 1883, the town of Carbonate was incorporated and named the county seat. However, this was short-lived; Carbonate's remote location, difficult access, and severe winter weather made the town essentially impassable for much of the year. After just a few months, the city of Glenwood Springs was named the new county seat. Carbonate's post office closed in 1886, and by 1890, the town was completely abandoned.

In 1887, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad arrived in Glenwood Springs, further fueling settlement and commerce in the surrounding area. Also in 1887, construction began on the Glenwood Hot Springs Resort, after the hot springs and vapor caves had been purchased by Walter Devereaux for $125,000 (equivalent to $4.25 million in 2025).[6] In yet a third notable event to occur in 1887, the notorious old west gunslinger Doc Holliday died in Glenwood Springs from tuberculosis; a walking trail leading to his grave site remains a prominent tourist attraction in the city.

In 1896, a methane gas explosion in the Vulcan Mine on the Grand Hogback, near the town of New Castle, killed 49 workers and started a coal fire which still burns to this day. The mine eventually reopened, but suffered another explosion in 1913, killing an additional 37 workers. These underground coal fires have led the part of the Grand Hogback near the mine to be dubbed "Burning Mountain".[7]

In 1904, US President Theodore Roosevelt went on a three-week bear hunt in Garfield County, an account of which was published in three 1905 issues of Outdoor Life Magazine.[8] In 1905, the area was once again the target of old west gunslingers, as the outlaw Kid Curry and two accomplices robbed a train three miles west of the town of Grand Valley (now known as Parachute).

The county (specifically the city of Glenwood Springs) was one of the first areas in the United States to install electric lights. Some of the first in the area were installed inside the Fairy Caves of Iron Mountain, now part of Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park. The county was also the site of the first hydroelectric plant constructed in Colorado, built at Rifle Falls State Park in 1910. The plant changed the flow of the falls from one large waterfall to the three distinct falls seen today.

In 1965, Colorado voters approved the creation of a community college district on the Western Slope, establishing Colorado Mountain College. The same year, construction began on the college's Spring Valley campus, just south of Glenwood Springs. The Spring Valley campus, along with the Leadville campus, were CMC's original two campuses, known at the time of their creation as the West and East campuses, respectively. Classes began at Spring Valley in fall 1967; by 1974, the college had opened another campus in Rifle, and later opened facilities in downtown Glenwood Springs and Carbondale. Today, CMC is one of the largest community college systems in the state, serving more than 17,000 students across 11 campuses in western Colorado.[9][10]

In 1969, the unincorporated community of Rulison, seven miles east of Parachute, was the site of the Project Rulison nuclear tests, which were conducted to see if underground detonation of nuclear weapons could liberate natural gas pockets, streamlining the process of gas and oil drilling and reducing the number of wells necessary to access deposits. While the tests were successful in liberating large gas deposits, the technology has never been used for commercial purposes due to public concern of nuclear contamination.

Garfield County received national attention after serial killer Ted Bundy escaped from the Garfield County Jail on the night of December 30, 1977, an escape which went undetected for 17 hours due to most of the jail's staff being on Christmas break. Bundy ultimately travelled to Florida and continued his nationwide murder spree, making the list of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives before being captured in February 1978.[11]

On May 2, 1982, Exxon Mobil abruptly announced that, effective immediately, they would be shutting down oil shale operations in the region. As a result of this announcement, over 2,000 people found themselves instantly unemployed; this day came to be known as "Black Sunday" in Garfield County, marking the end of western Colorado's oil shale boom. Other oil companies in the area followed suit in ceasing oil shale operations, and between 1982 and 1985, over 24,000 people left Garfield and Mesa counties in search of oil work, causing a recession in western Colorado.[12]

On July 6, 1994, 14 firefighters were killed battling the South Canyon Fire on Storm King Mountain, seven miles west of Glenwood Springs. The Storm King Mountain Memorial Trail closely follows the path the firefighters hiked to the fire; the path is lined with plaques and memorials, and the site of the blaze contains crosses where each responder fell. The South Canyon Fire remains the deadliest wildfire in Colorado history.[13][14] Due to the fire's destruction of the mountain's vegetation, heavy rain in September 1994 caused a mudslide which buried 30 cars and injured two people on Interstate 70.

In May 2024, NBC News reported that Garfield County was the hardest county in America to buy a house in, due largely to high costs and heavy competition between buyers; Garfield County's population has increased by more than 40% since the turn of the century. Other cost factors likely result from the economic influence of Glenwood Springs and the nearby resort cities of Aspen and Vail. The neighboring Routt and Mesa counties were ranked numbers two and three, respectively.[15]

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 2,956 square miles (7,660 km2), of which 2,948 square miles (7,640 km2) is land and 8.3 square miles (21 km2) (0.3%) is water.[16]

Adjacent counties

Major highways

Protected areas

Scenic byways

Demographics

Historical population
CensusPop.Note%±
18904,478—
19005,83530.3%
191010,14473.8%
19209,304−8.3%
19309,9757.2%
194010,5605.9%
195011,62510.1%
196012,0173.4%
197014,82123.3%
198022,51451.9%
199029,97433.1%
200043,79146.1%
201056,38928.8%
202061,6859.4%
2024 (est.)63,167[2]2.4%
U.S. Decennial Census[17]
1790-1960[18] 1900-1990[19]
1990-2000[20] 2010-2020[3]

The 2019 Census population estimate for Garfield County is 60,061,[21] 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.

Economy

Top employers

As of its 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, Garfield County's top employers are:[22]

# Employer Employee range
1 Valley View Hospital 1,000 - 1,250
2 Roaring Fork School District RE-1 500 - 999
3 Garfield County School District RE-2 500 - 999
4 Grand River Hospital 500 - 999
5 City Market 500 - 999
6 Garfield County 250 - 499
7 Colorado Mountain College 250 - 499
8 Walmart 250 - 499
9 City of Glenwood Springs 200 - 499
10 Alpine Bank 100 - 249

Government

Structure

Garfield County is governed by a board of three county commissioners, who oversee the county's financial affairs, infrastructure developments, public health matters, and general economic development.[23]

County offices

As the seat of Garfield County, the city of Glenwood Springs is home to many of the county's offices, including all of its elected offices (with the exception of the coroner's office, which is located in the town of Silt). The Garfield County courthouse, sheriff's office, jail, and county administration building are all located on 8th Street in downtown Glenwood Springs. The county also maintains several other offices and public services in the city of Rifle, including the Garfield County Landfill, the Rifle Garfield County Airport, and the county's emergency services dispatch center.

Emergency services

Garfield County is served by multiple emergency service agencies:

Law enforcement

  • Carbondale Police Department
  • Colorado State Patrol – Glenwood Springs Troop
  • Garfield County Sheriff's Office
  • Glenwood Springs Police Department
  • New Castle Police Department
  • Parachute Police Department
  • Rifle Police Department
  • Silt Police Department

Fire departments

  • Carbondale & Rural Fire Protection District
  • Colorado River Fire Rescue
  • Glenwood Springs Fire Department
  • Grand Valley Fire Protection District

SPEAR

In 2022, Garfield County formed the Special Problem Enforcement and Response (SPEAR) team as a merger between two joint task forces: the Two Rivers Drug Enforcement Team (TRIDENT), which focused on illegal drug activity, and the Threat Assessment Group (TAG), which focused on gang activity. SPEAR functions as a multi-jurisdictional major crimes task force; member agencies include the Garfield County Sheriff's Office, Glenwood Springs Police Department, Rifle Police Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Homeland Security, United States Marshals Service, and a dedicated deputy district attorney. SPEAR also maintains partnerships with the Colorado State Patrol and Colorado Bureau of Investigation.[24]

AHRT

The Garfield County All-Hazards Response Team (AHRT) is a multi-agency SWAT team providing tactical and high-risk law enforcement response. AHRT is composed of officers, detectives, and EMTs from several different agencies in the county.

Public transportation

Public transportation in the county is provided by the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority. RFTA is the second-largest public transportation entity in Colorado (behind the Denver area's Regional Transportation District), and the largest rural public transit provider in the United States, operating busses across a nearly 70-mile stretch from Rifle to Aspen. Local transportation services in the county include Ride Glenwood Springs, the Carbondale Circulator, and the Parachute Area Transit System.

Bustang, Colorado's inter-city bus service, runs its east-west route from Denver Union Station to Grand Junction, making stops in Glenwood Springs, Rifle, and Parachute.

Amtrak, running from Chicago, Illinois to Emeryville, California, makes a stop in Glenwood Springs.

Garfield County is home to two airports: Rifle Garfield County Airport is located just east of the city of Rifle, while KGWS Sumers Airpark (formerly known as the Glenwood Springs Municipal Airport) is located in south Glenwood Springs.

Prison

The Rifle Correctional Center, operated by the Colorado Department of Corrections, is a 192-bed minimum security prison located in unincorporated Garfield County, nine miles north of Rifle.

Elected officials

Position Elected Official
County Commissioner Tom Jankovsky
County Commissioner Perry Will
County Commissioner Mike Samson
Assessor Jim Yellico
Clerk & Recorder Jackie Harmon
Coroner Robert Glassmire
Sheriff Lou Vallario
Surveyor Scott Aibner
Treasurer/Public Trustee Carrie Couey

Garfield County lies within Colorado's 9th Judicial District, represented by District Attorney Benjamin Sollars.[25] The 9th District, which serves Garfield, Pitkin and Rio Blanco counties, operates its main office at the Garfield County Courthouse in Glenwood Springs.

Politics

Voting participation rates in Garfield County are above the U.S. national average.[26][27] 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. In 2024 it once again went Democratic, voting for Kamala Harris, though by a slightly narrower plurality than in 2020.

The county lies in Colorado's 3rd congressional district, represented by Republican Jeff Hurd.

United States presidential election results for Garfield County, Colorado[28]
Year Republican Democratic Third party(ies)
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2024 14,493 47.71% 15,128 49.80% 755 2.49%
2020 14,717 47.62% 15,427 49.92% 760 2.46%
2016 13,132 49.61% 11,271 42.58% 2,067 7.81%
2012 12,535 51.36% 11,305 46.32% 568 2.33%
2008 11,359 49.21% 11,357 49.20% 366 1.59%
2004 11,123 53.87% 9,228 44.69% 296 1.43%
2000 9,103 53.22% 6,087 35.59% 1,914 11.19%
1996 6,281 44.43% 5,722 40.47% 2,135 15.10%
1992 4,404 31.51% 5,082 36.36% 4,490 32.13%
1988 6,358 57.21% 4,620 41.57% 136 1.22%
1984 7,111 69.14% 3,076 29.91% 98 0.95%
1980 5,416 58.08% 2,639 28.30% 1,270 13.62%
1976 4,699 59.74% 2,852 36.26% 315 4.00%
1972 4,452 66.27% 2,088 31.08% 178 2.65%
1968 3,157 52.24% 2,273 37.61% 613 10.14%
1964 2,282 41.58% 3,196 58.24% 10 0.18%
1960 3,215 58.04% 2,313 41.76% 11 0.20%
1956 3,332 62.90% 1,953 36.87% 12 0.23%
1952 3,914 68.44% 1,777 31.07% 28 0.49%
1948 2,416 50.10% 2,364 49.03% 42 0.87%
1944 2,588 57.97% 1,865 41.78% 11 0.25%
1940 2,894 57.18% 2,141 42.30% 26 0.51%
1936 1,945 42.95% 2,406 53.14% 177 3.91%
1932 1,734 36.05% 2,946 61.25% 130 2.70%
1928 2,435 60.03% 1,562 38.51% 59 1.45%
1924 1,934 51.27% 917 24.31% 921 24.42%
1920 1,912 54.32% 1,489 42.30% 119 3.38%
1916 1,139 29.86% 2,479 64.98% 197 5.16%
1912 824 21.10% 1,806 46.25% 1,275 32.65%
1908 1,504 41.99% 1,898 52.99% 180 5.03%
1904 1,639 53.09% 1,286 41.66% 162 5.25%
1900 826 32.29% 1,700 66.46% 32 1.25%
1896 173 7.61% 2,065 90.81% 36 1.58%
1892 634 47.00% 0 0.00% 715 53.00%
1888 1,110 56.63% 820 41.84% 30 1.53%
1884 245 63.80% 139 36.20% 0 0.00%

Communities

Cities

Towns

Census-designated places

Unincorporated communities

Ghost towns

  1. ^ Despite having no permanent population since the 1890 US Census, Carbonate's property owners voted to reactivate the local government in 2014. The town is the only incorporated municipality in Colorado with no permanent population.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Garfield County, Colorado". garfield-county.com.
  2. ^ a b "County Population Totals and Components of Change: 2020-2024". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved June 3, 2025.
  3. ^ a b "State & County QuickFacts". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved September 5, 2021.
  4. ^ "Find a County". National Association of Counties. Archived from the original on May 31, 2011. Retrieved June 7, 2011.
  5. ^ Gannett, Henry (1905). The Origin of Certain Place Names in the United States. Govt. Print. Off. pp. 134.
  6. ^ "Inflation Calculator". officialdata.org.
  7. ^ "Vulcan Mine Explosions". February 8, 2021.
  8. ^ "President Roosevelt's 1904 Bear Hunt, as Told by His Guide". Outdoor Life. February 21, 2022.
  9. ^ "About Us - Colorado Mountain College". coloradomtn.edu.
  10. ^ "CMC Facts". Colorado Mountain College.
  11. ^ "A Chronological Listing of the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" March 14, 1950 – January 1, 2000" (PDF). Federal Bureau of Investigation. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2002-01-27. Retrieved 2009-03-02.
  12. ^ Colson, John (May 2, 2012). "Today, May 2, marks 30 years since Black Sunday". Glenwood Springs Post Independent.
  13. ^ "Colorado Firecamp - South Canyon Fire". coloradofirecamp.com. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
  14. ^ Crook, Judy; Gray, Vikki. "Garfield County, Colorado History". Colorado GenWeb Project.
  15. ^ Cui, Jasmine (May 23, 2024). "Buying a home is getting more difficult - and it isn't just because of price". NBC News.
  16. ^ "US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990". United States Census Bureau. February 12, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011.
  17. ^ "U.S. Decennial Census". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  18. ^ "Historical Census Browser". University of Virginia Library. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  19. ^ "Population of Counties by Decennial Census: 1900 to 1990". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  20. ^ "Census 2000 PHC-T-4. Ranking Tables for Counties: 1990 and 2000" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2010. Retrieved June 8, 2014.
  21. ^ "U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Garfield County, Colorado". www.census.gov. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  22. ^ "2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report" (PDF). garfield-county.com.
  23. ^ "Policy Directives - Board of County Commissioners". garfield-county.com.
  24. ^ "Introducing SPEAR in Garfield County". garfieldcountyco.gov. Garfield County, Colorado.
  25. ^ "Meet the District Attorney". District Attorney: 9th Judicial District. Retrieved 2024-12-29.
  26. ^ "Election archives – Clerk and Recorder". www.garfield-county.com. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  27. ^ "Voter turnout in the United States presidential elections", Wikipedia, October 8, 2020, retrieved October 11, 2020
  28. ^ Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
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