BROOMFIELD, COLORADO

The 'City and County of Broomfield' lies in the northwestern tier of the Denver metropolitan area in the State of Colorado of the United States. Broomfield has a consolidated city and county government. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population was 45,116 in 2006, a 17.88% increase since U.S. Census 2000. County total population, population change and estimated components of population change: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2006 (CO-EST2006-alldata) Broomfield is the 16th most populous city and the 16th most populous county in the State of Colorado. Broomfield is a part of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area.

Contents

History

Geography

Adjacent counties

Demographics

Economy

Outdoors

Local Business

Government

Executive Officials

Council Members

Education

Religion

Sister cities

See also

External links

References

History

The municipality of Broomfield was incorporated in 1961 in the southeastern corner of Boulder County. It received its name from the broomcorn grown in the area. Over the next three decades, the city grew through annexations, many of which crossed the county line into three adjacent counties: Adams, Jefferson and Weld. In the 1990s, city leaders began to push for the creation of a separate county to avoid the inefficiencies of dealing with four separate court districts, four different county seats (each a considerable distance away), and four separate county sales tax bases. It also had longstanding political differences with Boulder County, which impelled it to separate. Broomfield reasoned that it could provide services more responsively under its own county government, and sought an amendment to the Colorado State Constitution to create a new county. The amendment passed in 1998, after which a three-year transition period followed. On November 15, 2001, Broomfield County became the 64th county of Colorado.

Geography

Broomfield is located at (39.931817, -105.065919).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 71.1 km² (27.5 mi²). 70.2 km² (27.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.9 km² (0.3 mi²) of it (1.24%) is water.

Adjacent counties

★ Weld County, Colorado - northeast

★ Adams County, Colorado - southeast

★ Jefferson County, Colorado - southwest

★ Boulder County, Colorado - northwest

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 38,272 people, 13,842 households, and 10,270 families residing in the city. The population density was 545.1/km² (1,411.6/mi²). There were 14,322 housing units at an average density of 204.0/km² (528.2/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 88.62% White, 0.92% African American, 0.61% Native American, 4.14% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 3.21% from other races, and 2.45% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 9.07% of the population.
There were 13,842 households out of which 41.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.8% were married couples living together, 8.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.8% were non-families. 19.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.76 and the average family size was 3.19.
In the city the population was spread out with 29.3% under the age of 18, 7.7% from 18 to 24, 36.3% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to 64, and 6.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 101.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 100.2 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $63,903, and the median income for a family was $70,551. Males had a median income of $49,732 versus $31,864 for females. The per capita income for the city was $26,488. About 2.1% of families and 4.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.3% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Economy

In the 1990s, Broomfield and other area suburbs experienced tremendous economic growth, much of it focused in technology. According to the Broomfield Economic Development Corporation website [1], Broomfield's top five employers are IBM at 4,200 employees, Sun Microsystems at 3,800 employees, Ball Corporation at 3,000 employees, and Level 3 Communications at 2,000.

Outdoors

Broomfield has an extensive trail system that connects the various lakes and parks. A spectacular trail
connects the Stearns Lake and the Josh's Pond on the west side of town. Broomfield also has a 9/11 memorial containing a piece of the steel beam from one of the towers.

Local Business

FlatIron Crossing is a large shopping and entertainment center, anchored by Nordstrom, Macy's and Best Buy.
Broomfield Enterprise is the local newspaper.
Broomfield Chamber of Commerce is the local business chamber.

Government

Executive Officials

★ 'Mayor' – Karen Stuart (Term Expires 2007)

★ 'Mayor Pro-Tem' – Randy Ahrens (Term Expires 2009)

Council Members

★ 'Ward 1'

★
★ Steve Kaverman (Term Expires 2007)

★
★ Bob Gaiser (Term Expires 2009)

★ 'Ward 2'

★
★ Lori Cox (Term Expires 2007)

★
★ Dennis McCloskey (Term Expires 2009)

★ 'Ward 3'

★
★ Vincent Buzek (Term Expires 2007)

★
★ Bette Erickson (Term Expires 2009)

★ 'Ward 4'

★
★ Walt Spader (Term Expires 2007)

★
★ Randy Ahrens (Term Expires 2009)

★ 'Ward 5'

★
★ Linda Reynolds (Term Expires 2007)

★
★ Brian Kenyon (Term Expires 2009)

Education

Since Broomfield used to be divided among four counties, students living in the city were serviced by the appropriate school for their county. Even though the city is now united within one county, students attend the same schools they would have attended if county boundaries had remained the same.
The main school districts in Broomfield are Adams Twelve Five Star Schools and Boulder Valley School District.
Broomfield features two large public high schools, Broomfield High School and Legacy High School.
It also has one private Catholic high school, Holy Family

Religion

Broomfield is home to several churches encompassing many of the major Christian denominations, as well as non-denominational bodies.

Sister cities

Broomfield has two sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International, Inc. (SCI):

★ Broomfield, United Kingdom

★ Ueda, Nagano Prefecture, Japan (became a sister city after the former town of Maruko, Broomfield, Colorado's sister city, became part of the new city of Ueda on March 6, 2006)

See also

★ Colorado census statistical areas

★ Colorado counties

★ Colorado metropolitan areas

★ Colorado municipalities

★ Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area

★ Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area

★ Front Range Urban Corridor

External links

★ City and County of Broomfield website

★ Official election website

★ Listing of Broomfield churches

★ Birth of a City 1950s-era video promoting Broomfield

References