Douglas County, Colorado

Overview

Douglas County is lightly wooded, mostly with ponderosa pine, with broken terrain characterized by mesas, foothills, and small streams. Cherry Creek and Plum Creek rise in Douglas County and flow north toward Denver and into the South Platte River. Both were subject to flash flooding in the past, Plum Creek being partially responsible for the Denver flood of 1965. Cherry Creek and Plum Creek are now dammed.

Most residents commute to workplaces elsewhere in the metropolitan area outside of the county. Suburban development is supplementing the traditional ranching economy of the county.

History

Douglas County was one of the original 17 counties created in the Colorado Territory by the Colorado Territorial Legislature on November 1, 1861. The county was named in honor of U.S. Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, who died five months before the county was created. The county seat was originally Franktown, but was moved to California Ranch in 1863, and then to Castle Rock in 1874. Although the county's boundaries originally extended eastward to the Kansas state border, in 1874, most of the eastern portion of the county became part of Elbert County.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 844 sqmi, of which 841 sqmi are land and 2.6 sqmi (0.3%) are covered by water.

Adjacent counties

• Jefferson County, Colorado – west
• Arapahoe County, Colorado – north
• Elbert County, Colorado – east
• El Paso County, Colorado – south
• Teller County, Colorado – southwest

Major highways

Parks and recreational areas

Three state parks fall within Douglas County: Castlewood Canyon State Park, Chatfield State Park and Roxborough State Park. Parts of the county lie within the Pike National Forest and were crossed by the historic South Platte Trail.

Recreation trails in the county include:

• American Discovery Trail
• Colorado Trail
• Devils Head National Recreation Trail
• Highline Canal National Recreation Trail
• Platte River Greenway National Recreation Trail
• Ridgeline Open Space Trail
• Bluffs Regional Park Trail

The Rueter–Hess Reservoir, when filled, may provide significant recreation, including fishing, hiking, and nonmotorized boating. If filled to capacity, surface size would be 1,140 acres, making this a fairly significant reservoir in Colorado and Douglas County's largest body of water.

Cherokee Ranch and Castle is a 3,400-acre privately owned property which forms a 12,000-acre open space with the Highlands Ranch Backcountry and Daniels Park. The area is host to a variety of animals and the Cherokee Ranch petrified forest.

Prairie Canyon Ranch The Prairie Canyon Ranch, at 4620 CO-83, about 10 mi south of Franktown, is a Douglas County Open Space. It is a working cattle ranch on 978 acre, open to the public on special events.

Demographics

|align-fn=center 1790–1960 1900–1990 1990–2000 2010–2020

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, the county had a population of 357,978. Of the residents, 25.7% were under the age of 18 and 13.0% were 65 years of age or older; the median age was 39.1 years. For every 100 females there were 98.3 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 96.1 males. 91.0% of residents lived in urban areas and 9.0% lived in rural areas.

The racial makeup of the county was 80.7% White, 1.4% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 5.6% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, 2.1% from some other race, and 9.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino residents of any race comprised 9.5% of the population.

There were 129,862 households in the county, of which 38.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them and 18.0% had a female householder with no spouse or partner present. About 18.6% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 135,643 housing units, of which 4.3% were vacant. Among occupied housing units, 77.1% were owner-occupied and 22.9% were renter-occupied. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.8%.

2000 census

As of the census of 2000, 175,766 people, 60,924 households, and 49,835 families were residing in the county. The population density was 209 /mi2. The 63,333 housing units averaged 75 /mi2. The racial makeup of the county was 92.77% White, 2.51% Asian, 0.95% African American, 0.41% Native American, 1.49% from other races, and 1.88% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race made up 5.06% of the population.

Of the 60,924 households, 47.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.8% were married couples living together, 5.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.2% were not families. About 13.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 1.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.88, and the average family size was 3.19.

In the county, the population distribution was 31.6% under the age of 18, 4.8% from 18 to 24, 37.9% from 25 to 44, 21.6% from 45 to 64, and 4.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.4 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $82,929, and for a family was $88,482 (these figures had risen to $93,819 and $102,767, respectively, as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $60,729 versus $38,965 for females. The per capita income for the county was $34,848. About 1.6% of families and 2.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.9% of those under age 18 and 3.7% of those age 65 or over.

Douglas County had the highest median household income of any Colorado county or statistical equivalent in 2000. In 2008, it ranked eighth in the United States in that category; it was one of two in the top 15 not in the vicinity of New York or Washington.

Health and longevity

In 2021, Douglas County was judged by the U.S. News & World Report to be the second healthiest of 3,143 counties and county-equivalents of the United States based on 84 different factors. Residents of the county lived 84.0 years on the average compared to the U.S. average of 77.5 years.

Government and politics

County government

Douglas County is governed by a three-member Board of County Commissioners, which serves as both the executive and legislative authority of the county. The board selects one of its members to serve as Chair, who acts as the county’s presiding officer.{{Infobox election

Countywide elected officials

Political history

As a primarily suburban county, Douglas County has long been known as a Republican stronghold. In the 2012 election, Mitt Romney won 62% of the vote. However, Douglas County has become more competitive in recent years, with Donald Trump winning 55% of the county's vote in 2016 and only 52% of the vote in 2020 and 2024. In 2024, Kamala Harris achieved the highest vote share for a Democratic presidential nominee in the county since 1964. In 2022, incumbent Democratic governor Jared Polis lost the county by a razor-thin margin, winning nearly 49% of the vote. However, Democratic strength is mostly limited to northern Douglas County, including Highlands Ranch, Lone Tree, and Meridian, while the rest of the county is still strongly Republican.

Education

Douglas County is served by Douglas County School District RE-1, which covers the entire county. It is the third-largest school district in Colorado. In addition to traditional neighborhood schools, the district includes sixteen charter schools, four option schools, and an online school . Schools are rated generally high in the area.

The University Center at Chaparral in Parker offers courses through Arapahoe Community College, the University of Colorado Denver, University College of the University of Denver, and the Douglas County School District. The University of Phoenix has a campus in Lone Tree.

The county was home to its own university, the University of Colorado South Denver in Lone Tree, but it permanently closed in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and financial concerns.

Libraries

The Douglas County Libraries system has seven branches throughout the county. The library also houses the Douglas County History Research Center, which collects and preserves the history of Douglas County, the High Plains, the Divide area of the Front Range and the State of Colorado, to provide historical research resources to the public.

Economy

Top employers

According to the county's 2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the county are:

Recognition

Douglas County has been recognized by a number of national periodicals:

• Money magazine ranked Douglas County number five in the United States for “Job Growth over the Last Eight Years”, August 18, 2009
• American City Business Journals (ACBJ) ranked Douglas County fourth in the nation for “Quality of Life”, May 2004
• SchoolDigger.com ranked Douglas County School District at number one in the Denver metropolitan area and number 12 in Colorado based on 2009 test scores. (School district rankings were determined by averaging the rankings of individual schools within each of the 122 districts evaluated.)

Communities

Cities

• Aurora (part)
• Castle Pines
• Littleton (part)
• Lone Tree

Towns

• Castle Rock
• Larkspur
• Parker

Census-designated places

• Acres Green
• Castle Pines Village
• Franktown
• Grand View Estates
• Highlands Ranch
• Louviers
• Meridian
• Meridian Village
• Perry Park
• Roxborough Park
• Sedalia
• Sierra Ridge
• Stepping Stone
• Sterling Ranch
• Stonegate
• The Pinery
• Westcreek

Other unincorporated communities

• Dakan
• Deckers
• Greenland

Former census-designated places

• Carriage Club (now part of Lone Tree)
• Cottonwood (now part of Parker)
• Heritage Hills (now part of Lone Tree)

References

References

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6. (2019). "Cherokee Ranch and Castle". [[History Colorado]].
7. (May 1, 2019). "Late Paleocene woods from Cherokee Ranch, Colorado, U.S.A.". [[University of Wyoming]].
8. Clayton Woullard. (December 9, 2014). "Prairie Canyon Ranch in Franktown part of 20 year open space legacy". [[Denver Post]].
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15. (2023). "2020 Decennial Census Demographic and Housing Characteristics (DHC)".
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23. "Douglas County, Colorado, 2016 Election Results: Elections: The Denver Post".
24. (November 8, 2022). "Colorado Governor Election Results". The New York Times.
25. (February 2, 2021). "2020 Elections Map". New York Times.
26. Leip, David. "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections".
27. Geography Division. (December 17, 2020). "2020 CENSUS - SCHOOL DISTRICT REFERENCE MAP: Douglas County, CO". [[U.S. Census Bureau]].
28. "Charter Schools".
29. "Douglas County History Research Center".
30. "2015 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report". Douglas County Government.
31. "Best Places to Live 2009 – Top 25: Fastest job growth – from MONEY Magazine". Money.cnn.com.
32. (May 24, 2004). "Go west for top quality of life". bizjournals.
33. "Colorado State Districts – CO School District Rankings". Schooldigger.com.