Though there have been a few moments in history when Denver struggled to just maintain its population, for the most part the city’s growth has increased year after year. In the 1990s Denver’s own population—not including the greater metro area—surpassed 500,000 for the first time. In 2006, the population in Denver was 566,974, a 2.4 percent increase over the 2000 census figures. There are over two million people in the greater metro area that surrounds Denver.

Since the 1800s Denver attracted people of many ethnic backgrounds—Italians, Germans, Latinos, African Americans, and many others. While traces of some early immigrant and ethnic communities remain today, Denver is not like Chicago or San Francisco with its distinctive ethnic neighborhoods. Census figures show that in the greater metro area, white and African American populations have decreased slightly and the Latino population has increased between 2000 and 2006.

People move to Denver for many reasons, but a big one is access to the great outdoors and the mild climate. Even if they don’t want to play sports, Denverites enthusiastically support no fewer than eight professional sports teams and other minor league teams, including the Denver Broncos football team, the Colorado Avalanche hockey team, the Denver Nuggets basketball team, and the Colorado Rockies baseball team. This could have something to do with the fact that the population is statistically young, with a median age of 35.5, compared to the national average of 36.4 years, with slightly more men than women.

Metro Denver is ranked third out of all U.S. states for the percentage of residents with a bachelor’s degree or higher. This translates to having one of the most highly educated workforces in the nation, and a higher-than-average household income.