Summit County, Colorado

Updated on Oct 05, 2024

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Founded November 1, 1861 Largest town Breckenridge Time zone Mountain: UTC-7/-6 Area 1,603 km² County seat Breckenridge		Named for Continental Divide Congressional district 2nd Website www.co.summit.co.us Population 28,649 (2013) Unemployment rate 2.6% (Apr 2015)

Rivers Blue River, Spruce Creek, Clinton Creek, Snake River Points of interest Dillon Reservoir, Arapahoe Basin, Copper Mountain, Breckenridge Ski Resort, Keystone Resort Destinations Breckenridge, Keystone, Keystone Resort, Breckenridge Ski Resort, Copper Mountain

Summit County is one of the 64 counties in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2010 census, the population was 27,994. The county seat is Breckenridge.

Map of Summit County, CO, USA

Summit County comprises the Breckenridge, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Summit County was organized as one of the seventeen original Colorado counties by the First Territorial Legislature on November 1, 1861. It was named for the many mountain summits in the county. Until February 2, 1874, its boundaries included the area now comprising Summit County, Grand County, Routt County, Moffat County, Garfield County, Eagle County, and Rio Blanco County.

In 1874, the northern half of the original Summit County was split off to form Grand County; with the creation of Garfield and Eagle counties in 1883, Summit County arrived at its present boundaries. In addition, Summit County has seen two major boom eras.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 619 square miles (1,600 km²), of which 608 square miles (1,570 km²) is land and 11 square miles (28 km²) (1.8%) is water.

Adjacent counties

Grand County - north

Clear Creek County - east

Park County - southeast

Lake County - southwest

Eagle County - west

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 23,548 people, 9,120 households, and 4,769 families residing in the county. The population density was 39 people per square mile (15/km²). There were 24,201 housing units at an average density of 40 per square mile (15/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 91.84% White, 0.68% Black or African American, 0.48% Native American, 0.87% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 3.96% from other races, and 2.10% from two or more races. 9.79% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.

There were 9,120 households out of which 24.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.00% were married couples living together, 4.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 47.70% were non-families. 21.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 1.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 2.86.

In the county, the population was spread out with 17.40% under the age of 18, 15.70% from 18 to 24, 44.30% from 25 to 44, 19.40% from 45 to 64, and 3.30% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 31 years. For every 100 females there were 139.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 144.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $56,587, and the median income for a family was $66,914 (these figures had risen to $65,281 and $80,441 respectively as of a 2007 estimate). Males had a median income of $33,741 versus $27,017 for females. The per capita income for the county was $28,676. About 3.10% of families and 9.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.30% of those under age 18 and 3.40% of those age 65 or over.

The 2012 average real estate prices in Summit County were $708,660 for a single family home, $359,536 for a condo, townhome or duplex and $281,388 for a vacant piece of land (YTD through August 2012).