CO · City and County of Denver · 715,522 (2020) · 19th-largest US city · state capital
Denver, Colorado
Denver sits on the South Platte River where the High Plains meet the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. It is the capital of Colorado, the largest city in the Mountain West and the nineteenth-largest in the United States.
- State
- Colorado
- County
- Denver (consolidated city-county)
- Population (2020)
- 715,522
- Rank
- 19th in the US
- Coordinates
- 39.74°N, 104.99°W
- Time zone
- Mountain
- Metro area
- about 2.96 million
- State capital
- Yes – capital of Colorado
Where Denver is
Denver is at 39.74°N, 104.99°W and is a consolidated city and county of about 155 square miles. It lies on the high, dry plains just east of the Rocky Mountains: the official elevation of 5,280 feet — one mile — is marked on a step of the State Capitol, and the foothills begin about 15 miles west. Despite its name the Mile High City is not in the mountains; the 14,000-foot peaks of the Front Range are visible along the whole western horizon. Colorado Springs is 70 miles south along Interstate 25, and Cheyenne, Wyoming, 100 miles north. The nearest larger city in any direction is more than 500 miles away.
Population and rank
The 2020 Census counted 715,522 residents, ranking Denver 19th in the US and first in Colorado; Colorado Springs, in second place, has about 479,000. Denver grew by about 19 percent between 2010 and 2020. The Denver–Aurora–Lakewood metropolitan area (10 counties) has about 2.96 million people, just over half the state's population; the wider Front Range corridor from Fort Collins to Pueblo holds more than four-fifths of all Coloradans. Denver is the fifth most populous state capital.
Geography
- South Platte River — flows northeast through the city from the mountains to join the North Platte in Nebraska; Cherry Creek meets it at Confluence Park, where the city was founded in 1858.
- Front Range — the easternmost ridge of the Rocky Mountains, with Mount Blue Sky (14,265 ft) 35 miles west and Longs Peak to the northwest.
- High Plains — the city sits at the western edge of the Great Plains, semi-arid with about 15 inches of rain a year.
- Continental Divide — 50 miles west; water falling on the Denver side reaches the Gulf of Mexico via the Platte and Missouri. See the Continental Divide map.
Nearest large cities
Denver is the most isolated large city in the US after Anchorage and Honolulu; only Colorado Springs is within a day trip. Distances are approximate road miles from the Capitol.
| City | State | Road distance (mi) | Direction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colorado Springs | CO | 70 | S |
| Albuquerque | NM | 450 | S |
| Salt Lake City | UT | 520 | W |
| Omaha | NE | 540 | E |
| Kansas City | MO | 600 | E |
Denver as state capital
Denver became the capital of Colorado Territory in 1867, taking over from Golden, and was confirmed by statewide vote as the state capital in 1881, five years after statehood. The Capitol, with its gold-leaf dome, was completed in 1894. Denver is both the capital and the largest city, and its consolidated city-county status dates from 1902. See the Denver capital page for the capitol and the earlier territorial capitals.
Related maps
- Colorado map — the state with its 64 counties.
- Denver, state capital — capital facts and history.
- US cities map.
- Rocky Mountains, Continental Divide and Great Plains maps.
- Nearby: Colorado Springs, Wyoming.
- Mountain division · Mountain Time Zone.