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How many babies are born to single mothers and what is the major cause of deaths
in the region? Who are the residents of Southern Colorado? How do we measure up against the rest of the state? We turned to figures from the Census Bureau, the Colorado Department of Vital Statistics, the Department of Health and Environment and other government agencies to give you this quick snapshot of our region. For more specific information, visit “Colorado By The Numbers,” <www.colorado.edu/libraries/govpubs/online.htm>.
Southern Colorado’s high-school graduation rates fall slightly behind the state’s as a whole. In 1990, the Census Bureau calculated that 55.6 percent of Colorado adults (over 25 years old) had graduated from high school. In Southern Colorado, that number is 53.1 percent. Baca County, however, reported 66.6 percent of adults had graduated from high school, while Kiowa County reported 65.5 percent and Otero County reported 60 percent.
Similarly, 17.8 percent of adults over 25 in Colorado had college degrees, compared to 10.3 percent of adults in Southern Colorado.
However, no county came close to Colorado’s college-graduation percentage. Alamosa County had the most college graduates with 16.6 percent of adults over 25 having college degrees. Fremont County had the fewest college graduates: only 7.3 percent of its adult population had degrees.
According to 1999 statistics from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, rhe Eastern Plains countiesof Colorado saw about 650 divorces. This 4.2 percent divorce rate is the lowest in the state of Colorado.
Counties in southeastern Colorado reported nine out of the ten lowest median household income, according to the 1998 U.S. Census Bureau county estimate. The highest median income was in Bent County at $26,502. Las Animas County came in fifth at $24,375 a year and Costilla County was the lowest for Colorado, cashing in at $19,815. (A median income means that half of households earned more, while the remaining half earned less.)
Crowley county is thriftiest, putting 77 percent of their spending potential towards clothing. Teller county put 103 percent of their spending potential towards clothing. Pueblo, falling in the middle, applied 90 percent of their potential. These figures are based on an average per-consumer household spending potential for apparel, compared to the national expenditure on apparel.
Ethnic diversity varies considerably by county in Southern Colorado. For instance, Custer County is 97.7 white, according to The Sourcebook: County Demographics 2000. The “Hispanic” category overlaps racial categories. For instance, Mineral County is 98 percent “white” and 5.4 percent “Hispanic,” which adds up to more than 100 percent. Costilla County recorded a 79-percent Hispanic population in 1996 and Pueblo 39 percent. Pueblo County’s population was 2.2-percent black and 1-percent American Indian.
Of the 165 Colorado farmers who describe themselves as American Indians, seven are farming in Las Animas County.
Pueblo County ranks tenth out of the 63 counties in Colorado but first in Southern Colorado for population with 141,472 people, according to the 2000 census. Mineral County is last in both the state and region with its 831 permanent inhabitants. Huerfano County falls in the Southern Colorado middle with 7,862 inhabitants.
At current growth rates, Pueblo County would increase by 2005 to 149,424 inhabitants. Baca County is losing population, with a projected loss of 1,000 people in 2005 from a population of 4,298 to 4,197.
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