COLORADO — In 2019, U.S. population growth fell to its slowest pace in years, but in Colorado the numbers tell a bit of a different story.
According to the United States Census Bureau, 67,000 moved to the state in 2019. This is down from 2018, where about 80,000 flocked to the state.
"I think it's changing and that's a good thing in a lot of ways," Shelia Helm, a Colorado native said, "everything's more livelier than it used to be".
Among some of the changes, Helm says she enjoys the new restaurants coming to Downtown Colorado Springs. Although she admits parts of town are changing drastically from her childhood.
"If I drive out east or north, I kind of feel like I'm in a different city," said Helm, who added Circle Drive used to be where the city ended, and now it's considered more central for many people.
For anyone logging onto social media, it's quick to see there's a bit of a rivalry between Colorado natives and transplants. Helm thinks a lot of that comes down to people being uncomfortable with change.
Transplants say they understand the sentiments from people born and raised in the state. For many though, the people are a big reason why they stay.
"My boyfriend, who was born and raised here, he says that all the time-- oh those people from California or oh those people from Texas and I'm like I'm one of those people," Brandy Byers said, who moved to the springs eleven years ago. Byers says the people here are nice and it's one of the reasons she doesn't feel the need to move back to her home state of California.
For Dikshit Mahaveer Chand, who moved to Colorado Springs from Illinois, he says the weather and attitude of the people is what attracted him to the state.
"It's a pretty calm place, not so much of the hustle and bustle," said Mahaveer Chand.
There are a lot of impacts when it comes to thousands of people moving to the state. Aside from the challenges of infrastructure and cost of living. 2020 is a Census count year and if Colorado's growth continues as it does, there could be another Colorado Representative in Congress.
