Downtown Denver is experiencing rapid growth in both business and population, but the demographic makeup of the area remains disproportionately affluent, white, and single.
According to the Denver Post, Denver’s downtown area is currently home to 23,000 people, three times more than it was in 2000. This is largely thanks to a recent spike in jobs and development, including more than $1.35 billion in new development in 2017 and the first part of 2018 and $2.26 billion still being completed.
But the benefactors of this new development are not demographically representative of the metro area as a whole. The downtown population is approximately 76 percent white, 8 percent Hispanic, 5 percent Asian, and 4 percent black, compared to Denver County as a whole which was 54 percent white, 30 percent Hispanic, and 10 percent black in 2016. Additionally, nearly seven in 10 households downtown holds a bachelor’s degree, and the average household income is $120,099.
Many are worried the lack of diversity could stem growth moving forward.
“In order to have that breadth and depth of experiences, we need to have all of the people who work in Denver be able to call downtown Denver their home,” says Amy Cara, managing partner with development firm East West Partners. “It’s a big issue but we need to solve it or we won’t continue to move forward.”
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