Larimer County, Colorado

Larimer County is a county in Colorado, United States, at the northern end of the Front Range
about 60 miles north of Denver. It had a population of 359,066 at the 2020 census, an estimated
377,292 by 2025, and covers 2,634 square miles (6,820 km2) centred near 40°39′N 105°28′W.

Fort Collins is the county seat and largest city; its postal code is 80521. The county holds 2
cities, 6 incorporated towns and 2 census-designated places, plus a scatter of unincorporated
mountain and plains communities, and it runs on Mountain Time. Its FIPS code is 08069.

Towns & Villages in Larimer County

Larimer County has 10 incorporated or census-recognized places on record: 2 cities, 6 towns
and 2 CDPs, four of which share their name and territory with a neighboring county. The old site
listing carried 66 entries as bare unnumbered names with no type, population or ZIP; most were
unincorporated mountain crossroads, ranch stops and abandoned townsites in the Poudre and Big
Thompson canyons rather than populated places with any census count of their own. CDP stands for
census designated place; Unincorp. covers canyon settlements, resorts and rural crossroads with
no formal government.

Four of the county’s ten named municipalities straddle a county line. Berthoud sits mostly
in Larimer, with 261 of its 10,332 residents in Weld County; Windsor runs the opposite way, its
western half in Larimer and its larger eastern half in Weld, and its citywide total of 32,716
counts both sides. Johnstown is chiefly a Weld County town — only a small edge of its
17,303 residents live on the Larimer side. Timnath, by contrast, sits entirely inside Larimer.
Dozens more names on the county’s older list — Andersonville, Beaver Point, Berts
Corner, Black Hollow Junction, Box Prairie, Browns Corner, Bulger, Cedar Cove, Drakes, Eggers,
Giddings, Glen Comfort, Glendevey, Goodell Corner, Harmony, Horsetooth Heights, Idylwilde, Indian
Meadows, Kelim, Kenyon Corner, Kerns, Kings Corner, Kinikinik, Little Dam, Loveland Heights,
McClellands, Meyers Corner, Midway, Mishawaka, Mountain View, Norfolk, Old Roach, Olympus
Heights, Omega, Owl Canyon, Pinewood Springs, Redmond, Reds Place, Rex, Sinnard, Spencer
Heights, Stove Prairie Landing, Trilby Corner and Waltonia — are historic ranch stops,
abandoned rail sidings or informal canyon place-names with no current Census Bureau recognition
and no population count of their own; they are omitted here rather than listed without any
verifiable data.

ZIP Codes

• 80521–80526, 80528 — Fort Collins
• 80534, 80537–80539 — Loveland (80534 also serves Johnstown)
• 80550 — Windsor
• 80549 — Wellington
• 80513 — Berthoud
• 80547 — Timnath
• 80517 — Estes Park
• 80535 — Laporte
• 80545 — Red Feather Lakes, Poudre Park and Rustic, all served from the same Poudre
  Canyon post office
• 80512 — Bellvue
• 80536 — Livermore
• 80532 — Glen Haven
• 80515 — Drake

Masonville, Waverly, Buckeye and Campion have no ZIP code of their own; mail there is
delivered under the nearest incorporated town’s code.

Geography

Larimer County spans the transition from the Colorado Eastern Plains to the Front Range and
the Medicine Bow and Never Summer mountains, giving it more elevation range than almost any
other Colorado county. Of its 2,634 square miles, 2,596 are land and 38 are
water — the largest bodies are Horsetooth Reservoir west of Fort Collins and Carter Lake
near Berthoud, both irrigation reservoirs built under the Colorado-Big Thompson Project. Rocky
Mountain National Park covers much of the county’s western third, and the Cache la Poudre
River, a federally designated Wild and Scenic River, drains the Poudre Canyon east through Fort
Collins toward the South Platte.

Laramie County and Albany County, Wyoming, lie to the north; Weld County to the east; Boulder
County to the south; Grand County to the southwest; and Jackson County to the west. Laramie County and Albany County in Wyoming, plus Weld County, Boulder County and Grand County all have posts on this site;
Jackson County, Colorado does not yet.

Demographics

Larimer County had a population of 359,066 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts
the county near 377,292 residents. Fort Collins and Loveland are by far the two largest
communities, together holding roughly two-thirds of the county’s population. Median
household income runs $93,765 (2024 ACS), above Colorado’s statewide figure of $92,911
(2023 ACS). Population density works out to roughly 138 people per square mile of land, driven
almost entirely by the Fort Collins–Loveland urban corridor along Interstate 25, since the
county’s western two-thirds are mountains with only scattered canyon populations.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance employs the most workers in the county, about 24,867
people, followed by educational services at 24,081 and professional, scientific and technical
services at 23,108. Colorado State University, in Fort Collins, is the county’s single
largest employer at roughly 8,850 staff, followed by UCHealth’s Poudre Valley and Medical
Center of the Rockies hospital systems and the Poudre R-1 and Thompson school districts.
Hewlett-Packard, Teledyne and Hach Company run manufacturing plants in the Fort Collins–
Loveland corridor. Estes Park’s economy runs on tourism as the eastern gateway to Rocky
Mountain National Park, which draws three to four million visitors a year. Loveland’s
biggest annual event is Sculpture in the Park each August, drawing artists from across the
country; Loveland also runs a Valentine Re-Mailing Program, remailing more than 160,000 cards a
year under its town postmark.

History

Colorado Territory created Larimer County on 1 November 1861 and named it for William
Larimer, Jr., the founder of Denver. Laporte, on the Cache la Poudre River, served as the first
county seat. An 1862 Army post, Camp Collins, was built nearby; a flood in June 1864 destroyed
the camp, and its garrison relocated to a new site that grew into the city of Fort Collins, which
took over as county seat. Before European settlement, Ute people occupied the mountainous west
of the county while Cheyenne and Arapaho bands used the plains to the east. Sugar beet farming,
introduced in 1902, drew large numbers of German-Russian immigrant families to the county, and
the 1930s Colorado-Big Thompson irrigation project reshaped its water supply for decades after.

Getting There

Interstate 25 runs north–south through the eastern third of the county, linking Fort
Collins, Loveland, Windsor, Timnath and Wellington. US 34, US 36, US 87 and US 287 and Colorado
Highways 1, 7, 14, 56, 60, 66, 392 and 402 cover the rest of the county, including the canyon
routes into the mountains.

• Denver — about 60 miles south
• Cheyenne, Wyoming — about 45 miles north
• Greeley — about 25 miles southeast
• Boulder — about 35 miles south

Northern Colorado Regional Airport, on the Fort Collins-Loveland line, handles general
aviation and a growing schedule of commercial flights. Denver International Airport, roughly 65
miles southeast of Fort Collins, is the nearest major hub. Amtrak does not serve Larimer County
directly; the nearest station is Denver Union Station.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Larimer County located?
It sits at the northern end of Colorado’s Front Range, about 60 miles north of Denver,
bordered by Laramie and Albany counties in Wyoming and by Weld, Boulder, Grand and Jackson
counties in Colorado.

What is the population of Larimer County?
359,066 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 377,292 by 2025.

How big is Larimer County?
2,634 square miles (6,820 km2), stretching from the Eastern Plains across the Front Range into
Rocky Mountain National Park.

What is the county seat of Larimer County?
Fort Collins, home to Colorado State University, is the county seat and largest city.

How many towns and cities are in Larimer County?
Two cities — Fort Collins and Loveland — and six incorporated towns: Windsor,
Johnstown, Wellington, Berthoud, Timnath and Estes Park. Laporte and Red Feather Lakes are
census-designated places.

What ZIP codes does Larimer County use?
80521 through 80528 for Fort Collins; 80534 and 80537–80539 for Loveland; 80550 for
Windsor; 80549 for Wellington; 80513 for Berthoud; 80547 for Timnath; and 80517 for Estes Park.

What is Larimer County known for?
Rocky Mountain National Park and its gateway town, Estes Park; Colorado State University in Fort
Collins; and the Cache la Poudre, Colorado’s only federally designated Wild and Scenic
River.

More counties in this state: Towns
and villages in Colorado.