Weld County, Colorado

Weld County is a county in Colorado, United States, about 55 miles north of Denver. It had a
population of 328,981 at the 2020 census, an estimated 378,426 by 2025, and covers 3,987 square
miles (10,325 km2) of land centred near 40°32′N 104°24′W.

Greeley is the county seat; its postal code is 80631. The county holds more than 30 cities and
incorporated towns, several only partly inside its borders, plus 2 census-designated places and
about 15 unincorporated communities, and it runs on Mountain Time. Its FIPS code is 08123.

Towns & Villages in Weld County

Weld County has 31 incorporated cities and towns wholly or partly on its territory, the most
of any Colorado county. Several — Erie, Johnstown, Windsor, Berthoud, Lochbuie, Longmont,
Brighton, Northglenn and Thornton — straddle a neighbouring county, and their population
figures below are citywide unless a Weld-only split is noted. Two census-designated places and a
scatter of unincorporated crossroads round out the county.

Beyond the incorporated list, Weld County’s plains carry roughly 15 named unincorporated
communities with no city government: Auburn, Avalo, Buda, Carr, Dearfield, Galeton, Gill,
Hereford, Highlandlake, Ione, Keota, Lucerne, Roggen, Stoneham and Wattenburg. Most are grain-
elevator crossroads or rail sidings from the county’s homestead era; several, including Dearfield
and Keota, are now unpopulated ghost towns rather than active settlements.

Nine of the places above are only partly in Weld County. Erie splits 58 percent Weld and 42
percent Boulder; Windsor and Johnstown both extend west into Larimer County; Lochbuie, Brighton,
Northglenn and Thornton are Adams County cities with small Weld-side annexations; Berthoud is
overwhelmingly a Larimer County town, with only 261 of its 10,332 residents on the Weld side; and
Longmont’s built-up area is centred in Boulder County but reaches into western Weld.

ZIP Codes

• 80631 — Greeley (also covers Garden City)
• 80620 — Evans
• 80621 — Fort Lupton
• 80610 — Ault and Severance
• 80615 — Eaton
• 80644 — Kersey
• 80645 — La Salle
• 80651 — Platteville
• 80623 — Gilcrest
• 80534 — Johnstown
• 80528, 80550 — Windsor
• 80542 — Mead
• 80543 — Milliken
• 80603 — Lochbuie
• 80642 — Hudson
• 80643 — Keenesburg
• 80648 — Nunn
• 80650 — Pierce
• 80729 — Grover
• 80742 — New Raymer (the Postal Service will not accept the plain name Raymer)
• 80504, 80520 — Firestone
• 80504, 80516, 80530 — Frederick
• 80514, 80516 — Erie and Dacono

Ghost towns and crossroads such as Dearfield, Keota, Auburn and Stoneham have no ZIP of their
own; mail for those addresses runs under the nearest active post office town.

Geography

Weld County occupies Colorado’s northeastern high plains, a flat-to-rolling shortgrass prairie
sloping gently east away from the Front Range foothills, in the north-central part of the state.
Of its 4,017 square miles, 3,987 are land and 30 are water, under 1 percent, and the South Platte
River, joined by the Cache la Poudre River at Greeley, is the dominant drainage crossing the
county west to east. The South Platte valley carries most of the irrigated farmland and the
county’s biggest towns.

Larimer County lies to the west and Boulder County to the southwest, with the City and County
of Broomfield tucked against the southwest corner. Adams County borders on the south, Morgan
County on the southeast and Logan County on the northeast. Laramie County, Wyoming, sits north
across the state line, and Kimball County, Nebraska, touches the northeast corner. Larimer County, Boulder County and Logan County all have their own pages on this
site; Adams, Morgan and Broomfield do not yet.

Demographics

Weld County had a population of 328,981 at the 2020 census, and the latest estimate puts the
county near 378,426 residents. Greeley and Evans are by far the two largest communities, together
holding well over a third of the county’s population. Median household income runs about $97,097,
above Colorado’s statewide 2023 ACS figure of $92,911. Population density works out to roughly 82
people per square mile of land, low compared with the Denver metro core, reflecting how much of
the county is still farmland and rangeland east of the Front Range suburbs.

Economy & Local Life

Health care and social assistance is the county’s largest employment sector at about 20,789
workers, followed by manufacturing at 18,883 and retail trade at 18,784. Weld ranks as Colorado’s
leading producer of cattle, grain and sugar beets, and the county sits atop the Denver-Julesburg
Basin, one of the state’s most active oil and natural gas fields, which supports a large share of
manufacturing and trucking jobs around Greeley and Platteville. The University of Northern
Colorado, based in Greeley, is a major local employer and the anchor of the city’s northern
neighborhoods. Banner Health’s North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley is the county’s principal
hospital. The Greeley Stampede, held every Independence Day week in June and July, is the
county’s biggest annual event and one of the largest rodeos in the country.

History

Weld County was established on 1 November 1861 as one of Colorado Territory’s original 17
counties, named for Lewis Ledyard Weld, the territory’s first secretary, who died in the Civil
War the following year. Nathan Meeker, backed by New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley,
organized the Union Colony in 1869 as a temperance farming settlement at the confluence of the
Cache la Poudre and South Platte Rivers; roughly 500 colonists had arrived by May 1869, and the
town of Greeley grew from that colony.

In 1910, businessman Oliver Toussaint Jackson founded Dearfield east of Greeley as a farming
colony for African American homesteaders. It grew to 200-300 residents by 1920 with two churches,
a school and a restaurant, and its collective net worth reached $1,075,000 in 1921 before the
Depression emptied it; only 12 people remained by 1940. Dearfield is now a ghost town and was
added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. Weld County also holds the US record
for confirmed tornado sightings of any county from 1950 to 2011, with 252 reports.

Getting There

Interstate 25 runs along the county’s western edge through Erie, Firestone and Frederick, and
US 34, US 85 and US 287 all cross the county through Greeley. Colorado highways 14, 66, 60 and
392 link the smaller towns to the east.

• Denver — about 55 miles south
• Fort Collins — about 30 miles northwest
• Boulder — about 40 miles southwest
• Fort Morgan — about 35 miles southeast

Denver International Airport, roughly 55 miles south of Greeley, is the nearest major
commercial airport. Greeley-Weld County Airport handles general aviation. Amtrak has no station
in the county; the nearest stop is Denver Union Station.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where is Weld County located?
It sits on Colorado’s northeastern high plains, about 55 miles north of Denver, bordered by
Larimer, Boulder, Adams, Morgan and Logan counties, plus Wyoming and Nebraska to the north.

What is the population of Weld County?
328,981 at the 2020 census, with an estimate near 378,426 by 2025.

How big is Weld County?
4,017 square miles (10,325 km2 land and water), of which 3,987 square miles are land — the
largest county by area in northern Colorado.

What is the county seat of Weld County?
Greeley, founded in 1869 as the Union Colony, is the county seat and largest city.

How many towns and cities are in Weld County?
Thirty-one incorporated cities and towns lie wholly or partly within the county, plus two
census-designated places and about 15 unincorporated communities.

What ZIP codes does Weld County use?
Greeley uses 80631; other main codes include 80620 Evans, 80621 Fort Lupton, 80534 Johnstown,
80528/80550 Windsor and 80514/80516 Erie and Dacono, among others listed above.

What is Weld County known for?
Cattle, grain and sugar beet farming, Denver-Julesburg Basin oil and gas production, and the
Greeley Stampede rodeo held every summer.

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