Routt County is a county in Colorado, United States, in the northwest part of the state along the Yampa River valley. It had a population of 24,829 at the 2020 census and covers 2,368 square miles (6,136 km2) centred near 40\u00b029\u2032N 106\u00b059\u2032W.<\/p>\n
Steamboat Springs is the county seat, and its postal code is 80487. The county holds three incorporated towns, one census-designated place, and a scatter of unincorporated communities and historic mining and railroad camps. Routt County sits in the Mountain time zone.<\/p>\n
Routt County’s settlements split between the ski-and-ranching towns of the Yampa Valley and a long list of former coal-mining and railroad camps that thinned out after the mines closed in the mid-20th century. The table below marks incorporated towns and the county seat first, then the one census-designated place, then unincorporated communities and historic sites. Population and ZIP are shown only where independently verifiable; other camps are noted as historic settlements with no current population count.<\/p>\n
| Place<\/th>\n | Type<\/th>\n | Pop.<\/th>\n | ZIP<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steamboat Springs<\/td>\n | City · seat<\/td>\n | 13,224<\/td>\n | 80487<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Hayden<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 2,097<\/td>\n | 81639<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Oak Creek<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 926<\/td>\n | 80467<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Yampa<\/td>\n | Town<\/td>\n | 468<\/td>\n | 80483<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Phippsburg<\/td>\n | CDP<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Clark<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | 80428<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Columbine<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Milner<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Toponas<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Hahns Peak Village<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Dunckley<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Battle Creek<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Elkhead<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Glen Eden<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Haybro<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Keystone<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mad Creek<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| McGregor<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mount Harris<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Mystic<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Pagoda<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Slavonia<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Steamboat II<\/td>\n | Unincorp.<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Trapper<\/td>\n | Historic settlement<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n | —<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n Mount Harris, Mad Creek, Haybro and several of the other “historic settlement” entries were company coal camps built by mining operators along the Yampa River branch of the Denver & Salt Lake Railroad in the early 1900s; most were dismantled or abandoned once the mines they served closed by the 1950s, and no current population figures exist for them. Steamboat II is a later residential subdivision near Milner, not a historic camp.<\/p>\n ZIP Codes<\/h2>\nSmaller unincorporated places and historic camps without their own ZIP code are served by the nearest town’s post office.<\/p>\n Geography<\/h2>\nRoutt County spans the upper Yampa River valley on the west side of the Continental Divide, running from the Elkhead Mountains and Park Range in the north down through ranchland and reservoir country in the south. The Yampa River is the county’s principal waterway, flowing west through Steamboat Springs before crossing into Moffat County. Public land dominates the county, including most of Routt National Forest, the Mount Zirkel Wilderness, and Steamboat Lake and Stagecoach Reservoir state parks.<\/p>\n Routt County borders Carbon County, Wyoming, to the north; Jackson County to the northeast; Grand County<\/a> to the east; Eagle County<\/a> to the southeast; Garfield County<\/a> to the south; Rio Blanco County<\/a> to the southwest; and Moffat County<\/a> to the west.<\/p>\n Routt County counted 24,829 residents at the 2020 census, most of them in Steamboat Springs (13,224) and the Hayden-Milner corridor along US 40. That works out to a density of roughly 10.5 people per square mile, well below Colorado’s Front Range counties. Household income in Routt County trends well above the Colorado median of $92,911, reflecting the resort, second-home, and energy-sector wages that dominate the local economy.<\/p>\n Tourism built around Steamboat Ski Resort and its hot springs anchors the county’s economy, alongside ranching in the Yampa Valley and, historically, coal mining around Hayden and Oak Creek \u2014 the Trapper Mine and the Hayden coal-fired power plant still operate near those towns. Colorado Mountain College’s Steamboat Springs campus offers the country’s only degree program in ski and snowboard business. The Winter Carnival, held in Steamboat Springs every February since 1914, is the county’s best-known annual event.<\/p>\n Routt County was organized on January 29, 1877, and named for John Long Routt, Colorado’s last territorial governor and first state governor. Gold prospectors found deposits near Hahns Peak in 1864, drawing the county’s first wave of settlers, but ranching and later coal mining around Oak Creek and Hayden became the more durable economic base once the gold played out. The Denver & Salt Lake Railroad reached the valley in the early 1900s, spawning the string of coal camps \u2014 Mount Harris, Mad Creek, Trapper and others \u2014 that appear on old maps of the county but no longer function as towns.<\/p>\n U.S. Route 40 is the county’s main east-west highway, linking Steamboat Springs to Craig and the Front Range; State Highways 131 and 134 connect south to Interstate 70 and east over Rabbit Ears Pass.<\/p>\n Yampa Valley Regional Airport near Hayden is the county’s commercial airport, with year-round service to Denver and seasonal nonstop flights from several other US cities during ski season.<\/p>\n Where is Routt County?<\/strong> What is the population of Routt County?<\/strong> How big is Routt County?<\/strong> What is the county seat of Routt County?<\/strong> How many towns are in Routt County?<\/strong> |