County's makeup remains constant over past 10 years

County's makeup remains constant over past 10 years

May 24, 2001

by Janelle Holden
Journal Staff Writer

The face of Montezuma County has aged in the past 10 years, but its composition has remained nearly the same.

The demographic profile of Montezuma County from the 2000 U.S. Census revealed little change within the race makeup of the County, which grew by over 27 percent from 18,672 residents in 1990 to 23,830 in 2000.

One interesting indicator of Montezuma County’s growth is the rise in the number of seasonal and recreational homes. In 2000, the number of seasonal homes jumped from the 372 recorded in 1990 to 480, a trend that Mike Preston, Montezuma County federal-lands coordinator, says will likely continue.

"The real attraction of the area is the landscape — the public lands and the agriculture," Preston explained.

Preston terms the movement of new residents into the area who are financially secure and looking for a change in lifestyle as "amenity migration." According to Preston, this type of growth has fed the construction industry within the county, which has helped those out of work from waning logging and mining industries.

"There has been some loss in employment in the traditional natural-resource industry, and, really, construction jobs have picked up the slack from that," explained Preston.

Cortez City Manager Hal Shepherd said Cortez has remained "undiscovered" so far but could metamorphose into a Sedona or Prescott, Ariz.

"We’re going to have people move here that don’t need a job," Shepherd admitted, but said the city is focusing not on attracting new people to the area, but on improving the quality of life and job opportunities for the people who have already chosen Cortez as their home.

"Our first goal is to employ people here," he said.

The urban centers of the county — Cortez, Dolores, and Mancos — were not the center of growth, the census showed. Cortez grew by nearly 700 residents in the past decade, while Dolores lost nine, and Mancos gained 277. The remainder of new residents moved into the unincorporated areas of the county.

But the new rural growth is not all bad, said Preston.

"Some of the people who are coming in for amenity reasons are bringing new money into the county, and to some extent there is some new economic growth coming in too," said Preston.

"It’s still pretty much a residential community, and I wouldn’t want to see that get out of balance, and so far I don’t think we’re in any danger of that," he said.

Although Montezuma County remains predominantly white, its minority population has stayed almost constant since 1990. Hispanics and Native Americans, the two largest minority populations, still account for nearly 20 percent of the county’s residents.

The Hispanic population did rise a bit over the past 10 years, from 8.6 percent of the total to 9.5 percent.

African Americans, Asians, native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, as well as those who are of combined or other races, accounted for 7.2 percent of the population.

But like the rest of the country and the state, Montezuma County has aged as the near-retirement baby boomers, the country’s largest age group, have grown older.

The median age of county residents rose from 33.3 years in 1990 to 38 in 2000.

The percentage of family households in the county has dropped in the past 10 years. Family households currently account for 70.8 percent of the 9,201 households in Montezuma County, while in 1990 they accounted for 76 percent.

The average number of persons per household and family has remained between two and three.

One additional category to the 2000 census was the "unmarried partners," 437 of which were reported to reside in the county. There was no explanation as to how there could be an odd number in that category.