Gypsum Demographics

Physical and Historical Settings
Gypsum is located at the confluence of the Eagle River and Gypsum Creek. The Town is rapidly growing southward and eastward up both drainage's. The Town is accessed via either Colorado Highway 6 (runs through Town) or US Interstate 70 (runs along the northern boundary of Town). The Town is situated in the lower Eagle River Valley basin between the Town of Eagle and the mouth of Glenwood Canyon. It is 35 miles to Vail and approximately 60 miles to Aspen, with Glenwood Springs only 25 miles away.

The Eagle County Airport, located in Gypsum, is the largest and busiest destination airport on the Western Slope. Air travel to Gypsum is the best, most direct and reliable way for travelers to get to the Aspen and Vail area ski and golf resorts from other parts of the country. At least five major commercial air carriers provide large jet service directly to Gypsum (during winter months) from a dozen major cities throughout the United States including Dallas/Fort/Worth, Houston, Phoenix, Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, New York, Newark, Atlanta, Miami, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.

At the end of the 1998 calendar year, the Town of Gypsum's population was estimated to be slightly higher than 3,000 residents. Our population has grown at an average rate of approximately 7-8% per year since 1980. Recent years have seen an even faster growth rate of approximately 13% per year. The number of building permits issued and the corresponding estimated value of construction projects grows each year. These trends are expected to continue into the near future due to three factors: 1) the current strength of the residential and commercial markets in the lower Eagle River Valley area, 2) the availability of newly annexed and zoned land for commercial/light industrial and residential development in Town, and 3) the general trend of rapid population growth along the Front Range and in the Central Rocky Mountain area with planned transportation improvements facilitating movement between the Front Range and the mountain areas.

US Census Data Defined
United States Census data for the Town of Gypsum is available beginning in 1920, and again every 10th year since then up to 1990. For the period of 1990 through 2000 staff projected the population growth based upon the standard methods used by the Colorado State Demographers Office. The table below indicates strong growth periods during the 30's and 40's, followed by a relatively slow growth period in the 50's and 60's. Rapid expansion occurred in the 70's followed by unprecedented and extremely rapid growth in the 80's and 90's as illustrated in the table.

New housing permits and thus the Town's population have increased by an average of approximately 11-13% in recent years. If this trend continues Gypsum will have close to 10,000 residents by the year 2010. During the three-year period from 1992 to 1995, the average cost of a single-family home in Gypsum rose from $101,481 to $146,666, an increase of 44.5%. Gross annual sales of residences over this same three-year period rose from $4.5 million to nearly $56 million. Although the cost of housing in Gypsum is increasing, the area is still relatively affordable when compared to other up valley communities. Thus, the housing cost increases have not deterred families from making this town their home.

The popularity of Gypsum as a place of full time residence is evidenced by the fact that the Town's vacancy rate in 1995 was only 3.3%. When compared with Avon's vacancy rate of 36.9% and Vail's of 70.22%, it is evident that Gypsum, with the lowest vacancy rate in Eagle County, has become known as a desirable place to live.