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The Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area is a metropolitan statistical area defined by the United States Census Bureau as the ten-county region centered on the city of Denver, Colorado and its eastern neighbor, Aurora. According to the 2000 Census, it has a population of 2,179,240. According to Demographia, it is currently the 20th largest metropolitan area in the United States *. The area is colloquially referred to by the terms Denver Metro or Metro Area, and includes the City and County of Denver; Jefferson and Broomfield counties to the north and west; Arapahoe and Douglas counties to the south and east; and Adams County to the north and east. The most prosperous portions lie to the south, in Douglas County; while the most industrialized areas are to the north, in Denver and extending north to areas such as Commerce City. Although each county and its cities and towns are self-governing, there is some cooperation in the metropolitan area. Many of the counties and cities belong to the Denver Regional Council of Governments, an association which fosters cooperative planning in the region. The Scientific and Cultural Facilities District provides funding for scientific and cultural facilities including the Denver Art Museum, the Denver Zoo, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, and the Denver Botanic Gardens. In addition, the Regional Transportation District (RTD) provides mass transit, including a light rail system. The RTD has developed a twelve-year comprehensive plan, called "FasTracks", to build and operate rail transit lines and expand and improve bus service throughout the region. The entire metropolitan area sits in a valley, the Denver Basin, and suffers from air pollution known colloquially as the brown cloud, building up if the air is stagnant as it often is in the winter. In the late 1980s the area was frequently in violation of multiple National Ambient Air Quality Standards established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC) was formed in 1989 to create plans to address the problem. Through a variety of measures the area's air quality was improved and in 2002 the EPA designated the area in compliance with all federal health-based air quality standards. Denver was the first major city in the United States to reach compliance with all six of these standards after previously violating five of them*. Since then the EPA introduced a new standard for small particulates and made the existing ozone standard stricter. In 2003 the new ozone standard was frequently exceeded in the area and was occasionally exceeded as far away as Rocky Mountain National Park. The RAQC hopes to implement plans enabling the area to comply with the new standards by 2007. See: Colorado Front Range
Counties United States metropolitan areas as defined by the Census Bureau are based on counties. The Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area includes the following 10 counties: Because of the relatively large county size in Colorado, much of this area is not popularly considered to be part of the metro area. For example, little to none of Clear Creek, Elbert, Gilpin, or Park counties are metropolitan in nature, and only Denver and Broomfield counties are more than half urban by area. On the other hand, Boulder is often considered to be a part of metropolitan Denver, and was included in previous Census definitions of it, but is now defined as a metropolitan area of its own, consisting solely of Boulder County. Cities and towns Bold indicates a principal city. The following outlying communities may be popularly associated with the metro area, but according to Census definition are part of the separate Boulder Metropolitan Area: Sister "city" Though Arvada, Aurora, Boulder, Brighton, Broomfield, Denver, Lakewood and Longmont have their own individual sister city relationships, the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG) as a whole has a sister city relationship with the Baghdad Governorate of Iraq. | ||||||||
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