As Colorado continues to experience rapid population growth, a record number of residents have moved out of the state.
As Colorado Public Radio reports, new annual figures from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey show that Colorado experienced its first population decline in about a decade in 2016 in the number of people arriving from other states, while those leaving Colorado hit a record high.
The result was the lowest net-migration number – 30,000 total new residents – in seven years.
About 193,000 Colorado residents moved away last year, 10,000 more than in 2015, according to the data. Meanwhile, 223,000 people moved into the state, down about 4,000 from the year, though still well above recent years.
Meanwhile, Colorado's population grew by 11 percent from 2009 to 2016, to 5.55 million residents.
The drop in net migration could help explain why Colorado's unemployment rate dropped sharply to a record-low 2.3 percent this spring.
