This article says 13K people in a year to Denver city & county: https://www.denverpost.com/2017/03/28/denvers-growth-spurt-s...
It looks like Colorado's population is around 5.7 million with an annual growth rate of 1.4% - so about 80K people per year for the state.
http://worldpopulationreview.com/states/colorado-population/
It seems to have good density. Even small towns in Colorado look expensive.
Anything along the Front Range, Colorado Springs, and north, all the way up to Fort Collins, have seen huge increases in housing costs in the last 5 years. Denver and Boulder are expensive, yes, but the commuter (bedroom) communities, like Fort Collins, Longmont, Brighton, etc, have seen huge spikes in housing costs. Rentals in these areas, throughout my college career, were more than manageable. My rent TRIPLED when I moved out of my last college apartment. I moved from Greeley, to Fort Collins, which is consistently rated as like the best place to raise a family too. These communities have been relatively affordable until the last few years, when things have suddenly gotten a little out of control.
There's not enough new development, a huge demand for single family homes, and an influx of population has driven the housing market up and up. The Oil and Gas industry seemingly started the trend back in 2013-2014, but now, all sorts of businesses are opening up, there's just more demand. It's unfortunate for those of us just getting started in our careers, and definitely creates disdain for all the new-comers.
You realize that both Ft. Morgan and Sterling call themselves cities? But I get your point. They are small in population compared to Front Range municipalities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_and_towns_in_Co...
The money got sucked out of the US economy (foreign manufacturing, high oil prices back in the '00's) - and now that wealth is consolidated, and they're investing in property all over the place; especially in US suburbs (and Canada), and it's jacking up demand so bad, that even very high-paying white-collar jobs can't realistically finance a house anymore. Oh- people can BUY the homes. They will have to stretch to pay for maintenance, save for kids' college, and their own retirement.
Only people who bought before the last bubble are really able to afford these homes. Or Doctors and Lawyers and executives.
The only way to beat this game, seems to be; if you're a rock-star, and can work out a remote gig, you can live in a cheap area, and still make "expensive area" money.
(and if you go for a company that's expanding to an area of low housing demand: they'll pay you less. AND. In 5-10 years when the economy hits a low spot, they'll shut your site down and lay you off. In any case, the GOOD projects, the kind that will boost your career, are not going to come to your backwater site. You would need to relocate to their main headquarters. Territorial battles are a real thing)
Housing in Colorado isn't necessarily un-affordable, yet, it's just way over priced. Plus the demand continues to go up, causing pricing to rise. I know that in Northern Colorado, it sort of peaked back in 2016, and the rate at which prices are going up are slower than they were, but housing still isn't cheap.
(Luckily, I am fortunate enough to work in a developer role for a company, in an industry that is pretty rock solid, so I think getting laid off isn't a huge threat. I got laid off last year from HPE and managed to land on my feet. I have been working with a mortgage broker to try and buy something instead of paying sky high rents, but being a twenty-something, even with a decently high salary still makes this way harder than it would have been a few years earlier, even with a lower salary. )