Dale Sanderson's site on the geographic center of the contiguous 48 states got me thinking about the same thing for Colorado. Obviously I have too much time on my hands because I was able to sit down and figure this out. But it was made easier by one simple thing: Colorado is a rectangle, or as close to a rectangle as something can be on the curved surface of the planet. Starting with the latitude/longitude of the four corners of Colorado I averaged them until arriving at the center:
From my calculations the geographic center of Colorado falls at 38.9988 N, 105.5473 W. This is in southern Park County west of Lake George, between Elevenmile Canyon Reservoir and US 24.
Here are two USGS topographic maps. The 1:100,000 scale map on left shows Colorado's geographic center at the red cross hairs. You can see US 24 going across the top of the map and Elevenmile Canyon Reservoir at the bottom. The kink in US 24 near the top center is Wilkerson Pass. The map on right is zoomed in on the location on a 1:24,000 scale map. I've never been there, I am unaware as to what the conditions of the local roads shown on these maps are. Also, the point is on private property based on the maps I have that show national forest and state land boundaries.
If Colorado were a flat piece of paper and every person in the state weighed exactly the same, there would be some place you could put your finger underneath it and balance it. This point is the population centroid and gives some insight into where most people in a state live. According to the 2010 Census, Colorado's is at 39.5133 N, 105.2081 W. Not surprisingly, this is near metro Denver in Jefferson County, off of South Deer Creek Canyon, almost exactly halfway between Kassler and Conifer as the crow flies.
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Page created 6 August 2003
Last updated 16 March 2013