Mesa County, Colorado

Mesa County is a place in the U.S. state of Colorado. It is the most crowded county in western Colorado and the 11th most crowded in the whole state. As of the 2020 census, over 155,000 people live there.

The main city and county seat is Grand Junction. The county got its name from the many big flat areas called mesas, including the Grand Mesa, which is the largest flat mountain in the world.

Mesa County is part of the Grand Junction, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2020, this area was the 271st most populous in the United States. It is special because it is the only big area in Colorado that is not near the Front Range.

Geography

Mesa County in Colorado covers a big area of 3,341 square miles (8,650 km²), making it the fourth-largest county in the state. Most of this area is land, with just a small part being water.

The county shares borders with several other counties, including Garfield County to the north and Utah to the west. It has many important roads, such as I-70 and US 6, that help people travel around.

Mesa County also includes many beautiful natural places, like the Colorado National Monument and parts of the Grand Mesa National Forest. There are also special parks and trails, such as Highline Lake State Park and the American Discovery Trail, where people can enjoy the outdoors.

Demographics

2020 census

In 2020, the county had 155,703 people. About 21% were younger than 18, and 21% were 65 or older. The average age was 40.7 years. Most people lived in towns, with only a small part living in the countryside.

The people were mostly White, with small groups of Black, Native American, Asian, and Pacific Islander people. About 15% were Hispanic or Latino. There were many homes, and most were owned by the people living in them.

2010 census

In 2010, there were 146,723 people in the county. The number of people per square mile was 44.1. Many families lived together, but a lot of people lived alone.

2000 census

In 2000, most people in the county were White, with smaller groups of other races. About 10% were Hispanic or Latino.

Education

Many places in Mesa County, such as Grand Junction, Fruita, and Palisade, go to school in the Mesa County Valley School District 51. This district has almost 21,000 students in 47 schools, making it the biggest school district in western Colorado. Another small district, De Beque Joint District 49, serves the town of De Beque, and Plateau Valley School District serves Collbran and other nearby areas.

Colorado Mesa University (CMU) is in Grand Junction. It is a big public university with about 10,000 students each year and is the largest university in western Colorado. CMU also has a technology school called CMU Tech in Grand Junction and a learning center in Clifton. Grand Junction is also home to IntelliTec College, where students can earn professional certificates.

Politics

Mesa County tends to support Republican leaders. Since 1952, it has only voted for a Democratic leader once, during a big win for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. The last Democratic leader to get forty percent of the votes here was Hubert Humphrey in 1968.

In the 2024 United States presidential election in Colorado, the county stayed mostly Republican but moved a little closer to the Democratic side. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris got the highest percentage of votes here since 1996.

Elected officials

2020-2021 county clerk election tampering

In August 2021, it was reported that the Mesa County Clerk, Tina Peters, allowed someone who was not allowed in during an important update to the county's voting software in May 2021. This made the voting tools unable to be used for the fall 2021 election.

This was not the first time there were problems with Peters. In February 2020, it was found that her office did not count 574 ballots from a dropbox outside her office in the November 2019 election. These ballots were not counted for three months and were only found when her office checked the dropbox for ballots from the 2020 presidential primary. This led to an attempt to remove Peters from her position, but it was not successful.

In March 2022, Peters was charged with several serious crimes related to the alleged security issue in May 2021. Her deputy, Belinda Knisley, was also charged. At the time, Peters was running for a position that would oversee elections in Colorado. In May 2022, a judge stopped Peters and Knisley from managing the November 2022 elections in Mesa County.

On August 12, 2024, Peters was found guilty of several charges. She was sentenced to a total of 9 years in prison, with the first 6 months to be served locally and the rest in a state prison. She was also fined $3,000. As of October 2025, Peters is serving her sentence in a prison in Pueblo.

Communities

Mesa County has several places where people live. The biggest city is Grand Junction, which is also the county seat. Another city is Fruita.

There are also smaller towns such as Collbran, De Beque, and Palisade. Some places that are not officially towns but still have many homes include Clifton, Fruitvale, Loma, Orchard Mesa, and Redlands.

Other areas without their own town governments have names like Appleton, Bridges Switch, Gateway, Glade Park, Mack, Mesa, Molina, Mount Lincoln, Plateau City, and Whitewater.

There are also old, abandoned towns called ghost towns, such as Akin, Cameo, and Carpenter.

Transportation

Road

Interstate 70 connects Grand Junction to cities like Denver, Kansas City, and St. Louis. It also links to Las Vegas, Nevada and southern California through Interstate 15.

U.S. Highway 6 runs through 14 states from Provincetown, Massachusetts to Bishop, California. In Colorado, it runs close to Interstate 76 and Interstate 70.

U.S. Highway 50 crosses 12 states, linking Ocean City, Maryland with Sacramento, California. In Colorado, it connects Grand Junction with Montrose, Gunnison, and Pueblo, and heads into Utah to the west.

SH 340 runs from downtown Grand Junction through the Redlands and ends at U.S. Highway 6 and U.S. Highway 50 in Fruita.

Air

Downtown Grand Junction is close to Grand Junction Regional Airport, with other nearby airports at Mack Mesa and Pinyon.

Train

An Amtrak station in downtown Grand Junction serves the California Zephyr, which stops daily between San Francisco and Chicago.

Bus

Grand Junction has a regional Bustang bus stop, and Grand Valley Transit provides eleven fixed bus routes in the area.