The 2020 Census Bureau reports that 74,129 people who identify as American Indian/Alaska Native alone live in Colorado, many of whom live in urban areas, mostly in the Denver metro and Colorado Springs areas. The 2020 Census Bureau also shows there are more than 100,000 people who identify as American Indian/Alaska Native alone or in combination with one or more races living in Colorado. These population numbers are up since the 2010 Census, and the growing trend is expected to continue.
Selected as one of the initial destination cities for the relocation and employment assistance programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Denver became a hub for American Indian individuals and families. Although the federal government hoped to assimilate Indian relocatees by distancing them from reservation communities, the AI/AN community created organizations and a community foundation to support themselves and showed little interest in losing their Tribal or AI/AN identities.
With Denver's central location between the desert Tribes of the southwest and the plains Tribes east of the Rocky Mountains, the metropolitan area has become a hub for Indian Country. These descendants of the Cheyenne, Lakota, Kiowa, Navajo, and at least 200 Tribal Nations are an integral part of the city's social and economic life. Despite their diversity, they are a tight-knit group, sharing the same strong commitment to family and cultural survival.
For more information about American Indian/Alaska Native population statistics, check out the 2020 Census Bureau American Indian and Alaska Native Data page.
Denver American Indian Commission Resource Guide
View the Denver American Indian Commission Resource Guide