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Find Out More About the Aspen, Basalt, Carbondale and Snowmass Village Area Economy & Job Market Aspen's population at the time of the 2000 Census was 5,914 and Pitkin County was 14,872. Hispanic or Latino population makes up 6.1% of the total population in Aspen and 6.5% in Pitkin County. According to the Community Development Department’s Community Profile, there has been significant growth between 1990 and 1998:
 A study done in 1997 depicted the seasonal populations of Aspen. Of the 7,397 year-round residents of Aspen, there were 1,852 occasional residents and 4,466 overnight tourists making Aspen’s population 13,715 people that summer. During the winter season, there were 2,066 occasional residents and 5,051 overnight tourists making Aspen’s population 14,514. Here is a list of further population statistics: Population - City of Aspen: 5,914 According to the Pitkin County Statistics at www.aspenpitkin.com, Pitkin County is located in the west central part of the State, in the Colorado River watershed, has an area of 975 square miles, about 54 miles long and 30 miles at the widest point. Its eastern boundary is the Continental Divide. The Crystal, Roaring Fork and Frying Pan Rivers flow into Pitkin County from the north; and tributaries of the Roaring Fork, including Castle and Maroon Creeks, flow into the southern part of the County. Elevations range from 6,625 to 14,259 feet atop Castle Peak. Population - Pitkin County: 14,872 Average daily population in Aspen: 20,871. Occasionally, this number spikes to over 27,000. Generally the heaviest days for visitation occur during July and early August. Winter months are somewhat slower although Christmas/New Year's numbers regularly approach 25,000**. *2000 U.S. Census Bureau Report Living in the Roaring Fork Valley The Aspen/Pitkin Housing Office administers a program for local residents. The Housing Office has an inventory of over 1400 rent controlled units, although the need for housing is usually greater than the number of units available. Just to give you an idea, rent for free-market 2 bedroom apartments range from $1200 to $2500 a month. 2-bedroom deed restricted units administered by the Housing Office rent for between $670 and $1320 a month depending on the location. The waiting list is about 2 years long. In addition, deed-restricted homes, mostly condominiums and townhomes, are available for purchase by residents. Priority is given to people who have lived in Pitkin County for at least 4 years. Because so many residents are interested in home ownership, there is competition when anything is available for sale. It's difficult to generalize on the price of these homes, but it is safe to say that a majority cost over $100,000. That is still much less than comparable housing on the free market. Our valley offers a variety of other towns in which to live besides Aspen. About 75% of our employees live outside the Aspen metropolitan area in towns like Aspen, Basalt, Carbondale and Snowmass Village. Although the cost of living outside of Aspen is somewhat less expensive, housing costs are still considered to be high by most standards. It is important to remember that when living outside the Aspen area, commuting time and expenses become factors as well. When the roads are dry, a one-way commute from Aspen is 30-40 minutes, if there are no other delays. During the winter the same commute can take 90 minutes or more. This information is not provided to discourage you from considering employment with Pitkin County. It has been our experience that employees who understand the reality of life here are happier than those who arrive unprepared. Choosing to make any location your home involves some compromise. Most of us wouldn't trade our lives here for anything but that is a choice you must make for yourself. “Living in the Roaring Fork Valley” was compiled by: Who Lives in Aspen? (Aspen compared to other resort towns) During the last several decades, other ski towns that were made from scratch, and lacked Aspen’s cultural dimensions. These factors appealed to an intellectual, affluent, famous, and powerful set of people who have joined and often displaced the existing Aspen community. The result is an extraordinary citizenry; thoughtful, vocal, accustomed to being in charge, and contentious in ways only possible when the stakes are primarily about ineffable things like charm and character! Nevertheless, the attractiveness of the lifestyle has created continuous growth and subjected Aspen to a relentlessly inflationary, price-insensitive demand for housing since the 1960’s. The lack of housing for persons who wish to live in Aspen has created a commuter society; the overflow of newcomers has forced these people to live in the towns northwest of Aspen such as Snowmass Village, Old Snowmass, Basalt, Carbondale, Red Stone, Marble, Glenwood Springs, New Castle, Silt, Rifle and Parachute. Comparing Aspen to other western resort towns can be startling: 
These trends are unlikely to abate soon, because 80 million American baby-boomers are beginning to reach their late 50’s, and they are inheriting some $10 trillion. The most affluent ones will continue to search out places like Aspen and Snowmass, increasing the pressure to turn the upper end of the valley into an exclusive club served by workers living ever farther down the ever more expensive and stratified commuter-shed. Support for these predictions is apparent in population figures, which indicate that Pitkin County is growing, and those numbers aren’t coming as largely from Aspen. Of the towns located “down-valley” from Aspen, Glenwood Springs serves as the health care, education and shopping center of the Roaring Fork Valley. The area from Glenwood Springs to Old Snowmass provides most of the housing, while Aspen and Snowmass offer jobs, recreation, dining and the arts. Altogether, most residents seem to find the availability of jobs and proximity to the cultural amenities in Aspen worth the commute; but that balance can be tipped as the driving and parking become more difficult. As the cost of living continues to rise, and as the densely crowded bedroom communities begin to experience higher taxes, urban crime, racial and ethnic tensions arise. The increasing numbers of commuters living far down the Colorado River Valley are symptomatic of the extremely stratified quality of life in the local economy, and they present new problems for extending public transit, day-care, and other social services. Of these issues, only public transit has effectively been addressed, and as with the affordable housing program and growth management, The Roaring Fork Transit Authority is showing signs of being overtaken by the pace and regional scale of development. RFTA represents an unparalleled community commitment to public transportation. Today, the RFTA provides a wide range of transit services to more than 3 million annual riders throughout the whole Roaring Fork Valley and Rifle. Among other resort towns, only Park City offers substantial public transportation, and that service is simply a shuttle from the parking lots to the ski lifts, serving about 1 million annual riders. Meanwhile, other social dimensions of displacement are relatively new developments that have hardly been addressed at all. Affordable housing and the needs of commuters are complementary problems: where the one issue involves retaining a sense of community by keeping workers near their jobs, the other considers the impacts on adjacent communities once workers have cashed-out or been forced to relocate. Growing problems, exemplified by the ethnic issues (the Latino community now makes up a significantly large portion of the Roaring Fork Valley population), indicate that leaders should focus on how to help maintain a decent quality of life for workers who must leave their children to commute several hours to modestly compensated work in the resort economy. The symbolic relationship between that economy and its workforce demands that Aspen respond to the needs of down-valley commuters with the same energy and vision that have gone into the affordable housing program.
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