Home › States & Territories › The 50 States
Colorado
The highest state, crown of the Rocky Mountains
Colorado is the rooftop of the country. No state averages a higher elevation, and none has more high peaks — 58 summits top 14,000 feet, the famous "fourteeners" that crowd the Rocky Mountains down its spine. The eastern third is flat High Plains, rolling toward Kansas at the foot of the mountains — the west is a maze of plateaus and canyons sloping toward Utah. Between them the Rockies rise abruptly along the Front Range, where Denver and most of the population press against the mountain wall.
The Continental Divide threads the high country, splitting the waters of the continent: rivers born here flow to both the Pacific and the Atlantic. The Colorado River itself rises in these mountains before beginning its long journey to the Gulf of California. Mount Elbert, the high point at 14,440 feet (4,401 m), is the tallest peak in the entire Rocky Mountain chain. Snowpack from these ranges supplies water to a huge swath of the arid West far beyond Colorado's borders.
Economy
Colorado has a diverse, fast-growing economy spanning aerospace and defense around Colorado Springs, technology in the Denver-Boulder corridor, energy from oil and gas to wind and solar, and a huge outdoor-recreation and tourism industry built on its ski resorts and national parks. Agriculture and a growing aerospace sector round it out along the booming Front Range.
Politics
Colorado carries 10 electoral votes. Once a competitive swing state, it has trended Democratic since the 2010s, driven by the growing, well-educated metropolitan population along the Front Range, while the rural eastern plains and western slope remain more Republican.