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Blanca is a
statutory town In India, the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), also called municipalities, are self-government institutions responsible for the administration of cities, towns, and transitional areas within a state or Union Territory. The 74th amendment to the Const ...
located in Costilla County,
Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
, United States. The town population was 322 at the 2020 census. Blanca is located in the enormous
San Luis Valley The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, making it the largest alpine valley in the world. It extends from the Continental Divide on ...
.


History

The Blanca, Colorado, post office opened on October 5, 1894. Blanca is named for Blanca Peak, A land lottery in August 1908 spurred growth. The Town of Blanca was incorporated on May 18, 1910. In the mid-1990s Polish settlers set up shop at the Red Rocks General Store selling liquor, beer, polish sausages, and other eastern European goods. Blanca is the region's main supplier of
bilberry Bilberries () are Eurasian low-growing shrubs in the genus ''Vaccinium'' in the flowering plant family Ericaceae that bear edible, dark blue berries. They resemble but are distinct from North American blueberries. The species most often referre ...
syrup. Blanca is known for elk hunting and alpine trout fishing.


Geography

Blanca is located in the east of the
San Luis Valley The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, making it the largest alpine valley in the world. It extends from the Continental Divide on ...
and northern Costilla County. The town lies along U.S. Route 160, east of Alamosa and west of Walsenburg. At the 2020 United States census, the town had an area of , all of it land. The region has a cool, dry climate, with 107 frost-free days each year. Temperatures range from to . Annual rainfall is about . In areas not irrigated, dunes carry sparse vegetation such as greasewood, rubber rabbitbrush, salt grass, sandhill muhly and sand dropseed. The dunes are intermingled with depressions and basins of historical playas. The Blanca Wetlands, an Area of Critical Environmental Concern, lies northwest of the town. The wetlands receive groundwater for irrigation from the Closed Basin Project, which delivers groundwater to the
Rio Grande The Rio Grande ( or ) in the United States or the Río Bravo (del Norte) in Mexico (), also known as Tó Ba'áadi in Navajo language, Navajo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the Southwestern United States a ...
.


Demographics

As of the
census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 391 people, 142 households, and 105 families in the town. The population density was . There were 183 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup was 53.45%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 0.77%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 1.28% Native American, 2.81% Asian, 39.64% from other races, and 2.05% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 67.01%. There were 142 households, of which 35.2% had children under 1, 63.4% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 7.7% a female householder with no husband present, and 25.4% were non-families. 21.1% of households were of individuals and 9.9% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size 3.26. In the town, the population was 27.9% under 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 27.9% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.3% 65 or older. The median age was 37. For every 100 females, there were 106.9 males. For every 100 females 18 and over, there were 102.9 males. The median income for a household in the town was $22,875, and the median income for a family $22,411. Males had a median income of $20,125 versus $15,833 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the town was $10,200. About 19.5% of families and 21.6% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 29.1% of those under 18 and 11.3% of those 65 or over.


See also

* Blanca Peak *
List of municipalities in Colorado The U.S. Colorado, State of Colorado has 273 municipal corporation, active municipalities, comprising 198 towns, 73 City, cities, and two Consolidated city-county, consolidated city and county governments. The Denver, City and County of Denver ...
* List of populated places in Colorado *
List of post offices in Colorado A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
*
San Luis Valley The San Luis Valley is a region in south-central Colorado with a small portion overlapping into New Mexico. The valley is approximately long and wide, making it the largest alpine valley in the world. It extends from the Continental Divide on ...


References


External links


Town of BlancaState of Colorado

History Colorado
{{authority control Towns in Costilla County, Colorado Towns in Colorado