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. Brighton is the
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
Brighton was founded as a stage/railroad depot and farming community named Hughes. The Hughes, Colorado Territory, post office opened on April 13, 1871, Colorado became a state on August 1, 1876, and the Hughes post office was renamed Brighton on August 4, 1879. The town was named for
Brighton Beach
Brighton Beach is a List of Brooklyn neighborhoods, neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach ...
, New York.
The Town of Brighton was incorporated on September 1, 1887. Adams County was created on April 15, 1901, with Brighton as its seat.
Geography
Brighton is a suburb of
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
located at coordinates at an elevation of .
At the 2020 United States census, the city had a total area of , including of water.
Climate
According to the
Köppen Climate Classification
The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...
system, Brighton has a
cold semi-arid climate
Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...
, abbreviated ''BSk'' on climate maps.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 20,905 people, 6,718 households, and 5,058 families living in the city. The population density was . There were 6,990 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 76.91%
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 ...
, 0.99%
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 ...
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 16.29% from other races, and 3.20% 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 38.22% of the population.
There were 6,718 households, out of which 40.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.6% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.7% were non-families. 19.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.92 and the average family size was 3.34.
In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 28.6% under the age of 18, 10.1% from 18 to 24, 32.7% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 108.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 108.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $46,779, and the median income for a family was $53,286. Males had a median income of $35,686 versus $27,103 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 city was $17,927. About 6.1% of families and 9.4% 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 11.0% of those under age 18 and 8.6% of those age 65 or over.
Economy
Brighton is the home of two
Vestas
Vestas Wind Systems A/S is a Danish manufacturer, seller, installer, and servicer of wind turbines that was founded in 1945. The company operates manufacturing plants in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Italy, Romania, the Un ...
manufacturing plants, a
wind turbine
A wind turbine is a device that wind power, converts the kinetic energy of wind into electrical energy. , hundreds of thousands of list of most powerful wind turbines, large turbines, in installations known as wind farms, were generating over ...
blade factory and a
nacelle
A nacelle ( ) is a streamlined container for aircraft parts such as Aircraft engine, engines, fuel or equipment. When attached entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached with a Hardpoint#Pylon, pylo ...
manufacturing plant. The factories are valued at $290 million and will provide 1,350 employment opportunities: 650 in the blade factory and another 700 in the nacelle manufacturing plant. Groundbreaking for the factories took place on March 25, 2009.
The Prairie Center is a shopping center with a pedestrian-oriented retail village.
The Greater Brighton Chamber of Commerce and Tourism Bureau began helping small businesses in the Brighton community in 1955, paving the way for the expansion of Brighton retail, and manufacturing. The Brighton Chamber helped to secure Brighton as an Agritourism destination within the Denver Metro area for Farm Fresh Produce and opening the Brighton Visitors Center in May 2020. The Greater Brighton Chamber of Commerce is ranked the 14th Best Chamber in the Denver area per the Denver Business Journal.
Notable individuals who were born in or have lived in Brighton include:
* Todd Helton (born 1973), baseball 1st baseman
* John L. Kane Jr. (born 1937), U.S. federal judge
* Richard Ling (born 1954), Shaw Foundation Professor of Media Technology at
Nanyang Technological University
Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1981, it is also the second oldest autonomous university in the country.
The university is organised across numerous colleges and schools, includi ...
* Max Pfeffer, Senior Associate Dean of the
Cornell University
Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
* Dillon Serna (born 1994), soccer midfielder
* Brian Shaw, leading American strongman
* Angie Zapata (1989–2008), murder victim
Sister city
Brighton has a
sister city
A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties.
While there are early examples of inte ...
, as designated by
Sister Cities International
Sister Cities International (SCI) is a non-governmental organization (NGO) with the goal of facilitating partnerships between communities within the United States and other countries by establishing sister cities. Sister cities are agreements of ...
Lower Silesian Voivodeship
Lower Silesian Voivodeship (, ) in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. It covers an area of and has a total population of 2,899,986.
It is one of the wealthiest ...
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 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 ...