Littleton is a home rule municipality city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado, United States. Littleton is the county seat of Arapahoe County and is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Centennial, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city population was 45,652 at the 2020 United States census, ranking as the 20th most populous municipality in Colorado.

History

The city of Littleton's history dates back to the 1859 Pike's Peak gold rush, which brought not just gold seekers, but merchants and farmers to the community. Richard Sullivan Little was an engineer from New Hampshire who came West to work on irrigation systems. Little soon decided to settle in the area at present day Littleton and brought his wife Angeline from the East in 1862. The Littles and neighbors built the Rough and Ready Flour Mill in 1867, which provided a solid economic base in the community. By 1890, the community had grown to 245 people and the residents voted to incorporate the Town of Littleton.

Littleton grew significantly throughout the 1950s and 1960s due to its proximity to Denver and to the Martin Marietta facilities, which produced the Titan rocket and other aerospace products. Littleton is today fully engulfed in metropolitan Denver.

Littleton became widely known in 1999 when the Columbine High School massacre occurred, where two of the school's students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 13 students and one teacher, injured 22 others, and then killed themselves. News media wrongly reported that the incident happened in the city because the school's ZIP code is primarily associated with Littleton. The school is actually located in the adjacent unincorporated community Columbine, which is not a place name accepted by the U.S. Postal Service; subsequently, locations in ZIP code 80123 use "Littleton" in their mailing addresses by default. Additionally, Columbine High School is in the Jefferson County Public Schools school district and is not in the Littleton Public Schools school district. Despite this, the city became linked with the massacre in the view of the public.

Geography Littleton is located in central Colorado north of the junction of U.S. Route 85 and Colorado State Highway 470; the city is south of downtown Denver and north of Colorado Springs.

Littleton lies on the South Platte River in the Colorado Piedmont region of the Great Plains a few miles east of the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains. Most of the city lies on the east side of the river. Several small tributaries of the river flow northwest through the city; from north to south, these include Big Dry Creek, Slaughterhouse Gulch, Lee Gulch, and Dad Clark Gulch. In addition, several small lakes and reservoirs are located along the river in the southwestern part of the city. Immediately west of the river are Cooley Lake, Bufflehead Lake, South Platte Reservoir, Eaglewatch Lake, Redtail Lake, and Blackrock Lake. Wolhurst Lake and McLellen Reservoir are east of the river, fed and drained by Dad Clark Gulch. Chatfield Reservoir lies immediately southwest of the city.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of of which is land and (6.4%) is water.

As a suburb of Denver, Littleton is part of the Denver-Aurora metropolitan area and the Front Range Urban Corridor. It shares a border with Denver and Englewood on the north, Greenwood Village on the northeast, Centennial on the east, Highlands Ranch on the south, Columbine and Columbine Valley on the west, and Bow Mar on the northwest.

Unlike most county seats of suburban counties, Littleton is on the same house numbering grid, including its downtown, as the major city, in this case, Denver.

Climate

Demographics

2020 census

As of the 2020 census, Littleton had a population of 45,652, and the population density was . 100.0% of residents lived in urban areas, while 0.0% lived in rural areas.

The median age was 40.9 years. 19.1% of residents were under the age of 18 and 18.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 93.7 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 91.8 males age 18 and over.

There were 20,204 households in Littleton, of which 24.4% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 43.2% were married-couple households, 20.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 29.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 33.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.

There were 21,476 housing units, of which 1,272 (5.9%) were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 1.1% and the rental vacancy rate was 7.7%.

+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 36,966 81.0% Black or African American 657 1.4% American Indian and Alaska Native 413 0.9% Asian 1,035 2.3% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 36 0.1% Some other race 1,995 4.4% Two or more races 4,550 10.0% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 6,201 13.6%

2023 estimates

In 2023 the racial makeup of the city was 83.1% White, 2.9% Asian, 1.6% African American, 0.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% Pacific Islander, and 7.8% from two or more races. Hispanics and Latinos of any race were 12.6% of the population. 10.3% of residents spoke a language other than English at home; 7.0% of the city's population spoke Spanish.

There were 20,300 households, out of which 18.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.3% were married couples living together, 20.6% had a male householder with no spouse, and 27.5% had a female householder with no spouse. The average household size was 2.19.

As of 2023 the distribution of the population by age was 18.5% under the age of 18, 6.3% from 18 to 24, 31.3% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 19.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40.2 years. The gender makeup of the city was 49.3% male and 50.7% female.

The median income for a household in the city was $96,611, and the median income for a family was $130,080. Males had a median income of $52,674 versus $40,297 for females. The city's per capita income was $126,140. About 6.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.0% of those under age 18 and 10.5% of those age 65 or over.

Economy As of 2023, 68.0% of the population over the age of 16 was in the labor force. The occupational composition of the employed civilian labor force was: 54.2% in management, business, science, and arts; 17.3% in sales and office occupations; 12.6% in service occupations; 9.3% in production, transportation, and material moving; and 6.7% in natural resources, construction, and maintenance. The three industries employing the largest percentages of the working civilian labor force were: educational services, health care, and social assistance (20.3%); professional, scientific, and management, and administrative and waste management services (16.0%); and finance and insurance, and real estate and rental leasing (9.5%).

The cost of living in Littleton is average; compared to a U.S. average of 100, the cost of living index for the community is 102.7. As of 2023, the median home value in the city was $596,700, the median selected monthly owner cost was $2,320 for housing units with a mortgage and $732 for those without, and the median gross rent was $1,731.

Housing The city's housing stock is primarily made up of either detached single-family or apartment buildings. In 2025, there was a proposal to permit so-called "missing middle" housing (duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes) in neighborhoods that were exclusively zoned for single-family homes, but six council members voted against it while Mayor Pro Tem Stephen Barr cast the lone vote in favor of the proposal. Also in 2025, a citizen-led effort to freeze Littleton’s single family residential land use code and restrict the city council’s ability to permit “missing middle” housing passed by 54%-46% on the November ballot.

Government

Littleton is a home-rule municipality with a council-manager form of government. The city council makes policy for the city and approves the annual city budget. The city manager implements the council's policies and oversees day-to-day administration of the city government and its departments.

As the county seat, Littleton is the administrative center of Arapahoe County. The county government's main Administration Building is located in Littleton, and most county government departments base their operations in the city.

Littleton lies mostly within Colorado's 6th U.S. Congressional District, but changes made to Colorado's congressional districts in 2021 put the portion of the city within Douglas County into Colorado's 4th congressional district. For the purposes of representation in the Colorado General Assembly, the city is located in the 16th and 30th districts of the Colorado Senate and the 25th, 38th, and 43rd districts of the Colorado House of Representatives.

Elected officials The council consists of seven members - one member for each of the four legislative districts, two at-large members, and the mayor. Beginning in 2021, all council members are elected to 4-year terms. General elections for city council are held in odd-numbered years with either three or four council seats up for election. In 2021, Littleton voters elected the first popularly-elected mayor to a four-year term. Mayor Kyle Schlachter represents Littleton on the Metro Mayors Caucus (MMC) and serves as the 2026 MMC Chair. +Current Littleton City Council makeup MemberDistrictTermKyle SchlachterMayor (At Large)2025-2029Joel ZinkAt Large2025-2029Pam GroveAt Large2023-2027Merrill StillwellDistrict 12025-2029Robert ReichardtDistrict 22023-2027Amanda HendersonDistrict 32025-2029Andrea PetersDistrict 42023-2027

+List of mayors of LittletonMayorTerm Franklin S. Gilmore1890–1891 Dr. D.S. Weaver1891–1892 H.H. Shepperd1892–1893 J. Vanatta1893–1894 G.M. Benedict1894–1895 H.H. Shepperd1895–1896 G.M. Benedict1896–1897 C.H. Barclay1897–1898 H.H. Shepperd1898–1901 C.W. Sittser1901–1902 Dr. J.A. Farnsworth1902–1905 R.F. Gill1905–1906 H.H. Shepperd1906–1908 Dr. W.C. Crysler1908–1910 J.E. Maloney1910–1912 John B. Mayers1912–1913 J.E. Maloney1913–1919 S.A. Noyes1919–1921 O.C. Hoffman1921–1924 Dr. W.C. Crysler1924–1926 C.E. Stephenson1926–1929 Charles G. Louthan1929–1932 Dr. C.C. Harrod1932–1934 Charles G. Louthan1934–1940 H.H. Taylor1941–1946 Roy E. Babcock1946–1948George Malcolm1948–1952 Norman Granes1952–1956 Frank A. Randall1956–1957 A.N. (Bert) Williams1957–1959 Everett Dawson1959–1960 Gordon F. Taylor1960–1963 Thomas R. Heaton1963–1965 John G. Kinghorn1965–1969 A.R. Bessette1969–1971 F. Vaughn Gardinier1971–1975 Harold Meyer1975–1977 Sally M. Parsons1977–1979 James P. Collins1979–1983 Charley Emley1983–1989Susan Thornton1989–1993 Dennis Reynolds1993–1997 Pat Cronenberger1997–1999Susan Thornton1999–2003 John Ostermiller2003–2005Jim Taylor2005–2007 Doug Clark2007– 2011 Debbie Brinkman2011– 2013Phil Cernanec2013– 2015Bruce Beckman2015– 2017Debbie Brinkman2017– 2019Jerry Valdes2019– 2021Kyle Schlachter2021– present

ZIP codes The place name "Littleton" was assigned to eleven ZIP codes which cover a vast area west, east, and south of the city much larger than the city itself. This area includes the following unincorporated communities: Acres Green Carriage Club (since incorporated as a neighborhood of Lone Tree) Columbine Heritage Hills Highlands Ranch ("Highlands Ranch" is also acceptable in place of "Littleton" in mailing addresses) Ken Caryl Roxborough Park