Grand Junction, CO Metro Area

The Grand Junction, CO metro area is one county in Colorado: Mesa County. About 162,845 people lived there on July 1, 2025 (Census estimate), 4.6% more than in April 2020.

Mesa County, centralGrand Junction
Mesa County in Colorado
Population, July 2025
162,845 4.6% more than in April 2020
Type
Metropolitan statistical area
County
Mesa County
Land area
3,329 sq mi (8,621 km²)
Time zone
Mountain TimeUTC-07:00 in January; UTC-06:00 in July
State
Colorado
CBSA code
24300

The county in the Grand Junction, CO metro area

CountyRolePopulation, July 2025
Mesa CountyCentral162,845

A central county holds the area’s core, an urban area of at least 50,000 people. This area has no outlying counties: no neighboring county sends enough commuters to join it. A county belongs to one metro or micro area at most, and it counts whole, countryside included.

Principal city

  1. Grand Junction68,142 people

OMB names the area after its largest principal cities. A principal city is the area’s largest city, plus any other city that is very large or a big job center, and smaller ones with at least as many jobs as working residents (2020 Census and commuting figures). People counts are American Community Survey 2020–2024 5-year estimates.

Bordering metro and micro areas, nearest first

Areas with a county on this area’s edge. Distances are straight lines between the areas’ largest cities.

  1. Rifle, CO Micro Area53 mi northeast
  2. Montrose, CO Micro Area57 mi southeast

Before using this answer on a form

A metro or micro area is a statistical area that OMB draws for federal statistics. It is not a city, a local government or a mailing address, and it is not a measure of urban and rural: whole counties count, rural parts included. Programs that use metro areas, such as housing income limits or wage rates, can use their own version of these lists; check the program’s own list for an address.

Find the metro area where you are now, find your county, or see every metro and micro area by population.

See this area on Census.gov ↗