Latinos move to Greeley at high rate

Most of northern Colorado has seen explosive growth in the past two decades.

But Greeley stands out in one particular way: Much of the growth has occurred in the Latino population.

While Loveland and Fort Collins’ populations are about 10 percent Latino, in Greeley it is 30 percent and climbing, according to latest U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

Many people say the biggest reason is jobs. Latinos are coming to the Greeley area because they can find work in agriculture, meatpacking, construction and service industries. And people within any minority group are more likely to move to a community where they feel more comfortable. Such is the case in Greeley.

“We have a pretty strong Latino heritage in Greeley,” said Becky Safarik, Greeley’s community development director. “There is also a strong network of Latino business.”

The numbers show a stark contrast in the Latino population growth in Greeley compared to other northern Colorado communities.
In 1980, Latinos represented 8,260 of the 53,006 people living in Greeley, or 15.5 percent of the population.

By 2000, the number had almost tripled, to 22,683 Latinos out of 76,930 residents of Greeley, or 29.4 percent. The Latino population grew by 174 percent in those two decades, while the city’s population as a whole grew by 45 percent.

Pres Montoya, a former Realtor who’s been in Greeley 53 years, attributes the Latino population boom here to the availability of low-paying jobs and a strong history of Spanish-speaking settlements, which housed migrants who worked ag-related jobs.

“We saw population grow with the building of the packing plant, which again created more jobs in the agricultural industry,” Montoya said. “We have created a low-income economy based on agriculture jobs that don’t pay well and a lot of Latinos, unfortunately, have such high dropout rates that we pick up many of those jobs.”

According to 2006 population estimates by the Census Bureau, the Latino population in Greeley is now at 30.5 percent of the total, compared to 10.9 percent in Fort Collins and 9.4 percent in Loveland.

Sylvia Martinez, a community activist who often works with families entering the United States, said the availability of cheaper housing is another factor.

“Usually the newly arrived migrant/immigrant starts at the bottom — minimum or low wages — and it is difficult work, which inevitably are the local beef plants and agriculture as well as the need for cleaning services,” Martinez said.