Fremont County is a county located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

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 ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,939. 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 ...

is Cañon City. The county is named for 19th-century explorer and presidential candidate

John C. Frémont Major general (United States), Major-General John Charles Frémont (January 21, 1813July 13, 1890) was a United States Army officer, explorer, and politician. He was a United States senator from California and was the first History of the Repub ...

. Fremont County comprises the Cañon City, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the

Pueblo Pueblo refers to the settlements of the Pueblo peoples, Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, currently in New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. The permanent communities, including some of the oldest continually occupied settlement ...

-Cañon City, CO Combined Statistical Area. Rural Fremont County is the location of 15

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...

s; most of these are operated by the state.

ADX Florence United States Penitentiary, Administrative Maximum Facility (abbreviated as USP Florence ADMAX; commonly known as ADX Florence, Florence Supermax, and the Alcatraz of the Rockies) is a United States federal prison in Fremont County, Colorado, op ...

, the only federal

Supermax A super-maximum security (supermax) or administrative maximum (ADX) prison is a "control-unit" prison, or a unit within prisons, which represents the most secure level of custody in the prison systems of certain countries. The objective is to ...

prison in the United States, is in an

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Fremont County, south of

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, and is part of the

Federal Correctional Complex, Florence The Federal Correctional Complex, Florence (FCC Florence) is a United States federal prison complex for male inmates in Colorado. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice, and consis ...

. As of March 2015, Fremont County leads the nation among all counties as the one with the largest proportion of persons incarcerated. Prisoners are counted as part of the county population in the census, and 20% of residents are held in the prisons in the county.

History

Fremont County was founded in 1861, in central Colorado. It is named for

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (0.06%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Teller County - north * El Paso County - northeast *

Pueblo County Pueblo County ( or ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 168,162. The county seat is Pueblo. The county was named for the historic city of Pueblo which took its name from the Spanish la ...

- southeast * Custer County - south * Saguache County - southwest * Chaffee County - northwest * Park County - northwest

Major highways

U.S. Highway 50 * Colorado 9

State Highway 9 * Colorado 67

State Highway 67 * Colorado 69

State Highway 69 * Colorado 115

State Highway 115 * Colorado 120

State Highway 120

National protected areas

Pike National Forest The Pike National Forest is located in the Front Range of Colorado, United States, west of Colorado Springs including Pikes Peak. The forest encompasses 1,106,604 acres (4,478 km2) within Clear Creek, Teller, Park, Jefferson, Douglas an ...

San Isabel National Forest San Isabel National Forest is located in central Colorado. The forest contains 19 of the state's 53 fourteeners, peaks over high, including Mount Elbert, the highest point in Colorado. It is one of eleven national forests in the state of Col ...

* Sangre de Cristo Wilderness

State protected area

* Arkansas Headwaters Recreation Area

National scenic byway

Gold Belt Tour National Scenic and Historic Byway The Gold Belt Tour Scenic and Historic Byway is a National Scenic Byway, a Back Country Byway, and a Colorado Scenic and Historic Byway located in Fremont and Teller counties, Colorado, USA. The byway is named for the Gold Belt mining regi ...

Bicycle routes

American Discovery Trail The American Discovery Trail is a system of recreational trails and roads that collectively form a coast-to-coast hiking and biking trail across the mid-tier of the United States. Horses can also be ridden on most of this trail. The coastal tr ...

* TransAmerica Trail Bicycle Route *

Western Express Bicycle Route List of cycleways — for all types of cycleways, bike path, bike route, or bikeway's transportation infrastructure and/or designated route, listed by continents and their countries. Greenways and/or rail trails can include a cycleway−bike p ...

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 46,145 people, 15,232 households, and 10,494 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 17,145 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 89.52%

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 ...

, 5.34%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

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 ...

, 1.53% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.06%

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 ...

, 1.22% from other races, and 1.82% from two or more races. 10.35% of the population were

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. There were 15,232 households, out of which 30.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.30% 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, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.10% were non-families. 26.90% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.93. In the county, the population was spread out, with 20.60% under the age of 18, 7.50% from 18 to 24, 33.40% from 25 to 44, 24.00% from 45 to 64, and 14.60% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 133.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 143.50 males. The median income for a household in the county was $34,150, and the median income for a family was $42,303. Males had a median income of $30,428 versus $23,112 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 county was $17,420. About 8.30% of families and 11.70% 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 14.80% of those under age 18 and 7.40% of those age 65 or over.

Sister cities

* Kahoku,

Yamagata Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. It has a population of 1,005,926 (1 February 2025) and an area of 9,325 Square kilometre, km2 (3,600 Square mile, sq mi). Its neighbours are Akita Prefectu ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

* Valday,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Skippack, Pennsylvania Skippack ( Pennsylvania German: ''Schippach''), originally named "Van Bebber's Township", is a census-designated place (CDP) in Skippack Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,758 at the 2010 census. ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Government

Fremont County (including Cañon City itself) is heavily conservative, having been won by Republicans in every election since 1964. Fremont County is governed by a board of county commissioners, one for each of the three separate districts in the county. * Kevin Grantham, District 1 * Debbie Bell, District 2 * Dwayne McFall, District 3 The daily operations of the county are controlled centrally from the County Administration Building, located in Cañon City. It houses the offices of both elected and appointed officials, including: * Stacey Seifert, assessor * Justin D Grantham, clerk and recorder * Randy Keller, coroner * Kathy Elliott, treasurer/public trustee * Allen Cooper, sheriff * John Kratz, surveyor * Tony Carochi, county manager

Corrections and prisons

Colorado Department of Corrections The Colorado Department of Corrections is the principal department of the Colorado state government that operates the state prisons. It has its headquarters in the Springs Office Park in unincorporated El Paso County, Colorado, near Colorad ...

operates several prisons in the county. The department operates the

Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility Colorado Territorial Correctional Facility (CTCF), colloquially known simply as "Territorial" and formerly known as the Colorado State Prison, is a medium security prison in Cañon City, Colorado. CTCF is the oldest prison in the Colorado DOC ...

in Cañon City. In addition several correctional facilities near Cañon City are located in

s in the county.

Colorado State Penitentiary Colorado State Penitentiary (commonly abbreviated CSP) is a Level V maximum security prison in the U.S. state of Colorado. The facility is part of the state's East Cañon Complex, together with six other state correctional facilities of various ...

, the location of the state death row and execution chamber,Death Row FAQ
"
Archive

. Retrieved on August 15, 2010. is in Fremont County. Other state prisons in Fremont County include Arrowhead Correctional Center, Centennial Correctional Facility, Fremont Correctional Facility, Four Mile Correctional Center, and Skyline Correctional Center. The Colorado Women's Correctional Facility, near Cañon City in an unincorporated area, was decommissioned on June 4, 2009. The

Federal Bureau of Prisons The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency of the United States Department of Justice that is responsible for all List of United States federal prisons, federal prisons ...

operates the

in Fremont County, which consists of several separate Federal prisons, including the only supermax facility in the federal system, home to many convicted terrorists and other notorious criminals.

Communities

Cities

* Cañon City (County seat) *

Towns

Brookside Brookside may refer to: Geography Canada * Brookside, Edmonton * Brookside, Newfoundland and Labrador * Brookside, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Brookside, Berkshire, England * Brookside, Telford, an area of Telford, England United States * Bro ...

* Coal Creek * Rockvale *

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

Census-designated places

* Coaldale *

Cotopaxi Cotopaxi () is an active stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located near Latacunga city of Cotopaxi Province, about south of Quito, and northeast of the city of Latacunga, Ecuador. It is the second highest summit in Ecuador (after Chim ...

Howard Howard is a masculine given name derived from the English surname Howard. ''The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names'' notes that "the use of this surname as a christian name is quite recent and there seems to be no particular reason for ...

Lincoln Park Lincoln Park is a park along Lake Michigan on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. Named after US president Abraham Lincoln, it is the city's largest public park and stretches for from Grand Avenue (500 N), on the south, to near Ardmore Avenu ...

* Park Center * Penrose

Other unincorporated communities

* Hillside * Parkdale *

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Swissvale Swissvale is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, east of downtown Pittsburgh. Named for a farmstead owned by James Swisshelm, during the industrial age it was the site of the Union Switch and Signal Company of George We ...

* Texas Creek * Wellsville

Ghost towns

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Calcite Calcite is a Carbonate minerals, carbonate mineral and the most stable Polymorphism (materials science), polymorph of calcium carbonate (CaCO3). It is a very common mineral, particularly as a component of limestone. Calcite defines hardness 3 on ...

* Chandler * Siloam * Whitehorn * Yorkville

References

External links

Fremont County Government website
*

{{coord, 38.48, -105.44, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-CO_source:UScensus1990 Colorado counties 1861 establishments in Colorado Territory Populated places established in 1861