Welcome to Brighton ...

The city of Brighton is primarily located in Adams County<1> and is the County Seat for Adams County. A portion of Brighton extends into Weld County.

While we don't have a date for the founding of Brighton, you might consider that their post office opened  in 1879.

The city was incorporated September 1, 1887.

From Place Names in Colorado,<2> the origin of Brighton is described as "Named for Brighton, Massachusetts, the hometown of D.F. Carmichaels, who laid out the town."

From the  Census Estimates for 2019, Brighton has a population of 39,850 people<3> (see below for details).

Brighton is 5,020 feet [1,530 m] above sea level.<4> In other words, the altitude of Brighton is about 1 mile [or ~1½ km] above sea level.

Time Zone: Brighton lies in the Mountain Time Zone (MST/MDT) and observes daylight saving time

Area codes for Brighton: (303) and (720)<5>

The ZIP code for Brighton: 80601<6>

Websites for Brighton ...

Official Website: www.ci.brighton.co.us/

Population Details ...

Taken from the 2019 Census Estimates, Brighton had an population of 39,850 people. This is an increase of 19.48% since the 2010 Census (or an increase of 90.62% since the 2000 Census).

At the time of the 2010 Census, Brighton had a population of 33,352 people (or 7.52% of the total population of Adams County). This makes Brighton the county's 4th most populous community.

The population of Brighton represents 0.66% of the population of Colorado (which has 5,029,196 people), making it the state's 22nd most populous community.

With a 2010 count of 33,352 people, the population of Brighton increased 59.54% from the 2000 Census (with a count of 20,905 people).

More information can be found on the Census Page for Brighton.

Communities Also Named Brighton ...

Using our Gazetteer, we found that there are two Colorado communities named Brighton: This one is located in Adams County and the other is located in Arapahoe County.

Beyond Colorado, there are 55 communities that are also named Brighton - they are located in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia (2), Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland (2), Massachusetts, Michigan (2), Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New York (4), Newfoundland and Labrador, North Carolina, Nova Scotia (4), Ohio (6), Ontario (3), Oregon, Pennsylvania (2), Prince Edward Island, South Carolina, Tennessee (2), Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

For more information, see our Tidbits & Trivia Page for Brighton.

Communities near Brighton ...

We have created a list of 10 communities that are near Brighton.

• Denver
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Denver
  • Denver is located in Denver County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 735,538 people
  • Former names for Denver:
  • Auraina
  • Denver City
  • Montana City
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Denver <7>
• Aurora
  (17 miles [27.4 km] to the south)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Aurora
  • Aurora is located in Arapahoe County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 387,377 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Aurora <7>
• Thornton
  (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Thornton have been provided by the GNIS.<8> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Thornton
  • Thornton is located in Adams County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 148,113 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Thornton <7>
• Arvada
  (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Arvada
  • Arvada is located in Jefferson County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 121,936 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Arvada <7>
• Westminster
  (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Westminster
  • Westminster is located in Adams County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 115,046 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Westminster <7>
• Broomfield
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Broomfield have been provided by the GNIS.<8> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Broomfield
  • Broomfield is located in Broomfield County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 72,236 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Broomfield <7>
• Commerce City
  (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Commerce City have been provided by the GNIS.<8> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Commerce City
  • Commerce City is located in Adams County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 59,317 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Commerce City <7>
• Northglenn
  (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Northglenn have been provided by the GNIS.<8> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Northglenn
  • Northglenn is located in Adams County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 38,845 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Northglenn <7>
• Erie
  (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Erie have been provided by the GNIS.<8> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Erie
  • Erie is located in Boulder County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 30,318 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Erie <7>
• Lafayette
  (15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)
  • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lafayette have been provided by the GNIS.<8> The coordinates still need to be verified.
  • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lafayette
  • Lafayette is located in Boulder County
  • Population from the 2020 Census: 28,579 people
  • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Lafayette <7>

To Help With Your Genealogy Research ...

We have a couple of sections for those tracing their genealogy.

We created a list of cemeteries that are in the area around Brighton. Our list includes the location of those cemeteries and we provide an overhead view. See our Cemetery List for Brighton.

Using the information from an 1895 Atlas, we've created a list of communities that were in the area of Brighton. Our list includes information such as whether the 1895 community had a post office or railroad service. See our List of 1890's Communities around Brighton.

We also have a detailed list of newspapers that have been published in the area around Brighton. See our Newspapers Page for Brighton.

TripAdvisor Tourism Pages for Brighton ...

Looking for more information about Brighton? A wonderful source is the TripAdvisor website. We always start with the TripAdvisor Tourism page, where you can read an overview with links that will help you find lodging, restaurants and attractions.

In addition to the Tourism page for Brighton, there are neighboring communities that also have Tourism pages. More information about those communities can be found on our TripAdvisor Page for Brighton.

Adding Brighton to Our Gazetteer ...

We originally found mention of Brighton in both the FIPS-55 and the GNIS. For more information, see the FIPS and GNIS Codes sections on our Miscellaneous Page.

From our notes, the earliest published mention we've found for Brighton was in the document titled List of Post Offices from Cameron Blevins and Richard Helbock.<9>

From that list, the Brighton post office opened in 1879.

For more details, see References and Mentions for Brighton.

Off-the-Road Links ...

The official website for Brighton: www.ci.brighton.co.us/

The official website for Adams County: www.co.adams.co.us/

The official website for State of Colorado: https://www.colorado.gov/