The Mountain Migration Report 2021

Are COVID Impacts on Housing & Services Here to Stay?

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Study Purpose

Since the COVID-19 pandemic escalated in March of 2020, national media reported an outflow of residents flocking from cities to high quality-of-life places such as the mountain resort communities covered in this report. Residents of these communities observed that their communities were busier—and consistently so, breaking the typical patterns of high and low visitation. But was the in-migration real? And what did we know about the people coming to these places who appeared more like residents than visitors? Was it only a COVID driven wave that would recede? How would it impact known community challenges such as workforce retention, affordable housing, rental stock and that mountain community holy grail that is quality-of-life? A desire for a better understanding of the answers to these and many other questions being asked led to this Mountain Migration report.

We listened to our membership through 2020, there was a sense among those reflecting already that the COVID Mountain Migration experiment might prove instructive, providing a glimpse ahead for those who drive policy. That idea was the origin of this report. To get it done, Northwest Colorado Council of Governments (NWCCOG) sought a partnership with Colorado Association of Ski Towns (CAST) to scope and fund this report. That partnership led to a grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), and funding from a recovery grant from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to match dues from NWCCOG and CAST membership. NWCCOG is deeply appreciative of these partners, the many contributors listed in the Acknowledgements page and the amazing communities that we are honored to serve.

The findings of this report should help local leaders better understand current trends and motivate them to address evolving community needs. While the data was gathered from six Colorado mountain resort counties, the results should provide widespread insights for other high amenity places throughout the Mountain West. In Colorado, most solutions are local, but many of the impacts outlined in this report can only be addressed through regional and statelevel cooperation, and in some cases structural changes to policy, practice and law.

Many public and private sector professionals have spent their careers on these issues, many of the communities studied have been “doing housing” for decades, and many are innovating in the housing sector right now, though, few are putting all options on the table. There is always that sticky matter of political courage and public resistance to change. We think this Mountain Migration trend reveals a tipping point for these communities that cannot be ignored.

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