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SOCIOECONOMICS Population Potenti al project features woul d 1 i e wi thi n Boul der County. The 1980 population for the county's 748-square-mile area was estimated to be 189,625, or approximately 254 persons per square mile as compared to an estimated 28 persons state~ide. The city of Boulder is the county seat and the largest city within the county. Boulder's 1980 population was estimated to be 76,685 or approxi- mately 40 percent of the county's population. The four project area communiti es of Superi or, Loui svill e, Lafayette, and Erie have an estimated combined 1980 population of 16,040. Of those four communities, Lafayette is the largest with a current population of 8,985, followed by Louisville with 5,593, Erie with 1,254, and Superior with 208. Since 1970, the combined population of these communities has grown almost 124 percent, with Louisville showing an increase of 132 percent; Lafayette, 157 percent; Superior, 21.6 percent, and Erie, 15 percent. A total of 10 people reside within the Coal Creek acquisi- tion area. There are no people living within the Crescent project site. . Table 2 shows population figures since 1940 for Boulder County, city of Boul der, project area communiti es, State of Colorado, and the Denver Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA). Emp 1 oymen t According to the Colorado Department of Labor, the official total labor force estimate used for Federal programs for Boulder County as of March 1980 (Revised) was 98,563. Total employment was 94,152 with 4,411 unemployed for an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent. March 1980 figures show employment to be 830,900 for the Denver-Boul der Labor Market Area with a corresponding 3.1 percent unemployment rate. The unemployment rate during the same period for Colorado and the United States was 3.4 and 6.2 percent, respectively. Employment by industry in the Denver-Boul der Labor Market Area has substanti ally increased in all sectors except agricul ture si nce 1970. A~ri culture employment shows a 31 percent decrease duri ng thi s peri od wlth Colorado showing a similar decrease. Major industrial sectors showing significant increases in employment between 1973-1978 in Boulder County are wholesale trade, manufacturing, retail trade and finance, insurance and real estate. In 1978 manufac- turing was the largest employment sector with 22,684 employees, followed by Government and Government enterprises with 18,507 employees. Several employers wi thi n Boul der and Boul der County, such as the Uni versity of Colorado, IBM, Storage Technology Corporati on, and 16