<Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Capital and most populous city of the State of Colorado </Td> </Tr> <P> Denver (/ ˈdɛnvər /), officially the City and County of Denver, is the capital and most populous municipality of the U.S. state of Colorado . Denver is in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains . The Denver downtown district is immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, approximately 12 mi (19 km) east of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains . Denver is nicknamed the Mile High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile (5280 feet or 1609.3 meters) above sea level, making it the highest major city in the United States . The 105th meridian west of Greenwich, the longitudinal reference for the Mountain Time Zone, passes directly through Denver Union Station . </P> <P> Denver is ranked as a Beta - world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network . With an estimated population of 704,621 in 2017, Denver is the 19th-most populous U.S. city, and with a 17.41% increase since the 2010 United States Census, it has been one of the fastest - growing major cities in the United States . The 10 - county Denver - Aurora - Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated 2017 population of 2,888,227 and is the 19th most populous U.S. metropolitan statistical area . The 12 - city Denver - Aurora, CO Combined Statistical Area had an estimated 2016 population of 3,470,235 and is the 16th most populous U.S. metropolitan area . Denver is the most populous city of the 18 - county Front Range Urban Corridor, an oblong urban region stretching across two states with an estimated 2016 population of 4,833,260 . Denver is the most populous city within a 500 - mile (800 km) radius and the second-most populous city in the Mountain West after Phoenix, Arizona . In 2016, Denver was named the best place to live in the United States by U.S. News & World Report . </P> <P> In the summer of 1858, during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush, a group of gold prospectors from Lawrence, Kansas established Montana City as a mining town on the banks of the South Platte River in what was then western Kansas Territory . This was the first historical settlement in what was later to become the city of Denver . The site faded quickly, however, and by the summer of 1859 it was abandoned in favor of Auraria (named after the gold - mining town of Auraria, Georgia) and St. Charles City . </P>

What is the population of the greater denver area
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