Aurora, Colorado

Aurora is a Home Rule Municipality in the U.S. state of Colorado. The city is in Arapahoe, Adams, and Douglas counties. It is the third biggest city by number of people in Colorado, and the 59th biggest city by number of people in the United States. The city's population was 386,261 during the 2020 United States Census.

Main cities

Denver and Aurora are the main cities of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area, a United States metropolitan area (MSA). In 2020, the cities within the statistical area had 2,963,821 people, which makes it the MSA with the 19th most people.

However, Denver and Aurora together make up less than half of the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield Metropolitan Statistical Area's people and Aurora has about half of the population of Denver. In 2020, the Denver–Aurora combined statistical area (CSA) had 3,623,560 people. That makes it the CSA with the 17th most people.

History

Aurora started in the 1880s, when it was known as Fletcher, the name of Denver businessman Donald Fletcher. Fletcher thought of Aurora as a chance for real estate. He and his companions went out four square miles east of Denver, but the town and Colorado were not doing well after the Silver Crash of 1893.

Shootings

On July 20, 2012, a spree shooting took place at a during the midnight premiere of The Dark Knight Rises at a local movie theater - 12 people were shot dead.