HOME—US Scouting—Scout Councils in Colorado

BSA Councils in Colorado

The state of Colorado is served by four of the BSA's 237 local councils. It is these councils that are directly responsible for the BSA program within their assigned territories.

The "West Slope" (Colorado west of the Continental Divide) is served by two councils:

Great Southwest-Yucca Council (Albuquerque, New Mexico) serves five counties in far southwestern Colorado (Durango & vicinity).
Greater Colorado Council (Denver) absorbed the Western Colorado Council (Grand Junction) in May 2019, which covers the rest of the West Slope.

The Colorado "Front Range" plus the state's eastern plains are divided into three councils, from north to south:

Adventure West Council (Greeley; resulting from the May 2021 merger of Longs Peak Council [Greeley, CO] and Greater Wyoming Council [Casper, WY])
Greater Colorado Council (Denver; the former Denver Area Council, now including the former Western Colorado Council, and renamed in 2021 to Greater Colorado Council)
Pathway to the Rockies Council (Colorado Springs, resulting from the August 2021 merger of Pikes Peak Council [Colorado Springs, CO] and Rocky Mountain Council [Pueblo, CO]).

Of the three councils headquartered in Colorado, only Adventure West Council extends beyond the state borders, covering much of Wyoming plus the Nebraska panhandle.

Colorado BSA Councils
(showing the full extent of Adventure West into Wyoming & Nebraska, and Great Southwest in New Mexico)

BSA Councils in Colorado

Colorado BSA Councils
(showing just Colorado)

Colorado Scout Council Summary (listed from north to south)
Membership numbers will continue to fluctuate for a while, with the loss of the involvement of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and with an unknown number of girls joining Cub Scout packs (since 2018) and Scout troops (since 2019), plus recovering from the losses during the 2020-22 Covid pandemic and the BSA bankruptcy (emerged 3/2023). Youth membership shown covers traditional Scouting (Cub Scouts, Scouts, Venturers/Sea Scouts) plus the non-traditional work-based Explorers; the non-traditional in-school Learning for Life program is not shown (and BSA may be eliminating that program), and the non-traditional STEM Scouts program is not shown since it is still in limited pilot phase. Annual reports for 2022 should have been released about May or June 2023 (but none have to date), and the Pathway to the Rockies Council has not even released a 2021 annual report.

Since two of the four Councils serving Colorado have membership in multiple states, and do not report their membership by state, we've 'guesstimated' the total number of BSA youth members (Cub Scouts, Scouts, Sea Scouts/Venturers, & Explorers) in Colorado at roughly 16 000 (with Greater Colorado Council [Denver] representing over half the total).

Adventure West Council, headquarters in Greeley (covering 10 northern/northeastern Colorado counties, 12 Nebraska panhandle counties, plus almost 16 of Wyoming's 23 counties), 4115 youth members [from 2021 annual report]

Greater Colorado Council, headquarters in Denver (covering the Denver metro area plus the former Western Colorado Council), 9234 youth members [from 2021 annual report]

Pathway to the Rockies Council, headquarters in Colorado Springs, ~3000 youth members [rough estimate based on earlier years' numbers, as the Council has not released a 2021 annual report]

Great Southwest-Yucca Council, headquarters in Albuquerque, New Mexico (covering most of New Mexico, the El Paso area of west Texas, plus five southwestern Colorado counties, 1703 youth members [from 2021 annual report] (the number of youth members in the five southwestern Colorado counties is very small) [In 2022 The Utah portion of Great Southwest was transferred to the Crossroads of the West Council (Ogden, UT), and the Arizona portion was transferred to the Grand Canyon Council (Phoenix, AZ). In 2024 Great Southwest Council and Yucca Council (El Paso, TX) merged (a new Council name is pending).]

Adventure West Council (more information & brief history)
All BSA Local Councils

GSUSA Councils in Colorado

For comparison, the state of Colorado is served by the Girl Scouts of Colorado Council, headquarters in Denver, 15 844 youth members [from 9/30/2022 annual report].

Girl Scouts of Colorado Council Identification Patch

All Girl Scouts of the USA Local Councils