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is a prominent suburb and tier of the Denver metropolitan area in the State of Colorado of the United States. Broomfield has a consolidated city and county government which operates under Article XX, Sections 10-13 of the Constitution of the State of Colorado. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population was 45,116 in 2006, a 17.88% increase since U.S. Census 2000. Broomfield is the 16th most populous city and the 16th most populous county in the State of Colorado. Broomfield is a part of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area.
The municipality of Broomfield was incorporated in 1961 in the southeastern corner of Boulder County. It received its name from the broomcorn grown in the area. Over the next three decades, the city grew through annexations, many of which crossed the county line into four adjacent counties: Adams, Boulder, Jefferson and Weld. In the 1990s, city leaders began to push for the creation of a separate county to avoid the inefficiencies of dealing with four separate court districts, four different county seats (each a considerable distance away), and four separate county sales tax bases. It also had longstanding political differences with Boulder County, which impelled it to separate. Broomfield reasoned that it could provide services more responsively under its own county government, and sought an amendment to the Colorado State Constitution to create a new county. The amendment passed in 1998, after which a three-year transition period followed. On November 15, 2001, Broomfield County became the 64th, newest and smallest, county of Colorado.