Boulder County Jail Population Data

How to Look Up Boulder County Jail Population Data

Boulder County jail population data lives on the Sheriff's Daily Booking and Listing Reports page. That page links to a public Power BI report that updates daily. The Sheriff launched the enhanced version on October 30, 2024. The report pulls from live jail records, so the count you see at one hour may differ from a later hour. The data is for general info only and does not replace official records.

The report has tabs for the Listing Report, Daily Booking Report, Release Report, and population data. The population view breaks people down by arresting agency, gender, sentencing status, ethnicity, race, and length of stay. Numbers on the live page are official Sheriff figures. Broader rates come from BJS or Vera. To compare snapshots across days, use the historical statistics tab, which the Sheriff said would be built out over time.

Boulder County Jail Capacity Overview

The Boulder County Jail at 3200 Airport Road is the main lockup. The jail history page lists current bed capacity at 543. The jail opened in 1988 with 287 beds across 103,400 square feet. A 2005 courtyard conversion added 64 beds through cell double-bunking, funded by voter-approved Fund 024. A 2025 project added a new booking area plus a 64-bed dorm-style unit above it. The official page says that unit opens in summer 2025. The 543 figure should be treated as the static capacity until a later report confirms whether the new dorm is rolled into it.

Per the Sheriff's jail history page, here is a screenshot of the current capacity narrative.

The 543-bed figure is the right one to cite in static content. The 2005 expansion timeline lines up with county growth: the county had about 218,380 residents when the jail opened in 1988 and roughly 282,763 in 2005. Capacity is not the same as population, so on any given day the count may sit well under 543.

Average Daily Population

Average daily population, or ADP, is the mean number of people held in the jail each day across a set period (a month, a quarter, or a year). Boulder County does not publish a single fixed ADP figure on a static page. The Sheriff's enhanced Power BI report is the right place to pull ADP for a given month or year, because the historical jail statistics tab is built to show population over time. To get a Boulder ADP, open the report, pick a date range, and read the population count for that span.

For state and national context, the Bureau of Justice Statistics publishes annual Jail Inmates reports that show ADP across local jails. Per BJS, the national jail ADP has ranged near 650,000 to 730,000 in recent years. Boulder's ADP should be read from the live county report, not estimated from state or national rates.

Demographic Breakdown

The enhanced jail report breaks down the current population by six demographic and case fields. Each field comes straight from Sheriff's Office data. The labels on the live report are the official ones, and the values shift with each new booking or release. Static reproduction of these counts is not used here because the figures are dynamic. The list below names the data fields and where each is best read.

The Sheriff cautions that the data is for general informational use and does not replace official records. For older bookings, the Sheriff's Records Division at 303-441-3600 is the right contact. Mugshots are not on the public report and need a records request. For Colorado-wide demographic context, the Vera Institute's Incarceration Trends tool shows county-level jail data for prior years.

Pretrial vs Sentenced Population

Pretrial inmates are people held in jail before trial or plea, often on a bond they have not posted. Sentenced inmates have been ordered by a court to serve jail time. The Boulder County Power BI population view splits the count by these and a hold/other category. The exact share shifts each day. Static Boulder numbers were not located on the official pages, so the table below frames the categories the live report uses and shows national context from BJS.

The Boulder share for each group should be read from the Power BI population tab on the day of use. Pretrial detention has been a key point in national jail reform talks, and the Prison Policy Initiative tracks how pretrial holds shape local jail counts. Length-of-stay data in the same Power BI report helps explain why pretrial counts can stay high even when bookings stay flat.

Misdemeanor vs Felony Population

The Boulder County jail holds people on both misdemeanor and felony charges. A felony is the more serious class and brings longer possible sentences. A misdemeanor is the lower class and is often tied to short jail terms or pretrial holds. The current Power BI report does not publish a clean misdemeanor-versus-felony split in the public population tab. Charge details for a named person are linked from the bond page through the Jail Listing and Daily Booking Reports.

For aggregate charge mix, the best stand-in is the sentencing status tab plus the length-of-stay buckets. Short stays often line up with misdemeanor or low-bond cases that resolve fast. Longer stays often track felony pretrial holds or sentenced misdemeanor jail time. The Vera Institute's data tool shows long-run trends in Colorado jail admissions by offense class.

Mental Health and Medical Population

The Boulder County Jail staffs a 24/7 medical unit with nurses and EMTs. Every booked inmate gets an intake health check to confirm safe housing. Mental Health Clinicians and Case Managers work in the jail seven days a week. The jail clinical psychiatrist and a psychiatric nurse practitioner round four days per week. Dental staff are on site four days per week, with a dentist one day per week. The MAT program serves people with moderate to severe opioid use disorder and provides naloxone at release.

The Sheriff does not publish a static count of inmates flagged for mental-health or medical care in the public report. The jail programs page and the jail health page describe the service level but not the population share. Treat program scope as a proxy: a jail with daily mental-health rounds and an in-house MAT track serves a notable share of inmates with behavioral health needs. Boulder-specific shares should not be claimed without a Sheriff's source.

National and State Context

Comparing Boulder's count to state and national rates needs care. BJS, Vera, and Prison Policy Initiative use different methods and time frames. Rates below are framed as jail population per 100,000 residents and come from BJS national Jail Inmates reports and Vera county-level data. Boulder's own rate should be pulled from the Power BI report and divided by the most recent county population estimate, then dated.

Note: the Boulder row is left as a method, not a single static number, because the Sheriff publishes the count as a live figure rather than as a per-100,000 rate. The state and national rows are ranges drawn from recent BJS reporting and may shift in any given year. The Bureau of Justice Statistics site is the right primary for national jail rates, and the Vera Institute tool is the right primary for county-level history.

Population Trends Over Time

Boulder County's jail population, like jails across the country, has moved through several phases. In 2020 and 2021, COVID-era booking, release, and court-delay policies pulled many local jail counts down. From 2022 through 2023, courts resumed normal calendars and many county jails saw counts rebound. On October 30, 2024, the Boulder County Sheriff's Office launched the enhanced Jail Daily Booking and Listing Reports page. That launch is the key turning point for public trend data, because it made current population fields and a historical statistics tab visible in one place.

In 2025, the new booking area and 64-bed dorm came online (per the official jail history page schedule). That changes the capacity baseline and may shift how the Sheriff reports the count. For 2026 and beyond, the Power BI report is the right place to pull a multi-month or multi-year trend. BJS state-level data and Vera's county-level tool give long-run context, but the local report holds the most current numbers.

Per the Sheriff's main jail page, here is a screenshot of the current jail inventory and links.

The county's official news release from 2024 spells out what the enhanced report adds and why it matters for trend tracking. That release is the cleanest cite for any claim about the report's launch date and feature set.

Searching for Boulder County Inmate Records by Name

This page covers aggregate Boulder County jail population data, not name searches. To look up a specific person in custody, use the Boulder County inmate records page, which covers the live Sheriff's jail roster and name search through the Daily Booking and Listing Reports.

Where the Data Comes From

The primary source for Boulder County jail population data is the Sheriff's Office Power BI report linked from the Daily Booking and Listing Reports page. That report shows current inmates, bookings, releases, and population fields by arresting agency, gender, sentencing status, ethnicity, race, and length of stay. The official launch of the enhanced version is detailed in the Sheriff's October 30, 2024 press release. Static capacity figures come from the jail history page, and the main Boulder County Jail page holds the address and phone contact block.

National and state context comes from the Bureau of Justice Statistics annual Jail Inmates reports, the Vera Institute tool, and the Prison Policy Initiative. Each uses its own method, so figures across sources will not match. Jail program and health context comes from the jail programs page and jail health services page. Per the Sheriff's news release, here is a screenshot of the announcement.

Older jail bookings, full case reports, mugshots, and body-worn camera footage are not on the public report. Records requests go to the Sheriff's Records Division at 303-441-3600. For warrant data tied to people in custody, see the Boulder County warrant records page. For charge-level details and case context, see Boulder County criminal records.

Related Resources

For the live roster, use Boulder County inmate records. To find people post-release, see released inmates. For active warrants tied to bookings, see warrant records. For charge and case context, see criminal records.