Move over Paris and Ohio, Denver's the new thriving place for lovers.
First, comes love — maybe via a stroll through the scarily sentimental Cheesman Park or a table for two at one of the city's dozens of breweries.
Then, comes marriage.
Denver is on pace to issue a record number of marriage licenses this year, according to the Office of the Clerk and Recorder.
Nine-hundred-eighty marriages were handed out last month alone — the most licenses ever issued during any month in Denver County's history, city spokeswoman Mica Ward said.
About 5,230 licenses were issued through August.
| Year | Licenses Issued | Adult Population | Rate per 1,000 adults |
| 2015 | 7,339 | 560,222 | 13.1 |
| 2014 | 7,126 | 543,530 | 13.1 |
| 2013 | 5,712 | 530,081 | 10.8 |
| 2012 | 5,473 | 517,376 | 10.6 |
| 2011 | 5,415 | 504,744 | 10.7 |
| 2010 | 5,038 | 491,518 | 10.2 |
| 2009 | 4,868 | 480,334 | 10.1 |
| 2008 | 4,865 | 469,067 | 10.4 |
| 2007 | 4,774 | 459,278 | 10.4 |
| 2006 | 4,801 | 452,078 | 10.6 |
| 2005 | 4,654 | 447,370 | 10.4 |
| 2004 | 4,761 | 446,243 | 10.7 |
Source: City of Denver and U.S. Census Bureua. Adults are those 15 and older. With parental consent, people in Colorado can be married starting at 16. (Adrian D. Garcia/Denver)
More people have been getting married each year in Denver since 2007, according to city data. Ward said she's not sure what's leading to the uptick, but she doesn't think it's that the U.S. government started officially recognizing same-sex marriages last year.
Denver started issuing same-sex marriage licenses in 2014. A new report from the New York Times shows higher concentrations of gay newlyweds in California and the East Coast.
The spike in weddings could be partly the result of Denver adding thousands of people every month. And overall, the city appears to be lagging behind the national average for married couples.
About half of Americans were married nationwide in 2014, according to The Pew Research Center.
In Denver, about 41 percent of residents 15 and older are married, according to a 2014 estimate from the Census Bureau and the National Historic Geographic Information System.
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