The Town of Hayden is a home rule municipality located in Routt County, Colorado, United States. The town population was 1,941 at the 2020 United States Census. Hayden is a part of the Steamboat Springs, CO Micropolitan Statistical Area. The town sits along U.S. Highway 40 in the Yampa River Valley between Craig and Steamboat Springs. Hayden is located near the Yampa Valley Regional Airport, by which Hayden is one of the smallest communities in the U.S. to have mainline passenger jet service provided by American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airlines and United Airlines on a scheduled basis.
The Ute people used the area for summer hunting before the town was settled. Trappers worked in the area in the early 1800s.
The area was first settled in 1875, with the town established in 1894 and incorporated in 1906. Hayden was named for F.V. Hayden, head of a survey party for the U.S. Geological & Geographic Survey in the late 1860s. Hayden explored western Colorado during the late nineteenth century.
The Denver and Salt Lake Railway reached Hayden by 1916, and the rail line continues on today as part of the Union Pacific Railroad.
Historically a center of coal mining and agriculture, it consists today of a small cluster of homes and businesses.
Hayden is located at (40.492731, -107.255186).
At the 2020 United States Census, the town had a total area of , all of it land.
The Town of Hayden has a Humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dfb), with warm summers, cold winters with heavy snow, and equal precipitation year-round. The frost-free growing season is short, averaging 107 days.
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,634 people, 618 households, and 443 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 658 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.02% White, 0.12% African American, 0.61% Native American, 0.12% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 1.96% from other races, and 1.10% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.