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Highlands Ranch, Colorado

26 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1890 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Sedalia census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80126. The Survey maps it on the Highlands Ranch quadrangle. 103,444 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,920 feet above sea level.

Highlands Ranch within Douglas County

Population over time

2 figures

Highlands Ranch grew from 96,713 to 103,444 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
201096,713
2020103,444+6,731 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

12 surveys from 26 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

563 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 563 fires within 5 miles of Highlands Ranch between 1996 and 2020, burning about 861 acres in total. 9 started naturally. 12 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined443
Smoking39
Equipment and vehicle use27
Fireworks13
Arson/incendiarism12
Natural9
Recreation and ceremony8
Debris and open burning5
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Other causes2
Railroad operations and maintenance2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2018Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Metro Fire RescueUNKNOWN
9 September 2016Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreLittleton Fire RescueUNKNOWN
8 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
4 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
3 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
3 September 2019Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
3 September 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Metro Fire RescueUNKNOWN
3 September 2016Arson/incendiarism2.0 acresLittleton Fire RescueUNKNOWN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Douglas County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 39 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 39 workings within 5 miles of Highlands Ranch: 19 producers, 10 occurrences, 8 unknowns, 2 past producers. 19 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Stone, Crushed/Broken, Gold, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
QuarryStoneProducer
Louviers PlantREEProducer
Molycorp Inc Louviers PlantREEProducer
ClaypitClayProducer
Diamond Clay MineClayPast Producer
UnknownClayOccurrenceClay
Big Dry Creek PlacersGoldOccurrence1858
Big Dry Creek PlacersGoldUnknown
Cherry Creek MineGoldPast Producer
Little Dry Creek PlacersGoldOccurrencePlacer

Every working recorded in Douglas County

Storms near this place

44 since 2014

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Highlands Ranch in 44 storm reports between 2014 and 2025: 33 hail, 7 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado, 1 lightning. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2017LightningHighlands Ranch$1,000A nearby lightning strike slightly injured a woman while she was watching a youth |baseball game.
May 2025Heavy RainHighlands Ranch-Rainfall of 1.58 inches was reported.
July 2025Thunderstorm WindHighlands Ranch-The wind gust was recorded at the mesonet station CO001 located at I-25 and C470.
July 2024HailHighlands Ranch-Report via mPing.
June 2024HailHighlands Ranch-The report was received via social media. The location and time were estimated.
August 2024Thunderstorm WindHighlands Ranch-The observation was from the station CO001 located at I-25 and C-470.
June 2023Thunderstorm WindHighlands Ranch-Several trees were uprooted and tree limbs broken.
June 2023Tornado (EF1)Highlands Ranch-A tornado touched down just south of CO-470 in Douglas County, west of Lucent Blvd, impacting the city of Highlands Ranch. The tornado lifted just west of the intersection of Lincoln Ave and Lone Tree Parkway. Most all of the damage was rated EF-0, with small pockets of EF1 damage as well which involved a well built single family home.
September 2019Tornado (EF0)Highlands Ranch-A weak tornado touched down briefly in an open field. No damage was observed.
June 2024HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
April 2024HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
May 2023HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
July 2023HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
July 2023HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
July 2023HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
July 2023HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
July 2023HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
June 2023HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
June 2023Thunderstorm WindHighlands Ranch-no account filed
June 2023Thunderstorm WindHighlands Ranch-no account filed
August 2023HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
June 2023HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
August 2023HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
July 2022HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
July 2021HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
September 2021HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
September 2021HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
September 2021HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
September 2021Thunderstorm WindHighlands Ranch-no account filed
July 2019HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
July 2019HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
July 2019HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
May 2018HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
August 2018HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
July 2018HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
June 2016HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
June 2016HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
June 2016HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
June 2016HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
June 2016HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
September 2015HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
September 2014HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
September 2014HailHighlands Ranch-no account filed
August 2014Thunderstorm WindHighlands Ranch-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Douglas County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Kistler Park1.0 miles26
Gateway3.4 miles26
Blakeland3.6 miles21
Acequia3.7 miles21
Acres Green3.9 miles26
Carriage Club3.9 miles26
McArthur Ranch4.2 miles26
Heritage Hills4.9 miles26

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Highlands RanchAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q750935The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1867085. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.