Rifle, Colorado
20 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Rifle census division. It lies in ZIP code area 81650. It stands on Rifle Creek. The Survey maps it on the Rifle quadrangle. 10,437 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,348 feet above sea level.
Research this city
On record in Rifle
Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.
On the National Register 3 records
Rifle Bridgelisted 1985
US Post Office-Rifle Mainlisted 1986- Havemeyer-Willcox Canal Pumphouse and Forebaylisted 1980
Population over time
2 figuresRifle grew from 9,172 to 10,437 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 9,172 | |
| 2020 | 10,437 | +1,265 (+14%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
9 surveys from 20 printed sheetsMatched 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.
- 1906 USGS Grand Hogback quadrangle1:125000
- 1910 USGS Grand Hogback quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1952 USGS Rifle quadrangle1:24000, 7 printings
- 1957 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1962 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000
- 1964 USGS Leadville quadrangle1:250000
- 1981 USGS Glenwood Springs quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
244 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 244 fires within 5 miles of Rifle between 1992 and 2020, burning about 279 acres in total. 145 started naturally. 2 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 |
|---|---|
| Natural | 145 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 63 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 14 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 5 |
| Smoking | 5 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Fireworks | 1 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | HELMER GULCH |
| 8 September 2019 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | RAMSEY |
| 7 September 2000 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | 320 ROAD |
| 6 September 2007 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | ANDERSON POINT |
| 6 September 1997 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | HUBBARD 3 |
| 6 September 1995 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | HUBBARD 3 |
| 5 September 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado River Fire Rescue | UNKNOWN |
| 5 September 1993 | Natural | under an acre | Northwest District, Grand Junction | YELLOW SLI |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
6 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 6 workings within 5 miles of Rifle: 3 producers, 2 past producers, 1 unknown. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Uranium, Vanadium, Vanadium, Uranium. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rifle Mill | Vanadium, Uranium | Producer | ||
| Rifle Mine | Uranium, Vanadium | Past Producer | 1909, 1924 | |
| Chambers Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Rifle Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer | ||
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Unknown Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Unknown |
Storms near this place
32 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Rifle in 32 storm reports between 1997 and 2023: 9 flash flood, 6 heavy rain, 5 flood, 4 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 2 deaths. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2003 | Lightning | Rifle | 2 killed | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Flash Flood | Rifle | $158,000 | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Flash Flood | Rifle | $100,000 | no account filed |
| August 1997 | Flash Flood | Rifle | $80,000 | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Flash Flood | Rifle | $10,000 | no account filed |
| August 2023 | Flood | Rifle | $5,000 | Heavy rain from thunderstorms flooded a basement at the intersection of 5th Street and Ute Avenue in Rifle. |
| July 2021 | Flash Flood | Rifle | $5,000 | Heavy rain resulted in urban flash flooding south-southwest of Rifle. A trained weather spotter reported gutters overflowing and flooding on roadways. |
| August 1999 | Flash Flood | Rifle | $5,000 | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Lightning | Rifle | $3,000 | no account filed |
| August 2023 | Flood | Rifle | - | Heavy rain from thunderstorms led to 6 inches of water flowing over 12th Street and Park Avenue in Rifle. |
| July 2017 | Debris Flow | Rifle | - | Colorado Highway 325 was closed in both directions north of Rifle after heavy rainfall resulted in a mudslide. Law enforcement personnel estimated a foot of mud was across the road. |
| July 2017 | Heavy Rain | Rifle | - | Water runoff from heavy rain flowed across portions of County Roads 233 and 252 near Rifle Creek. Radar estimated rainfall near those locations ranged from about an inch to an inch and a half. |
| August 2017 | Debris Flow | Rifle | - | Colorado Highway 325 was closed in both directions in Rifle Gap between mile markers 6 and 8 due to a mudslide and flooding as a result of heavy rains. The Highway reopened 4 hours later. |
| August 2017 | Heavy Rain | Rifle | - | Flooding from Government Creek was reported to be impacting a residence near mile marker 8 along Colorado Highway 13 as a result of heavy rains. |
| September 2014 | Flash Flood | Rifle | - | A section of Colorado Highway 325 was closed due flash flooding which deposited a significant amount of mud and debris onto the roadway. |
| June 2010 | Hail | Rifle | - | Hail up to 1.0 inch in diameter was reported in Rifle. |
| August 2010 | Heavy Rain | Rifle | - | Heavy rainfall caused mud and rocks to slide across Highway 13, blocking the Highway north of Rifle between mile markers 7 and 10. |
| August 2008 | Flash Flood | Rifle | - | A six foot wall of water roared down Government Creek which normally runs no deeper than a trickle in August. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| July 2006 | Heavy Rain | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| August 2003 | Hail | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Heavy Rain | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| September 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| May 2002 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Flood | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Flood | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| September 2001 | Hail | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Flood | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| May 2000 | Thunderstorm Wind | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| July 1998 | Wildfire | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| September 1998 | Heavy Rain | Rifle | - | no account filed |
| September 1997 | Flash Flood | Rifle | - | no account filed |
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 | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antlers | 3.0 miles | 20 | |
| Silt | 6.8 miles | 20 | |
| Anvil Points | 7.5 miles | 23 | |
| Rulison | 8.7 miles | 13 | |
| New Castle | 13.3 miles | 20 | |
| Battlement Mesa | 14.3 miles | 16 | |
| Parachute | 15.4 miles | 16 | |
| Chacra | 18.0 miles | 20 |
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 Rifle | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2273536 | The 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 174045. 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.








