Wheat Ridge, Colorado
24 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1899 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the Northeast Jefferson census division. It lies in ZIP code area 80033. The Survey maps it on the Arvada quadrangle. 32,398 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 5,459 feet above sea level.
On record in Wheat Ridge
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 5 records
James H. Baugh Houselisted 2012
Pioneer Sod Houselisted 1973- Crown Hill Burial Parklisted 2008
- Fruitdale Grade Schoollisted 2013
- Richards Mansionlisted 1977
Population over time
2 figuresWheat Ridge grew from 30,166 to 32,398 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 | 30,166 | |
| 2020 | 32,398 | +2,232 (+7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
11 surveys from 24 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.
- 1899 USGS West Denver quadrangle1:125000
- 1941 USGS Arvada quadrangle1:31680
- 1944 USGS Arvada quadrangle1:31680
- 1950 USGS Arvada quadrangle1:24000
- 1953 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000, 6 printings
- 1957 USGS Arvada quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000
- 1960 USGS Denver quadrangle1:250000
- 1965 USGS Arvada quadrangle1:24000, 6 printings
- 1983 USGS Denver West quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
1,557 since 2003Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 1,557 fires within 5 miles of Wheat Ridge between 2003 and 2020, burning about 194 acres in total. 9 started naturally. 31 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/undetermined | 1338 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 45 |
| Smoking | 41 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 31 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 27 |
| Debris and open burning | 19 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 18 |
| Fireworks | 16 |
| Natural | 9 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 9 |
| Other causes | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 2 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | West Metro Fire Rescue | UNKNOWN |
| 9 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | DENVER |
| 9 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | ARVADA |
| 9 September 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 9 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | not named |
| 8 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | N/A |
| 8 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Colorado State Forest Service-State Headquarters | N/A |
| 8 September 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | West Metro Fire Rescue | UNKNOWN |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
10 of 35 shownRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 35 workings within 5 miles of Wheat Ridge: 21 past producers, 7 occurrences, 4 producers, 2 unknowns. 4 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Clay, Gold, Silver. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rio Grande Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, Silver | Past Producer | 1973 | |
| Rodger Steele Claim | Uranium | Prospect | ||
| Denver Brick & Pipe Co. | Clay | Producer | ||
| Lakewood Plant | Clay | Producer | ||
| Strainland Mine | Clay | Producer | ||
| Cooley Gravel Co. Pits | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold | Past Producer | 1951, 1964 | |
| Gordon Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold | Past Producer | Gold, Sand and Gravel | |
| Swadley Placers | Gold | Past Producer | 1858, 1859 | |
| Youngfield Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction, Gold | Past Producer | 1979 | |
| Asphalt Paving Co Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
17 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Wheat Ridge in 17 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 14 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2023 | Lightning | Wheat Ridge | $25,000 | Lightning damaged a home in Wheat Ridge. |
| July 2025 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | Report from mping. |
| August 1998 | Flash Flood | Wheat Ridge | - | Heavy rain caused flooding and flash flooding problems over southwest portions of Metropolitan Denver. An observer in Lakewood recorded 3.26 inches of rainfall in one hour. Several streets were flooded in central Lakewood. In addition, a trailer park along Lena Gulch in Wheat Ridge was evacuated due to the highwaters. |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Wheat Ridge | - | A dry microburst produced an estimated 60 mph (53 kt) wind gust in Wheat Ridge. |
| May 1995 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | Severe thunderstorms rumbled across the Denver Metropolitan area dropping mainly pea- to marble sized-hail. Wheat Ridge received hail stones up to 1.25 inches in diameter. Hail piled up to two inches deep in Wheat Ridge and Northwest Denver. |
| June 2023 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | no account filed |
| June 2023 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | no account filed |
| July 2019 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | no account filed |
| May 2017 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | no account filed |
| August 2004 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | no account filed |
| May 2001 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | no account filed |
| July 2001 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | no account filed |
| October 1994 | Hail | Wheat Ridge | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highland Gardens | 0.8 miles | 24 | |
| Melrose | 0.9 miles | 24 | |
| Hillcrest Heights | 1.0 miles | 24 | |
| Lakeview | 1.0 miles | 24 | |
| Edgewater | 1.1 miles | 24 | |
| Olinger Gardens | 1.2 miles | 24 | |
| Mountain View | 1.3 miles | 24 | |
| Lakeside | 1.4 miles | 24 |
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 Wheat Ridge | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q994465 | 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 202840. 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.










