BlockBefore

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.

Wheat Ridge within Jefferson County

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

Population over time

2 figures

Wheat 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.

YearPeople Change
201030,166
202032,398+2,232 (+7%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 24 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

1,557 since 2003

Regional 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/undetermined1338
Equipment and vehicle use45
Smoking41
Arson/incendiarism31
Recreation and ceremony27
Debris and open burning19
Misuse of fire by a minor18
Fireworks16
Natural9
Power generation/transmission/distribution9
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 2014Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWest Metro Fire RescueUNKNOWN
9 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersDENVER
9 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersARVADA
9 September 2010Arson/incendiarismunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
9 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State Headquartersnot named
8 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersN/A
8 September 2019Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreColorado State Forest Service-State HeadquartersN/A
8 September 2015Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWest Metro Fire RescueUNKNOWN

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Jefferson County

Mines and quarries near this place

10 of 35 shown

Regional 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Rio Grande PitSand and Gravel, Construction, Gold, SilverPast Producer1973
Rodger Steele ClaimUraniumProspect
Denver Brick & Pipe Co.ClayProducer
Lakewood PlantClayProducer
Strainland MineClayProducer
Cooley Gravel Co. PitsSand and Gravel, Construction, GoldPast Producer1951, 1964
Gordon PitSand and Gravel, Construction, GoldPast ProducerGold, Sand and Gravel
Swadley PlacersGoldPast Producer1858, 1859
Youngfield PitSand and Gravel, Construction, GoldPast Producer1979
Asphalt Paving Co PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Jefferson County

Storms near this place

17 since 1994

Regional 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
May 2023LightningWheat Ridge$25,000Lightning damaged a home in Wheat Ridge.
July 2025HailWheat Ridge-Report from mping.
August 1998Flash FloodWheat 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 1997Thunderstorm WindWheat Ridge-A dry microburst produced an estimated 60 mph (53 kt) wind gust in Wheat Ridge.
May 1995HailWheat 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 2023HailWheat Ridge-no account filed
June 2023HailWheat Ridge-no account filed
July 2019HailWheat Ridge-no account filed
May 2017HailWheat Ridge-no account filed
June 2006HailWheat Ridge-no account filed
August 2004HailWheat Ridge-no account filed
May 2001HailWheat Ridge-no account filed
May 2001HailWheat Ridge-no account filed
May 2001HailWheat Ridge-no account filed
July 2001HailWheat Ridge-no account filed
June 1999HailWheat Ridge-no account filed
October 1994HailWheat Ridge-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Jefferson 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
Highland Gardens0.8 miles24
Melrose0.9 miles24
Hillcrest Heights1.0 miles24
Lakeview1.0 miles24
Edgewater1.1 miles24
Olinger Gardens1.2 miles24
Mountain View1.3 miles24
Lakeside1.4 miles24

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 RidgeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q994465The 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.