Best PlacesWheat Ridge, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Wheat Ridge, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Wheat Ridge ranks 849th of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on biking by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Wheat Ridge
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
The best areas in Wheat Ridge
The parts of Wheat Ridge, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first.
Applewood
Bel Aire
Allendale Area
Barths
Fruitdale
Arvada Plaza Area & Kipling
Scores across Wheat Ridge run from about the 28th to the 90th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Wheat Ridge's strengths and weaknesses
Where Wheat Ridge ranks high
- BikingBetter than 96% of cities
- TransitBetter than 95% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of cities
- WalkabilityBetter than 87% of cities
Where Wheat Ridge ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,769 a month, better than only 6% of cities
- Air qualityBetter than only 7% of cities
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 12% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Wheat Ridge
A household needs to earn about $154,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Wheat Ridge home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $103,116, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Wheat Ridge's effective rate of 0.52%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Wheat Ridge
Wheat Ridge's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Wheat Ridge.
Who works in Wheat Ridge, and how
Work in Wheat Ridge centers on professional & technical and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 71%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Wheat Ridge
Wheat Ridge has more restaurants and bars per resident than 85% of cities and more parkland per resident than 95% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Wheat Ridge and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Wheat Ridge, month by month
Wheat Ridge sees roughly 80 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 34° | 25° |
| April | 63° | 49° | 38° |
| July | 89° | 75° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Wheat Ridge
Denver International sits about 23 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 40.1 million passengers in 2025, with 250 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Wheat Ridge
Schools across Wheat Ridge average a B+, better than 78% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Prospect Valley Elementary SchoolA− · 58% proficient
- Jefferson County Open Elementary SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Compass Montessori - Wheat Ridge Charter SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Manning Options SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Everitt Middle SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- D'evelyn Junior/senior High SchoolA · 73% proficient
- Wheat Ridge High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- North High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Wheat Ridge school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Wheat Ridge measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Wheat Ridge against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Wheat Ridge suits
Retirees
Set weather, quiet, and health care weights on the map to test the fit.
Common questions about living in Wheat Ridge
Is Wheat Ridge a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Wheat Ridge ranks 849th of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on biking, transit, and heat safety, and lowest on crime and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Wheat Ridge expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $611,107. The overall cost of living runs about 5% above the national average. Set against a $103,116 median income, cost of living beats 62% of cities.
Is Wheat Ridge safe?
Wheat Ridge is safer than 5% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $776 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Wheat Ridge?
July highs average about 89 degrees, and January highs near 45 with lows near 25. That works out to about 80 pleasant days a year, more than 44% of cities.
What are the best neighborhoods in Wheat Ridge?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Applewood, Bel Aire, and Allendale Area. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Wheat Ridge with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Wheat Ridge. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Wheat Ridge represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Wheat Ridge detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Wheat Ridge: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Wheat Ridge: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Wheat Ridge: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Wheat Ridge: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Wheat Ridge detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.