Wheat Ridge, CO population, income and ZIP codes

Wheat Ridge city is a small city in Colorado, with 32,158 residents counted in the Census American Community Survey 2019-2023 ACS 5-year estimates, which places it #30 of 482 ranked by population — larger than 93% of them. The median age here is 42.1 years against 39.1 nationally, a slightly older profile than the country as a whole. Places under 65,000 residents only appear in the five-year release, never the one-year file, so these values pool sixty months of responses and lag the current year by design.

Households in Wheat Ridge city earn a median of $87,598 a year, 11.5% above the national figure of $78,538 and within a couple of points of the $86,484 median for the 223 Colorado cities we cover. Household income here is measured before tax and pooled across everyone at the address, which is why it reads higher than typical individual earnings in the same area. Poverty reaches 10.2% of residents here, below the 12.4% national rate.

The typical owner-occupied home in Wheat Ridge city is valued at $584,700, 92.7% above the national figure and 29% above the $453,600 peer median, while median gross rent runs $1,493 a month, 6.2% above the national figure, or roughly $17,916 across a full year. A household on the local median income would put about 20.5% of gross pay toward that rent against the federal 30% cost-burden threshold, so renting here is within the standard affordability guideline. The home-price-to-income ratio works out to 6.7×, against roughly 3.9× nationally, so buying is out of reach on local earnings alone and the ownership market leans on outside income, equity or dual high earners. 52.4% of occupied homes are owner-occupied versus 65% nationally, so the market leans more heavily on renters. Gross rent folds in the utilities a tenant pays separately, so it is closer to the real monthly outlay than a headline rent figure.

Home values sit at 6.7× median household income, far past the 3.9× national mark, so ownership costs here are set by something other than local wages — second homes, retirees with equity, or commuters earning elsewhere.

Every value on this page is published directly by the Census for this area — nothing is modelled or interpolated. Small-area estimates still carry wider margins of error than state or national figures, so check the linked ACS tables before relying on them for lending, appraisal or legal work.