Golden vs Wheat Ridge

A side-by-side comparison of Golden and Wheat Ridge: population, income, housing, and more.

Golden and Wheat Ridge are places in Colorado. This page compares them across population, income, housing, education, commuting, and how each has changed since 2019.

Wheat Ridge has the higher population (32,158 vs 20,467 in Golden). Golden has the higher median household income ($95,913 vs $87,598 in Wheat Ridge). Golden has the higher median home value ($790,500 vs $584,700 in Wheat Ridge).

Population, income & housing

	Golden	Wheat Ridge
Population	20,467	32,158
Median age	35.1 yrs	42.1 yrs
Median household income	$95,913	$87,598
Median home value	$790,500	$584,700
Median gross rent	$1,854	$1,493
Housing units	8,108	15,805
Homeownership rate	58.8%	52.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher	59.0%	44.4%
Unemployment rate	4.5%	4.8%

Trends (ACS 5-year, 2019–2023)

	Golden	Wheat Ridge
Population	20,693 → 20,467 (-1.1%)	31,331 → 32,158 (+2.6%)
Median household income	$72,349 → $95,913 (+32.6%)	$57,659 → $87,598 (+51.9%)
Median home value	$522,200 → $790,500 (+51.4%)	$383,900 → $584,700 (+52.3%)
Median gross rent	$1,386 → $1,854 (+33.8%)	$1,104 → $1,493 (+35.2%)

Golden

Population

20,69320,467

Median household income

$72,349$95,913

Median home value

$522,200$790,500

Median gross rent

$1,386$1,854

Wheat Ridge

Population

31,33132,158

Median household income

$57,659$87,598

Median home value

$383,900$584,700

Median gross rent

$1,104$1,493

Age & race/ethnicity

Age distribution (share)

	Golden	Wheat Ridge
Under 5	2.5%	5.6%
5 to 17	13.5%	10.3%
18 to 24	20.2%	5.0%
25 to 34	13.7%	17.6%
35 to 44	13.2%	15.3%
45 to 54	11.8%	11.5%
55 to 64	12.9%	13.8%
65 to 74	7.0%	10.8%
75 and over	5.2%	10.1%

Race & ethnicity (share)

	Golden	Wheat Ridge
White (non-Hispanic)	82.4%	73.0%
Black or African American	1.5%	1.3%
American Indian & Alaska Native	0.4%	0.3%
Asian	4.1%	1.3%
Native Hawaiian & Pacific Islander	0.1%	0.0%
Some other race	0.4%	0.0%
Two or more races	3.9%	2.7%
Hispanic or Latino	7.3%	21.2%

Educational attainment (age 25+)

Share of adults 25+

	Golden	Wheat Ridge
No high school diploma	3.9%	5.7%
High school graduate	17.0%	22.2%
Some college or associate's	20.1%	27.6%
Bachelor's degree	28.1%	29.8%
Graduate or professional degree	30.9%	14.7%

Commute to work

How workers get to work (share)

	Golden	Wheat Ridge
Drove alone	52.5%	65.0%
Carpooled	8.0%	8.5%
Public transit	0.8%	2.6%
Walked	6.8%	1.9%
Bicycle	2.3%	0.7%
Worked from home	28.3%	19.3%
Other means	1.4%	2.1%

Housing

Units in structure (share)

	Golden	Wheat Ridge
1-unit, detached	48.9%	51.6%
1-unit, attached	7.6%	14.1%
2 to 4 units	6.4%	6.5%
5 to 19 units	12.7%	15.6%
20 or more units	16.4%	12.0%
Mobile home & other	7.9%	0.1%

Poverty & households

	Golden	Wheat Ridge
Poverty rate	13.0%	10.2%
Average household size	2.33	2.09
Mean commute (minutes)	24	24
Median year structure built	1986	1964