Healthcare & Safety in Wheat Ridge
Wheat Ridge carries a real, major, newly-rebuilt in-city hospital anchor unmatched by Erie or Golden elsewhere in this batch, while crime data reads unfavorably and -- unusually within this three-market batch -- consistently so across both major sources.
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Learn moreA real, major, in-city hospital investment
After 64 years at its prior Wheat Ridge location, Intermountain Health's Lutheran Medical Center relocated -- still within the city -- into a new $680 million campus at 12911 W 40th Ave in August 2024, with a connected 138,000-sq-ft outpatient medical office building opening that October. The hospital carries a 4-star overall CMS rating and is rated high-performing in 4 categories by U.S. News: Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair, Pacemaker Implantation, Stroke, and Maternity Care. This is a real, dated, major in-city healthcare anchor neither Erie nor Golden carries within this same batch -- both rely on hospitals located in neighboring cities.
Crime data reads unfavorably, and consistently so across both major sources
Unlike Golden elsewhere in this batch, where NeighborhoodScout and CrimeGrade genuinely disagree, both major sources read Wheat Ridge unfavorably here. NeighborhoodScout cites an overall crime rate of 49 per 1,000 residents -- "one of the highest crime rates in America" -- with more than 95% of Colorado communities reading safer than Wheat Ridge. CrimeGrade separately cites a violent crime rate of 6.927 per 1,000, placing Wheat Ridge in just the 3rd percentile for violent-crime safety, with an annual cost of crime per resident ($920) cited as $455 more than the national average. This consistency across sources is itself a notable, disclosed signal -- a real con to weigh directly rather than resolve away by picking the more favorable source. No specific area of Wheat Ridge is named as less safe, per site policy.
Key takeaways
- Intermountain Health's Lutheran Medical Center relocated into a new $680 million, 4-star-CMS-rated campus inside Wheat Ridge in August 2024 -- a real, major, in-city healthcare anchor unmatched by Erie or Golden.
- Both NeighborhoodScout and CrimeGrade read Wheat Ridge unfavorably on crime -- a real, consistent signal across both major sources, unlike Golden elsewhere in this batch.
- NeighborhoodScout cites a rate higher than 95%+ of Colorado communities; CrimeGrade places Wheat Ridge in the 3rd percentile for violent-crime safety.
- Confirm current, address-specific crime data directly before relocating; no specific area is named as less safe here, per site policy.
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