Sun Valley is a central

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

neighborhood, bordered by

I-25 Interstate 25 (I-25) is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States. It is primarily a north–south highway, serving as the main route through New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. I-25 stretches from I-10 at Las Cruces, New Mexic ...

on the east, Federal Blvd. on the west, 6th Avenue on the south and 20th Ave. on the north. It is located in the area known as West Denver.

Neighborhood characteristics

Much of Sun Valley’s population (94% according to the 2000 census) resides in 10 blocks dominated by publicly subsidized housing. Only about 5% of the neighborhood's population live in owner occupied units. Much of the rest of the neighborhood consists of industrial areas, parks, city service buildings and

Empower Field at Mile High Empower Field at Mile High (previously known as Broncos Stadium at Mile High, Invesco Field at Mile High and Sports Authority Field at Mile High, and commonly known as Mile High, New Mile High or Mile High Stadium) is an American football stadiu ...

and its surrounding parking lots. According to the 2000 Census, Sun Valley’s population was 1,496, representing a 2.6% increase over the 1990 population. Children make up 54% of the population, making Sun Valley the only Denver neighborhood where minors outnumber adults. Empower Field at Mile High exterior 2022

Empower Field at Mile High exterior 2022

Lakewood Gulch traverses the neighborhood, ending at the

South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/Mountain West. It ...

just south of

Colfax Avenue Colfax Avenue is the main street that runs east–west through the Denver metropolitan area in Colorado. As U.S. Highway 40, it was one of two principal highways serving Denver before the Interstate Highway System was constructed. In the local ...

. The gulch travels through Rude Park at the west side of the neighborhood. The park contains a recreation center, bike paths, and a baseball field. The bike path meets the gulch between Decatur Street and the South Platte, but has been closed since 2007 because of a

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing ...

there that took the life of a toddler. Sun Valley contains a single stop (the Decatur-Federal station) of the

FasTracks FasTracks is a multibillion-dollar public transportation expansion plan under construction in metropolitan Denver, Colorado, United States. Developed by the Regional Transportation District (RTD), the plan consists of new commuter rail, light ...

West Corridor Light Rail line at Decatur Street.

Demographics

The 2000 Census found that Sun Valley is overwhelmingly made up of families with children as 70% of all Sun Valley households were families with children less than 18. Median age was 15.7. In large part the high number of children with families is due to the publicly subsidized housing dominant in the neighborhood which gives preference to low-income families. Indeed, the poverty rate in Sun Valley is five times higher than the city of Denver as a whole with 71.5% of its residents living in poverty compared with 14.3% of all Denverites. Piton Foundation
Retrieved on July 17, 2007. The Sun Valley neighborhood consists of Census tract 8 (See: http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/map). The demographics of the tract were 8% White, 26% Black, 54% Hispanic, 8% Asian, 1% Native American, and 3% Multiracial. The population was 1,448, and the population density was 2,261 people per square mile, with most of the population being concentrated in the public housing centered on 10th Avenue. There were 501 housing units, of which none were vacant.

References

{{Neighborhoods of Denver http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/tableservices/jsf/pages/productview.xhtml?pid=ACS_12_5YR_DP04&prodType=table Neighborhoods in Denver