The City and County of Denver,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, is located at 39°43'35" North, 104°57'56" West (39.726287, −104.965486) in the Colorado Front Range region. The

Southern Rocky Mountains The Southern Rocky Mountains are a major subregion of the Rocky Mountains of North America located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, the central and western portions of Colorado, the northern portion of New Mexico, and e ...

lie to the west of Denver and the High Plains lie to the east. Denver by Sentinel-2, 2020-09-03

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

, the city has a total area of 401.3 km² (154.9 mi²). 397.2 km² (153.4 mi²) of it is land and 4.1 km² (1.6 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 1.03% water.

Adjacent counties

Adams County, Colorado Adams County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 519,572. The county seat is Brighton. The county is named for Alva Adams, an early Governor of the State of Colorado in 1887–1889. A ...

- north and east *

Arapahoe County, Colorado Arapahoe County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, its population was 655,070, making it the third-most populous county in Colorado. The county seat is Littleton, and the most populous city is Auror ...

- south and east and southeastern

enclaves An enclave is a territory (or a small territory apart of a larger one) that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state or entity. Enclaves may also exist within territorial waters. ''Enclave'' is sometimes used improperly to deno ...

Jefferson County, Colorado Jefferson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 582,910, making it the fourth-most populous county in Colorado. The county seat is Golden, and the most populous city is Lakewood. ...

- west

Adjacent cities

* City of Commerce City - north * City of Brighton – north (separated by a strip of unincorporated Adams County) * City of Aurora – east * City of Glendale – southeastern enclave * City of Greenwood Village - south * City of Cherry Hills Village - south * City of Englewood -south * City of Sheridan -south * Town of Bow Mar - south * City of Littleton - south * City of Lakewood -west * City of Edgewater -west * City of Wheat Ridge -west * Town of Mountain View -west * Town of Lakeside - west * City of Arvada – northwest (separated by a strip of unincorporated Jefferson County) * Berkley CDP - north * North Washington CDP - north

Climate

Denver features a semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: ''BSk'') with very low humidity and around 3,100 hours of sunshine per year. The weather of the city and surrounding area is influenced by the proximity of the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

to the west. The climate, while generally mild compared to the mountains to the west and the plains further east, can be moderately unpredictable. Measurable amounts of snow have fallen in Denver as late as

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

and as early as Labor Day. Most recently, Denver received an inch of snow on September 8, 2020, making this the second earliest measurable snowfall on record. The average temperature in Denver is , and the average yearly precipitation is . The average window for measurable (≥) snowfall is October 17 thru April 27, averaging of seasonal accumulation for 1981−2010. Denver averages 270 clear and partly cloudy days per year or 3200 hours of sunshine making it one of the sunniest major cities.NOAA
/ref> Denver receives more precipitation than most locations with semi-arid climates, but still features a semi-arid climate due to its high

evapotranspiration Evapotranspiration (ET) is the combined processes by which water moves from the earth’s surface into the atmosphere. It covers both water evaporation (movement of water to the air directly from soil, canopies, and water bodies) and transpi ...

. Denver's winters are normally dry and range from mild to moderately cold, and although large amounts of snow can fall on the mountains just west of the city, the effects of

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

dry out the air passing over the

Front Range The Front Range is a mountain range of the Southern Rocky Mountains of North America located in the central portion of the U.S. State of Colorado, and southeastern portion of the U.S. State of Wyoming. It is the first mountain range encountered ...

shadowing the city from precipitation for much of the season. Additionally, warm chinook winds can occasionally be felt as air passing over the mountains heats as it descends, bringing a melting snow cover and surging temperatures; from December to February there is an average of 12−18 days of + highs and 1−3 days of above-freezing lows per month. The coldest temperature ever recorded in Denver was recorded on January 9, 1875, at , though the last time Denver recorded a temperature below was December 22, 1990. Spring brings with it significant changes as Denver can be affected by air masses on all sides, whether arctic air from the north, which occasionally combines with Pacific storm fronts bringing snow to the city. As reported at Denver International, March is the second snowiest month, averaging of snow. Additionally, warm air from the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

can bring the first

thunderstorms A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm or a lightning storm, is a storm characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere, known as thunder. Relatively weak thunderstorms are somet ...

of the season, and continental warm air can bring summer-like warm and dry conditions. The last freeze of the season on average falls on May 6. Mountains from westlands

Starting in mid-July, the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...

brings tropical moisture into the city, and with it comes occasional short late-afternoon thunderstorms. However, despite this tropical moisture, humidity levels during the day generally remain very low, and lows rarely remain at or above . There are 38 days of + highs per year, though + highs are not seen annually. The average window for temperatures reaching the former threshold is June 4 thru September 7. In the autumn, the tropical monsoon flow dies down and as arctic air begins to approach it can combine with moisture from the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Tho ...

to bring snowfall to the city – November is Denver's third snowiest month, and both the greatest snowfall from a single storm and daily snow depth on record occurred before the Winter Solstice. In general diurnal temperature range is large, averaging between . Extreme statistics (since 1872 unless otherwise indicated): *All-time record high: on August 8, 1878, July 20, 2005, June 25−26, 2012, and June 28, 2018. *The All-time record low: on January 9, 1875 *Lowest daily maximum: on February 3, 1883 *Highest daily minimum: on July 3, 1881 *Highest daily average: on June 26, 2012 *Lowest daily average: on January 11, 1963 *Highest 24-hour precipitation: on May 22, 1876. *Highest monthly precipitation: during May 1876 *Lowest monthly precipitation: none during December 1881; trace monthly precipitation has occurred several times, the last being November 1949. *Highest annual precipitation: during 1967 *Lowest annual precipitation: during 2002 *Highest 24-hour snowfall: on December 24, 1982 *Highest one-storm total: from December 1−6, 1913.Denver Cold/Snow Statistics Page
/ref> *Highest daily snow depth (since 1921): November 4−5, 1946 *Highest monthly snowfall: during December 1913 *Highest seasonal snowfall: during 1908−09 *Lowest seasonal snowfall: during 1888−89

Neighborhoods

Denver has 79

neighborhoods A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

that the City and community groups use for planning and administration. Although the City's delineation of the neighborhood boundaries is somewhat arbitrary, the City's definitions of its neighborhoods roughly correspond to those used by residents. Denver also has a number of neighborhoods not reflected in the City's administrative neighborhoods. Sometimes these neighborhoods reflect the way people in an area identify themselves; sometimes they reflect how others, such as real estate developers, have defined those areas. Among the neighborhoods commonly spoken of are historic and trendy

LoDo LoDo (Lower Downtown) is an unofficial neighborhood in Denver, Colorado, and is one of the oldest places of settlement in the city. It is a mixed-use historic district, known for its nightlife, and serves as an example of success in urban reinves ...

(short for "Lower Downtown"), part of the City's Union Station neighborhood; Capitol Hill, Washington Park; Uptown, part of the North Capitol Hill neighborhood; Curtis Park, part of the Five Points neighborhood; Alamo Placita, the northern part of the Speer neighborhood; and the

Golden Triangle Golden Triangle may refer to: Places Asia * Golden Triangle (Southeast Asia), named for its opium production * Golden Triangle (Yangtze), China, named for its rapid economic development * Golden Triangle (India), comprising the popular tourist ...

, roughly the Civic Center neighborhood.

Transportation

Grid system

Most of Denver has a straightforward street grid oriented to the four cardinal directions. Blocks are usually identified in hundreds from the median streets, identified as "0", which are Broadway (the west-east median) and Ellsworth Avenue (the north-south median).

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 major east-west artery through Denver, is 15 blocks (1500 North) of the median. Avenues north of Ellsworth are numbered (except for Colfax Avenue and a few others), while avenues south of Ellsworth are named. There is also an older downtown grid system that was designed to be parallel to the confluence of 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 ...

and Cherry Creek. Most of the streets downtown and in

run northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast. This system has an unplanned benefit for snow removal; if the streets were in a normal N-S/E-W grid, only the N-S streets would get sun. With the grid pointed in diagonal directions, the NW-SE streets get the sun to melt snow in the morning and the NE-SW streets get it in the afternoon. The NW-SE streets are numbered, while the NE-SW streets are named. The named streets start at the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Broadway with the block-long Cheyenne Place. The numbered streets start underneath the Colfax and I-25 viaducts. There are 27 named and 44 numbered streets on this grid. There are also a few vestiges of the old grid system in the normal grid, such as Park Avenue, Morrison Road, and Speer Boulevard.

Highways

Denver is primarily served by the interstate highways

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 ...

and

I-70 Interstate 70 (I-70) is a major east–west Interstate Highway in the United States that runs from I-15 near Cove Fort, Utah, to a park and ride lot just east of I-695 in Baltimore, Maryland, and is the fifth-longest Interstate in the c ...

. The intersection of the two interstates is referred to locally as "the mousetrap." I-70 runs east-west from

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. I-25 runs north-south from the

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ke ...

border through Denver to Buffalo,

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

I-225 Interstate 225 (I-225) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of Colorado. The freeway is a connector spur route of I-25 that acts as an eastern bypass in the Denver metropolitan area and serves Aurora. It also provides dire ...

traverses neighboring

Aurora An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

and connects with I-25 in the southeastern corner of Denver. Additionally,

I-76 Interstate 76 may refer to: Interstate Highways in the United States * Interstate 76 (Colorado–Nebraska) * Interstate 76 (Ohio–New Jersey), running through Pennsylvania Video gaming * ''Interstate '76 ''Interstate '76'' is a vehicular ...

begins from I-70 on the south edge of the city of

Arvada Arvada () is a home rule municipality located in Jefferson and Adams counties, Colorado, United States. The city population was 124,402 at the 2020 United States Census, with 121,510 residing in Jefferson County and 2,892 residing in Adams Cou ...

. It intersects I-25 north of the city and runs northeast to Nebraska where it ends at

I-80 Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...

. U.S. Highway 6 connects downtown Denver to the suburb of

Golden Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall * Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershi ...

. A highway expansion and transit project, dubbed "T-REX", was recently completed along the I-25 corridor. The project included the addition of extra freeway lanes, the redesign of several highway overpasses, and a light rail line along the I-25 corridor between downtown Denver and the Denver Technological Center. The massive project was finished in the Fall of 2006, ahead of schedule and under budget.

Public transit

Mass transportation Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

throughout the

Denver-Aurora metropolitan area Denver is the central city of a conurbation region in the U.S. state of Colorado. The conurbation includes one continuous region consisting of the six central counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson. The Denver r ...

is managed and coordinated by the

Regional Transportation District The Regional Transportation District, more commonly referred to as RTD, is the regional agency operating public transit services in eight out of the twelve counties in the Denver-Aurora-Boulder Combined Statistical Area in the U.S. state of Col ...

(RTD). RTD currently operates more than 1,000

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es serving 10,000 bus stops in 38 municipal jurisdictions. Additionally, RTD operates seven light rail lines (the C Line, D Line, E Line, F Line, H Line, R Line, and the W Line) as well as two

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...

lines serving a total of 53 stations. The current RTD local fare is $2.25. FasTracks, an expansion project approved by voters in 2004, will allow the light rail to serve cities such as Lakewood,

, and

. Commuter rail lines will serve Boulder,

Longmont The City of Longmont is a home rule municipality located in Boulder and Weld counties, Colorado, United States. Longmont is located northeast of the county seat of Boulder and north-northwest of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. Longmont' ...

, and the Denver International Airport, augmenting existing light rail extending from the downtown area to C-470 servicing the Denver suburbs.

Inter-city rail

Passenger train service to Denver is provided by Amtrak's ''

California Zephyr The ''California Zephyr'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak between Chicago and the San Francisco Bay Area (at Emeryville), via Omaha, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Reno. At , it is Amtrak's longest daily route, and second-longest overall ...

'', which runs from

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

to the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

with major stops in Omaha, Denver,

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, and

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

. Additionally, the '' Winter Park Express'' provides winter weekend service from Denver to

Winter Park Resort Winter Park Resort is an alpine ski resort in the western United States, in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado at Winter Park. Located in Grand County just off U.S. Highway 40, the resort is about a ninety-minute drive from Denver. History The mo ...

. Both trains stop at Denver's historic

Union Station A union station (also known as a union terminal, a joint station in Europe, and a joint-use station in Japan) is a railway station at which the tracks and facilities are shared by two or more separate railway companies, allowing passengers to ...

, where travelers can transfer to RTD's 16th Street Free MallRide or use light rail to tour the city.

Airports

* Denver International Airport is the eleventh busiest airport in the world, and sixth in the U.S. In 2005, it handled 43.4 million passengers. In land area it is the largest airport in the United States, covering 53 sq. miles. *Formerly Stapleton International Airport (replaced by Denver International Airport and closed in 1995) *Formerly

Lowry Air Force Base Lowry Air Force Base (Lowry Field in 1938–1948) is a former United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) training base during World War II and a United States Air Force (USAF) training base during the Cold War, serving as the initial 1955–1958 si ...