Our analysis of federal public data
Denver lock data, ZIP by ZIP
A locksmith's week in Denver is shaped by a few hard numbers. About half the households here rent, and roughly four in ten have been at their address only since 2020, which means a great many keys are in pockets nobody can name. About a third of the housing went up before 1960. Then there is the car theft spike, 15,192 vehicles in 2022, after which a lot of Denver drivers paid to replace keys they never lost.
Enter any of the 28 Denver ZIPs in the table further down. You get its housing figures and a line on what they mean at the door.
Renter households as a share of all households, Denver ZIPs
Seven findings
- Renters are half the city. 184,650 of the 357,832 households in our 28 ZIPs rent, or 52%. Belcaro edge, Glendale (80246) tops the list at 80%. A tenant doesn't own the lock on the door, which is why the leasing office comes before any locksmith. Locked out of an apartment.
- Turnover since 2020 is huge. 140,809 households, 39% of all of them, took up their current address in 2020 or after. Sellers, former tenants, their house sitters and the listing agents all walked away with access. Rekey after you move in.
- The housing is old in some places and brand new in others. Citywide, 32% of units are pre-1960; in Park Hill (80207) the figure reaches 82%. Out by the airport, the median Green Valley Ranch home was built in 2007. Calls from the old side of town are about mortise sets and paint-caked strikes; calls from the new side are about keypads.
- Downtown lives in towers. 96% of the homes in 80202 are in buildings with 10 or more units, and 77% of its households rent. The building, not the resident, controls the lobby fobs and the garage gate.
- Car theft spiked, then came down partway. DPD logged 3,230 stolen vehicles in 2010 and 15,192 in 2022, a rate of 2,154 per 100,000 people when the US rate was 290. The 2025 total of 5,551 is 63% below the peak and still 3.8 times the national rate. Aurora's own peak was 6,877, in 2022. Car stolen or keys taken.
- Burglary runs above the national rate. DPD counted 4,298 in 2025, or 586 per 100,000, close to 3.0 times the US figure of 195.
- The cold is long. DIA logs 152 nights a year at 32°F or lower (2016 to 2025 average), plus 20 days when the high stays at or under freezing and 6 nights below zero. The low point in that span was -24°F, in December 2022. Frozen locks and dead fobs.
Denver car theft rate next to the national rate, by year
Denver Police DepartmentUnited States
Denver burglary rate next to the national rate, by year
Denver Police DepartmentUnited States
Housing built in 1959 or earlier, Denver ZIPs
Freezing nights per month at DIA (low of 32°F or colder)
Every ZIP in one table
Tap a header to sort by it. The area names are our own labels for the biggest neighborhoods inside each Census ZIP Code Tabulation Area, and a few ZIPs reach past the city boundary.
| ZIP | Area | Homes | Rent | Moved in 2020+ | Built before 1960 | In 10+ unit buildings | No car | Median year built |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80202 | Downtown, LoDo | 14,719 | 77% | 61% | 14% | 96% | 23% | 2007 |
| 80203 | Capitol Hill south, Speer | 17,163 | 78% | 55% | 40% | 85% | 21% | 1967 |
| 80204 | Lincoln Park, West Colfax, Sun Valley | 19,011 | 63% | 48% | 30% | 49% | 16% | 1989 |
| 80205 | Five Points, Whittier, Cole | 19,830 | 63% | 49% | 46% | 45% | 16% | 1968 |
| 80206 | Cherry Creek, Congress Park | 15,314 | 53% | 40% | 41% | 49% | 8% | 1966 |
| 80207 | Park Hill | 9,023 | 25% | 23% | 82% | 6% | 6% | 1950 |
| 80209 | Washington Park, Bonnie Brae | 16,362 | 52% | 43% | 43% | 45% | 9% | 1968 |
| 80210 | Platt Park, University | 18,856 | 44% | 36% | 53% | 25% | 5% | 1959 |
| 80211 | Highland, Sunnyside, Jefferson Park | 21,790 | 53% | 46% | 50% | 33% | 8% | 1960 |
| 80212 | Berkeley, West Highland | 10,735 | 33% | 31% | 53% | 12% | 5% | 1957 |
| 80216 | Globeville, Elyria-Swansea | 7,573 | 75% | 56% | 27% | 57% | 11% | 2009 |
| 80218 | Cheesman Park, Uptown | 13,330 | 67% | 48% | 51% | 64% | 21% | 1959 |
| 80219 | Westwood, Barnum, Mar Lee | 22,056 | 41% | 23% | 64% | 12% | 10% | 1957 |
| 80220 | Hale, Montclair, Lowry north | 17,861 | 43% | 32% | 58% | 28% | 7% | 1955 |
| 80222 | Virginia Village, Glendale edge | 11,912 | 56% | 40% | 37% | 39% | 10% | 1967 |
| 80223 | Ruby Hill, Overland, Baker south | 9,646 | 56% | 35% | 53% | 30% | 14% | 1959 |
| 80224 | Goldsmith, Hampden | 9,433 | 42% | 30% | 21% | 36% | 11% | 1971 |
| 80227 | Bear Valley, Lakewood east | 16,453 | 33% | 29% | 4% | 26% | 4% | 1981 |
| 80230 | Lowry | 5,754 | 52% | 40% | 9% | 50% | 14% | 2004 |
| 80231 | Hampden, Kennedy | 18,268 | 60% | 38% | 4% | 46% | 9% | 1981 |
| 80235 | Marston west | 4,462 | 47% | 42% | 2% | 44% | 5% | 1985 |
| 80236 | Marston, Fort Logan | 6,500 | 40% | 26% | 35% | 25% | 7% | 1971 |
| 80237 | Hampden South, Tech Center | 12,875 | 56% | 39% | 3% | 54% | 8% | 1982 |
| 80238 | Central Park | 12,428 | 29% | 37% | 2% | 20% | 4% | 2012 |
| 80239 | Montbello | 13,943 | 40% | 30% | 3% | 22% | 5% | 1989 |
| 80246 | Belcaro edge, Glendale | 8,305 | 80% | 51% | 15% | 65% | 7% | 1979 |
| 80247 | Windsor, Aurora west | 16,030 | 59% | 42% | 5% | 64% | 13% | 1985 |
| 80249 | Green Valley Ranch, Gateway | 14,198 | 26% | 33% | 1% | 17% | 5% | 2007 |
Built from Census ACS 2020-2024 5-year tables B25001, B25003, B25024, B25034, B25035, B25038 and B25044. Survey estimates for areas this small have real margins of error. ZIPs under 3,000 housing units stay in the citywide totals but get no row of their own.
Denver Police Department, year by year
| Year | Burglaries | Per 100,000 | US per 100,000 | Vehicle thefts | Per 100,000 | US per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 4,505 | 751 | 702 | 3,230 | 538 | 241 |
| 2011 | 4,867 | 797 | 702 | 3,587 | 587 | 232 |
| 2012 | 5,131 | 816 | 673 | 3,669 | 584 | 232 |
| 2013 | 4,927 | 759 | 611 | 3,491 | 538 | 224 |
| 2014 | 4,558 | 685 | 538 | 3,443 | 518 | 217 |
| 2015 | 4,796 | 703 | 490 | 4,374 | 641 | 223 |
| 2016 | 4,681 | 669 | 467 | 4,796 | 686 | 240 |
| 2017 | 4,321 | 612 | 427 | 5,572 | 789 | 239 |
| 2018 | 4,016 | 557 | 373 | 5,336 | 740 | 231 |
| 2019 | 3,970 | 545 | 334 | 5,301 | 727 | 221 |
| 2020 | 5,231 | 709 | 309 | 8,425 | 1142 | 247 |
| 2021 | 5,845 | 790 | 264 | 12,726 | 1719 | 240 |
| 2022 | 5,169 | 733 | 276 | 15,192 | 2154 | 290 |
| 2023 | 5,114 | 718 | 253 | 12,409 | 1742 | 326 |
| 2024 | 5,112 | 708 | 232 | 8,809 | 1220 | 258 |
| 2025 | 4,298 | 586 | 195 | 5,551 | 757 | 200 |
Aurora and Lakewood car thefts
| Agency | Peak year | Latest full year | 2010 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aurora Police Department | 2022: 6,877 | 2025: 2,070 | 890 |
| Lakewood Police Department | 2022: 2,118 | 2025: 866 | 521 |
Each department's own reports to the FBI Crime Data Explorer, covering only offenses inside its city limits. We skip any year with a missing month.
Cite this
Denver Key Line, "Denver lock data by ZIP," https://denverkeyline.com/denver-lock-data/, data as of October 28, 2026. Sources: US Census Bureau ACS 2020-2024; FBI Crime Data Explorer; NOAA NCEI.
Free to reuse under CC BY 4.0, as long as you link back here.