Setting West of Denver
Lakewood lies immediately west of Denver in central Colorado, at the junction of U.S. Route 6 and Colorado State Highway 121. It is part of the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metropolitan area and the Front Range Urban Corridor, with neighboring communities including Wheat Ridge, Edgewater, Denver, Dakota Ridge, Morrison, Golden, West Pleasant View, East Pleasant View, and Applewood.
The city sits in the Colorado Piedmont, on the western edge of the Great Plains and just east of the Front Range of the southern Rocky Mountains. Green Mountain is in the far west-central part of the city, and the city includes small lakes, reservoirs, and east-flowing tributaries within the South Platte River watershed.
Population and Institutions
Lakewood is the most populous municipality in Jefferson County. Its population was 155,984 at the 2020 U.S. census, and the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey listed a population of 156,583 in 2024.
Lakewood is also home to the Denver Federal Center, which contains the largest concentration of federal agencies outside Washington, D.C.
Early Development and Incorporation
The Lakewood region was historically inhabited by the Ute people. Urban and suburban development began in 1889, when Charles Welch and W.A.H. Loveland platted a 13-block area along Colfax Avenue west of Denver in eastern Jefferson County.
Lakewood incorporated in 1969 as Jefferson City, then changed its name to Lakewood after an election. Before incorporation, the area did not have a municipal government and depended on water districts, fire districts, volunteer-staffed fire districts, and Jefferson County government services.
Colfax and Belmar
Lakewood did not develop around a traditional downtown. West Colfax Avenue served the metropolitan area as U.S. Route 40 and as the main route between Denver and the Rocky Mountains, attracting commercial activity including stores, restaurants, motels, banks, a movie theater, a roller rink, a bowling alley, and used car lots.
Retail development later expanded southward with Villa Italia Mall on West Alameda Avenue. After that mall declined, the city planned its replacement with Belmar, which is described as a town center combining retail, residential, cultural, and public space.
Cultural and Historic Places
Belmar includes a designated Arts District with artist studios and gallery spaces. The Lakewood Cultural Center has a theater, gallery space, and art classrooms, while the 40 West Arts District includes a bike and walking art experience along the light rail line.
Heritage Lakewood Belmar Park is a 20th-century museum and festival grounds near Kountze Lake, with several historic buildings on a site that formerly held the Belmar family mansion. William Fredrick Hayden Park is located in the foothills of Green Mountain.
What it is like
Lakewood is in metro Denver, conveniently located along Colfax Avenue and the RTD W Line, which runs all day several times an hour. Downtown Lakewood/Belmar is described as the city’s primary mixed-use, entertainment, government and large-scale cultural destination, with Belmar spanning 22 square city blocks around a central plaza.
Homes and housing
Lakewood’s Low Form Residential category includes single-dwelling units, patio homes, cottage clusters, duplexes, tandem homes, mobile homes in designated areas, and attached or detached ADUs. Its Mid Form Residential category includes single-dwelling units, patio homes, cottage clusters, tandem homes, duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, townhomes, rowhomes, multifamily housing, and accessory commercial uses. Envision Lakewood 2040 references Lakewood’s Strategic Housing Plan, adopted in 2024, and says it should be updated every three years.
Sources: Lakewood, Colorado (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA); visitdenver.com; compplan.lakewoodco.gov