Shaw HeightsCO
This town in Colorado has a population of 5,565.
Is Shaw Heights a good place to live?
Schools are its weak spot (D): its public schools trail 89% of Colorado towns on state tests and graduation. It lags on cost of living as well (C−): the typical home is worth about $483K, 4.6 years of the Denver metro’s $106K median household income. Its best grade is for walkability (A−) — it is more walkable than four in five U.S. towns. Health is another plus (B+) — it is healthier than nearly two thirds of U.S. towns. The overall grade lands at C−, better than 24% of U.S. towns. That places it 134th of 158 in Colorado. On the outdoors, just 11 of Colorado’s 218 towns do worse. On history, just 19 of Colorado’s 218 towns do worse.
Figures: health, CDC PLACES · schools, state test and graduation results · home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · USGS PAD-US · National Register of Historic Places.
What makes Shaw Heights stand out
Where Shaw Heights beats most towns.
99% of working residents leave Shaw Heights for work
Where Shaw Heights’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How Shaw Heights grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Colorado), ordered by how far Shaw Heights is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Empower Field at Mile High and 62 more within 40 miles
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Shaw Heights. Close and well known come first.
Big draw8 mi Stadium & arenaEmpower Field at Mile High
Big draw16 mi TheatreRed Rocks Amphitheatre
8 mi Stadium & arenaBall Arena
7 mi Stadium & arenaCoors Field
9 mi Stadium & arenaDick's Sporting Goods Park
8 mi Theme parkElitch Gardens Theme ParkPhoto credits
Empower Field at Mile High: Thelastcanadian, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Red Rocks Amphitheatre: Unknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Ball Arena: KM Newnham, CC BY-SA 2.5 · Coors Field: Matt Kozlowski, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Dick's Sporting Goods Park: Tom Pratt, CC BY 2.0 · Elitch Gardens Theme Park: USGS, Public domain
Moving to Shaw Heights: who provides what
Shaw Heights is unincorporated, so Adams County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in Shaw Heights.
Shaw Heights is healthy by national standards but behind most towns in Colorado; it also has little public open land and has many renters stretched by housing costs.
Shaw Heights earns a D for schools
Public schools: the Westminster Public Schools. One of its 3 schools is below, with the reason it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| John E. Flynn A Marzano AcademyLargest public elementary schoolGrades PK–8 | Grades PK–8 | 354 | D |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CO on state tests and graduation
Shaw Heights has 0.7 jobs for every working resident, so most commute out
Most working residents leave Shaw Heights for work: only 1% work in town. 23% of Shaw Heights workers work remotely from home. Shaw Heights’ mean commuting time is 29 minutes, above both Colorado’s towns (25 minutes) and U.S. towns (25 minutes). The median commute is under 9 miles.
| Shaw Heights | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Work from home | 23% | 18% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 29 minutes | 25 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Working residents who work in town | 0.7% | 7.8% | 8% |
| Below the poverty line | 12% | 8.4% | 9.6% |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Shaw Heights faces a low natural-hazard risk, led by hail
FEMA puts 34% of Shaw Heights’s expected hazard losses down to hail, and 23% to cold waves. Compared with 69% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage in the town is lower.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Residents of Shaw Heights are healthier than 66% of U.S. towns
Within Colorado it is less healthy than 75% of the 159 graded towns: Colorado sets a high bar.
In Shaw Heights, nearly a quarter of adults get no exercise outside work. This Colorado town does better than the Colorado average on 1 of 26 CDC measures and worse on 9. 32% of adults in the town have obesity; 21% have been diagnosed with depression.
| Shaw Heights | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 10% | 8.1% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 71% | 71% | 79% |
| Obesity (CDC PLACES) | 32% | 26% | 35% |
| Depression (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 23% | 23% |
| What stands out | Shaw Heights | CO |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer binge drinkers | 16.2% | 19% |
| More uninsured adults | 17.1% | 11.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expect snowy winters and hot summers in Shaw Heights
A winter brings about 55 inches of snow, with January nights at 20° and July afternoons at 89°.
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
1.3% of Shaw Heights is conserved land
Just 6 of its 433 acres are conserved, so there is little public open land in Shaw Heights itself; its outdoors grade is C−.
Parks and preserves in Shaw Heights: one, of 5 acres.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Rotary Park | — | 5 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Homes in Shaw Heights sell for about $485K
80.8% of renter households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, against 52.9% across Colorado.
The typical rent for Shaw Heights comes to $2,125 a month. Shaw Heights: 82% of households live in a home they own, where Colorado’s towns sit at 71% and U.S. towns at 73%.
| Shaw Heights | Colorado towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $2,125 a month | $1,807 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 82% | 71% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Everything we know about Shaw Heights
Colleges nearby
15 within 15 miles of the center of Shaw Heights
About 7 of every 100 Shaw Heights residents are enrolled in college, about the same as Colorado.
About Shaw Heights
Census-designated place in Adams County, CO, USA
Shaw Heights is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) located in and governed by Adams County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population of the Shaw Heights CDP was 5,185 at the United States Census 2020. The Westminster post office (Zip code 80031) serves the area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 0.7 sq mi
Shaw Heights’s neighbors
One town shares a border with Shaw Heights.
| Town | CO rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shaw Heights | #134 | C− | C− | — | D | B+ |
| Westminster | #76 | B | C | D | A− | A |
Shaw Heights reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Shaw Heights with a neighbor →
Questions about Shaw Heights
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is Shaw Heights, CO a good place to live?
Shaw Heights grades C− overall, better than 24% of U.S. towns and #134 of 158 in Colorado. It grades B+ for health and D for schools. Schools is its weak spot, with a D.
Is Shaw Heights, CO expensive?
Yes. The typical home is worth about $483,000, 9% below the Colorado typical home. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades C−.