Thinking of moving to Boulder from Redlands, CA... (Louisville: smog, transplants)

[Jenfromcali]

My fiance and I have been talking seriosly about moving to Boulder. We are both in our mid to late twenties and love the outdoors. It has gotten ridiculous how bad the air quality is, how hard it is to find a job and the price of rent for a one bedroom is almost $1000!!! We live 70 miles east of LA in a pretty nice sized city but all that surrounds us is smog and concrete. We want a small town feel but still have alot to do and seasons would be nice. I have never experienced a change in seasons. So I guess my question is... Will moving to Boulder from Redlands, Ca be a good change?????

[Katiana]

You will certainly get a change of seasons in Boulder. Sometimes the season changes daily! In other words, it can be 70 one day and 20 the next in the spring and fall. Also, it can be 70 degrees on New Year's Day and 70 degrees on the 4th of July, but not very often. I am not trying to be facetious, but the seasons here are not like those of the northeast and the midwest where the temps vary daily, but not by so much. Still, summer is generally hot; winter generally cold (but not *too* cold.) Once you get used to it, the weather here is good.

Boulder is not a small town; it is more of a small city, ~90,000 people including the students.

Jobs are competitive in Boulder depending on your field. IT is fairly open. Health care, much less so. I do not know much about other fields.

Rents are probably lower than your Cali city, but not by a huge amt. My DD is renting a tiny two BR apt for $900/mo. It has no doors on the bedroom closets, no kitchen counter space, and no other closets, not even a coat closet.

I would recommend a trip out to see the place before making a final decision.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Jenfromcali

how hard it is to find a job and the price of rent for a one bedroom is almost $1000!!!

So I guess my question is... Will moving to Boulder from Redlands, Ca be a good change?????

So we guess our questions are: What do you do? How much can you afford for a home or monthly rent?

[OutOfSoCal]

I would look a little bit further away from Boulder, it get cheaper the further away you go. I would bet you can get 15-20 outside of Bouldr and be very happy with what you find. We all know a 20 minute drive in So Cal is a trip to the corner store. IN some areas you can buy a condo for 120K. that payment wouldn't be much more than 1200 a month and you owna dn have a tax write off, IMO you'd be better off doing this if possible.

We were out in CO last week and loved it, Can't wait to leave CALI. We live in San Dimas and I work in Corona.

Good luck

[tfox]

You won't find a 1br in Boulder for much cheaper than about $700 or so, and even then, watch out for the places right by campus which are loaded with CU underclassmen. Finding ANY 2 bedroom in Boulder for under $1000.00 is a real find, though clearly there are some out there.

That being said, you can be five minutes out of Boulder and the price of apts will drop significantly. You really do pay a premium to live in Boulder, even within Boulder, the far south and east sides of town are significantly cheaper than more central areas.

[Micktooth]

We moved to Louisville close to Boulder last year. It is great. Check it out.
Best Places to Live: Top 100 - Louisville, Colo. (3) - Money Magazine

[Jenfromcali]

We will definitely be living in an apartment for awhile as we get our bearings in the city and figure out what part we would want to own a home in. 700 a month for rent is a dream come true!! Can anyone tell me which areas have the highest concentration of college students? I am one but past the age of being a party animal. Looking for the nicer areas with character... I will just be working part time but my fiance is a contracter/carpenter. We see finding jobs as the only obstacle to moving right now so we will see.

[Katiana]

The areas around the university have the highest concentration of students. This would be central Boulder and an area known as "The Hill" in west central Boulder.

However, there are students living all over Boulder as it really is not too large and there is good public transportation. Plus, many students have cars.

[hello-world]

Originally Posted by Jenfromcali

My fiance and I have been talking seriosly about moving to Boulder. We are both in our mid to late twenties and love the outdoors. It has gotten ridiculous how bad the air quality is, how hard it is to find a job and the price of rent for a one bedroom is almost $1000!!! We live 70 miles east of LA in a pretty nice sized city but all that surrounds us is smog and concrete. We want a small town feel but still have alot to do and seasons would be nice. I have never experienced a change in seasons. So I guess my question is... Will moving to Boulder from Redlands, Ca be a good change?????

boulder can be nice and very beautiful, but be careful about thinking you're "escaping" to "shangri la" only to learn within a year of moving that it's not so different or better. the air quality is not so good in boulder, and the traffic is getting pretty bad even by CA standards around boulder. a nicer one bedroom's rent could be easily $1000/month there, too. $700/month for a nicer place would be exceptional - maybe nearly unheard of at this point. that's what you would pay for a VERY small 1 bedroom with few/no amenities in the college ghetto ("the Hill") across from the CU campus. there are many southern california transplants in boulder. outside of boulder, it is a suburban expanse like few others, as well. and of course there is no ocean here. it probably IS a bit easier to get away to the mountains, and probably feels much less LA than LA (of course), in boulder - it only takes 20 minutes to get up into the mountains where it feels like you're REALLY in the mountains and away from the rest. unless you're living up in the mountains, though, plenty of people actually compare boulder to california.

i'd say visit boulder, and look at many, many of the threads on boulder here. that would probably be a decent way to get a feel for whether it would be a "good change" (or really much of a change at all).

[Katiana]

i'd say visit boulder, and look at many, many of the threads on boulder here. that would probably be a decent way to get a feel for whether it would be a "good change" (or really much of a change at all).

Agree completely. If you are looking for a "better life", it may not happen just b/c you move to Boulder or anywhere. Has anyone mentioned wages? Most definitely lower here.