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I am thinking of relocating from new york city to colorado. Are Louisville and Superior comparable? The schools look great in both towns. Is the commute to Denver doable? From what I've been reading, Boulder doesn't sound like a great place to raise a family - but what about the surrounding towns? thanks! (Any comments on how colorado is a better place to live than california are welcome! My daughter's father lives in big sur, ca, so she'll be flying to monterey several times a year. But all I read about ca is how middle class families are leaving because of the high cost of housing. I can afford something around $300k, which seems to get you a lot more house in co than ca.)
I am thinking of relocating from new york city to colorado. Are Louisville and Superior comparable? The schools look great in both towns. Is the commute to Denver doable? From what I've been reading, Boulder doesn't sound like a great place to raise a family - but what about the surrounding towns? thanks! (Any comments on how colorado is a better place to live than california are welcome! My daughter's father lives in big sur, ca, so she'll be flying to monterey several times a year. But all I read about ca is how middle class families are leaving because of the high cost of housing. I can afford something around $300k, which seems to get you a lot more house in co than ca.)
$300,000 should get you a house in either Superior or Louisville, though it probably won't be anything too fancy -- proximity to Boulder does have its cost. Commute down the Boulder turnpike is kind of a slog to downtown Denver, though, I'd budget at least 45 minutes of commuting time from McCaslin Blvd exit to downtown.
If it were me, I'd prefer Louisville over Superior as it has been there for quite some time and seems more like a real community. It was a small coal mining town turned satellite of Boulder and has been for 100+ years. Superior is more of a housing development than a town; it sprouted up virtually overnight in the 90s with tract homes and a couple big-box stores and hasn't changed at all since then.
... From what I've been reading, Boulder doesn't sound like a great place to raise a family - but what about the surrounding towns? thanks!
What makes you think Boulder isn't a good place to raise a family? We all have our own opinions but on the whole, I'd say Boulder is a good place to raise kids if you can afford a house :-P Being a college town its a bit more diverse than other metro communities, good cultural scene, good restaurants, very managable size, tons of trails and parks withing walking/riding distance and lots of greenspace.
As tfox touched on, I don't think you can get a house in Boulder for 300K anymore. Even one you wouldn't want to live in. Prices are crazy and hard to justify in my mind but hey... I'd take Louisville over Superior for the same reasons tfox stated. If you'll be working downtown, you might want to consider Lafayette, Erie and Broomfield too. Something in these towns could put you closer to I-25 instead of US 36 which is probably a faster commute.
Check out http://www.coloradohometownnews.com/ for info on Superior, Louisville, Lafayette & Erie. Its the local, small-town weekly newspaper. I subscribed for a year or so before building in the area just to get a feel for the vibe. Having always lived in large cities, I wanted to see if I could adjust to a different lifestyle. If you live in The City, I'm sure you'll find the transition interesting, fun but interesting.
What makes you think Boulder isn't a good place to raise a family? We all have our own opinions but on the whole, I'd say Boulder is a good place to raise kids if you can afford a house :-P Being a college town its a bit more diverse than other metro communities, good cultural scene, good restaurants, very managable size, tons of trails and parks withing walking/riding distance and lots of greenspace.
As tfox touched on, I don't think you can get a house in Boulder for 300K anymore. Even one you wouldn't want to live in. Prices are crazy and hard to justify in my mind but hey... I'd take Louisville over Superior for the same reasons tfox stated. If you'll be working downtown, you might want to consider Lafayette, Erie and Broomfield too. Something in these towns could put you closer to I-25 instead of US 36 which is probably a faster commute.
Check out http://www.coloradohometownnews.com/ for info on Superior, Louisville, Lafayette & Erie. Its the local, small-town weekly newspaper. I subscribed for a year or so before building in the area just to get a feel for the vibe. Having always lived in large cities, I wanted to see if I could adjust to a different lifestyle. If you live in The City, I'm sure you'll find the transition interesting, fun but interesting.
I am trying to find out about the best neighborhoods with little kids in Boulder. I've looked at Table Mesa and an area around 55th and Baseline (Arapahoe neighborhood around Eisenhauer School) and thought they might be good. I've also looked at downtown Louisville and North Boulder. Any thoughts on these areas? Any info. would be appreciated. Thanks.
Dimplekins - I think most areas in Boulder are good for raising kids. There seem to be hundreds of them on every block. Table Mesa, Eisenhower, North Boulder, etc. all have their own pros and cons. It really depends on what you want from the area; shops, parks, access to US36 or Foothills Pkwy, proximity to trailheads, etc. I have friends that live on The Hill, where a lot of students live, and they love the area because you can walk everywhere and the students keep things intersting. Personally, I don't know that I'd want the potential noise and bother associated with college students but to each is own. In Boulder it seems to come down to where can you find a house you like within your price range.
Lovesunnydays - The people are about the same in both towns. Housing is similar, with Lafayette having some newer developments but both towns have historic designations in or around their downtowns. Louisville has a larger and more formal downtown area. You can walk downtown and kill a couple hours walking around. I think Louisville is about 10 years ahead of Lafayette in terms of revitalizing their downtown area. Now we are talking about little towns of less than 30K people so the downtown isn't a huge deal. Personally I think Lafayette has more open space and better access to uncrowded trails and bike routes. Louisville seems to have a ton of traffic lights which I find annoying when trying to get around.
I live in Louisville now and lived in Boulder off and on since college (about 15 years). We just moved to Louisville. Several factors influenced our decision:
1: couldn't afford anything decent in Boulder. We got a 2000 square foot tri level with a private back yard about 6 blocks from old town in Louisville for under $300,000.
2: Great place to raise a family. We've got a 4 month old and a 2.5 year old. I absolutely love Boulder, but Louisville is only 15 minutes away. Louisville, has a quieter, small-town feel that we really like. We can walk to the elementary school, middle school, outdoor pool, rec center and 3 parks.
3:Easy commute to Denver: I work downtown and get to work in 20-25 minutes. Yep. The secret is to buy the toll pass and you can use the car pool lane. The bad traffic on 36 is usually going the other way.
4: Fastracks: here's the x factor. Louisville will undergo huge changes in the next 6 years. Front range voters approved a commuter program 2 years ago. Lots of Denver now has light rail, but within 6 years you will be able to take a train from longmont to south denver. The line running to longmont will stop at boulder, louisville, broomfield and westminster. Notice there is no Lafayette or superior in the mix. The final stop is downtown denver. Union station in Denver will be the hub for the entire metro area. I think being near downtown louisville and being able to walk to the new train station makes a ton of sense. It makes for a better investment and also will be cool if you commute to denver (the future will be very crowded on the roads). In addition, the city board just approved tax incentives to revitalize downtown louisville. Currently it really is sleepy. With a train stop their will be a lot more going on, some folks won't be happy but I'm a fan of small towns with cool downtowns and I think that's the direction louisville is headed.
I would agree with the other comments on the board. I know people who love Lafayette and Superior. Finding a good home in Louisville is tough. Most subdivisions were built in the 70's and 80's by developers who had 5 floor plans and only 2 of them made sense (for example, we looked at several bi levels where the only exit to the back yard was through the gargage-crazy). Many homes are stacked on top of one another without private back yards. But if you are patient with your house search you can find something you like.
thanks for all the responses. How does Lafayette compare to Louisville?
I think the consensus would favor Louisville for location. Louisville is closer to where you want to be -- Boulder, Denver and the mountains. Lafayette is closer to Longmont, Erie, and Weld County; of those Longmont is probably the only place you'd actually ever go. Housing may be newer and cheaper there, though.
Longmont is quite a bit bigger than either Louisville/Lafayette. It does have its own downtown area, though it's nothing like Boulder. It's definitely more of its own town, rather distinct from Denver and Boulder rather than a bedroom community -- there's a much broader range of housing there, including some lower-income neighborhoods you'd never find in Louisville/Lafayette or for that matter Boulder. This is partially because the town was once considered more of a blue-collar town especially compared to yuppie Boulder, though economically this is not reallly the case any more. Some posters here have commented that there's some gang issues there on the city's east side, but I think that's kind of exaggerated -- what that means is that it has a diversity of neighborhoods that you'd expect to find in a town that size. That being said, the city's east side is probably not where you'll settle if you decide to live there.
Lots of folks commute from Longmont to Boulder (in fact the traffic down the diagonal highway going to Boulder gets worse all the time, even though it isn't very far), and to a certain extent to the Broomfield/Interlocken area down 287. Commuting to Denver is a bit more difficult, although the "L" bus to downtown Denver is a convenient option if you decide to do it. Personally, I think Longmont is great for commuting within Boulder county including Broomfield, but I personally wouldn't live there if I planned to commute outside that area.
One other thing about Longmont is that it has a lot of industry and jobs particularly in the high-tech and biotech fields -- in fact there's as many people commuting INTO Longmont as out of it. One reason why this is the case is that it has a more business-friendly climate than Boulder, so lots of corporations have built sites in Longmont to take advantage of the highly qualified Boulder county workforce.
Longmont actually reminds me a lot of how Fort Collins USED to be before it really started getting discovered.
So, as you can tell, generally my impression of Longmont is a good one. Lots of Boulderites settle down in Longmont once they have kids. I think the main difference between Longmont and Louisville/Lafayette/Superior is that the former has a bit more of its own identity and economy, while the latter are more or less bedroom communities in the Boulder/Denver orbit.
I should also mention that Longmont is in the St. Vrain school district, which is reasonably good, though probably not as well regarded as Boulder Valley. But, you have to look at the individual schools as because Longmont does have some excellent schools.
If you do decide to live in Longmont, there's definitely a preference to live either near it's downtown district (if that's your cup of tea), or in the newer subdivisions on the west side. That would be my recommendation anyway.
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Lafayette?
