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You might have opened up another can of worms saying that Minneapolis beats out Denver, but there's plenty of threads on here comparing those two so I won't instigate anything here.
Yeah, there are at least 10 MPLS vs. Denver. My point was that there is a little too much emphasis is placed on weather.
I hate to bring this up but I've got to ask. Does Denver even have the right "demographics" to support the type of nightlife I enjoy in the southeastern US?
Before this thread goes where we all know it will go, I'd highly suggest that folks who are interested in a real world comparison do a quick google streetview tour of random neighborhoods in both cities. Clearly, this is NOT a NYC vs Mayberry comparison (though some will try to make it out that way). Also, as I type, the current temperature in Charlotte is 64; 32 is the current temp in Denver. Even though Denver is older, larger, and has better name recognition; there's only 5 months out of the year that I'd pick Denver over Charlotte. Obviously, April isn't one of those months...
You can't judge the weather off of one day. Especially the morning. Denver has been in the 70's and 80's up until this week. Plus the tempeture is dry and not to uncomfortable. I checked this weather site and it has shown rain on the forecast, so that may have something to do with the cooler tempetures.
I hate to bring this up but I've got to ask. Does Denver even have the right "demographics" to support the type of nightlife I enjoy in the southeastern US?
Like another poster said, there are around 3 million people in the Denver area, so of course there is going to be diversity.
Location: Born & Raised DC > Carolinas > Seattle > Denver
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Well, I lived in Greensboro, NC for 4 years, and spent a lot of time in Charlotte. And I currently live in Denver.
Being completely honest, Denver DESTROYS Charlotte. In my opinion, with that list you provided, Denver beats out Charlotte in every category. The ONLY thing that Charlotte has an edge is the "what's close to that city" angle. Denver is kind of isolated, and even though it's a big city, there isn't much else around us. Salt Lake City is a good 5 hours from here. Charlotte is within 5-6 hours of Atlanta, Raleigh-Durham, Myrtle Beach, DC, etc.
I'm originally from DC, and spent time in San Antonio, North Carolina, Alabama, Seattle, and now Denver. My wife and I both agree that Denver is BY FAR the best place we've ever lived. We love it here and plan on spending the next 20-25 years here.
Denver has 300 days of sunshine, low humidity, all 4 seasons. GREAT sports town, low cost of living, low crime, lots of shopping. 30 minutes from the rocky mountains...hiking, skiing. Denver has more miles of bike and walking trails than any other city in the USA.
Last edited by skins_fan82; 04-16-2012 at 10:49 AM..
Like another poster said, there are around 3 million people in the Denver area, so of course there is going to be diversity.
From the 2010 census:
Denver's MSA
2,543,482 people
8,384 sq/miles of land
Denver's CSA
3,090,874 people
13,118 sq/miles of land
Charlotte's MSA
1,758,038
3,093 sq/miles of land
Charlotte's CSA
2,402,623
6,469 sq/miles of land
Yes, Charlotte's CSA has 2,000 fewer sq/miles than Denver's MSA yet only has 140,859 fewer people. FWIW, nearby Catawba county (just outside of Charlotte's CSA) has a population of 154,000 and 400 sq/miles of land. Imagine what Charlotte's MSA population would be if we had 8,400 plus sq/miles of real estate to work with like metro Denver has.
To be fair, much of Denver's population is near the city of Denver itself. However, Denver is located in the middle of a very unpopulated area; making Denver America's most isolated major city (which is why it is the smallest market with all four major league sports represented there; isolation certainly has its advantages).
UA factor
And for those who like to point out urbanized area population, just know that Charlotte (a UA of nearly 1.3 million) is bordered to the northeast, the west, and the south by three other UAs (those UAs have a population of nearly 500,000). If these UAs were actually included in Charlotte's UA (most suburban cities are included within the main city's UA population) Charlotte's 2010 UA population would be close to 1.8 million. A similarly styled suburban UA less than 25 miles from Denver is the Lafayette--Louisville, CO UA which is barely at 60k as of 2000. My guess is that it hasn't grown much in the last 10 years, but I could be wrong.
My point is that much of UA Denver most likely includes suburban areas that were named separately in cities like Charlotte; thus making Charlotte appear to be smaller than the actual number of people calling this region home. You can't just look at random numbers that were tossed out by the US census and say "hey, that city is sooooo much smaller than this city". It just doesn't work that way.
If we are to have an honest thread, leave the census alone (because nerds like me can easily see through the bull that is the US census) and do some honest research on both of these great American cities. Compare attractions such as museums, theme parks, water parks, golf courses etc. Compare proximity to nature such as mountains, rivers, lakes, and oceans. Compare concert tour dates as well as major conventions. Then and ONLY then can one have a well rounded understanding of what both of these cities bring to the table.
If nothing else, just know that BOTH of these cities were (and still are) two of the fastest growing cities in America. People are choosing both of these cities with their feet. There is a reason for this ya know, but somehow (like with most threads) Charlotte's reasons for attracting young educated folks are always played down, ridiculed, and dismissed as if there are no efforts what-so-ever in making this city fun, exciting, and livable.
Here is an area of town that I live just 10 minutes south of; maybe pictures can explain my point better than my long nerdy posts can.
Denver is certainly larger, older, and has better name recognition than Charlotte (this coming from a guy who has actually been to Denver as well as every major city in the US). However, people (especially those who are not well traveled) tend to just go by the name and the census info when they post their opinions of cities on this particular forum. And then there are those who have only visited the tourists areas of one city and has only been to the slums of another; then they attempt to compare the two. I've traveled as both a tourist and a trucker. I've seen cities like NYC, Denver, and Chicago at both the tourist level and the loading dock street level (the places that tourists usually never see). Just wanted to put that out there before this thread continues down the path that we all know it will go.
Last edited by urbancharlotte; 04-16-2012 at 11:56 AM..
Location: Born & Raised DC > Carolinas > Seattle > Denver
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Denver has a Six Flags theme park, "Water Works," one of the top 10 water parks in the USA, and also has several of the best "go kart/mini golf" places in the country as well.
There is SO much to do in Denver, I don't even know where to begin. Again, I lived in North Carolina (Greensboro and Fayetteville) for 8 years of my life, and I used to visit Charlotte a lot. I can say I've probably been to Charlotte 50 times. It's a great city, I really liked it. Probably the best place to live in NC (in my opinion)
But with that said...now that I've been living in Denver for about 10 months, I can't imagine EVER leaving here. If anybody wants to know more about Denver, feel free to PM me and I can give u the run down. I don't want to type 20 paragraphs about just how awesome Denver is, so I just wanna cut this post off now LOL.
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