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Out of Broomfield, Fort Collins, and Littleton what place in CO would you suggest to be best for a recently married couple (1 year married) who want to get far away from CA. In CA I hate our summers and its way over priced to live here!
My husband is right out of college with a BS degree looking for IT/Tech jobs and I am looking for anything from retail to entry level desk jobs. I have no degree yet but 10 years retail/customer serive experience (including the last 4 years at a desk job). I want to start college as soon as I have 1 year residency so I can afford to go to college. Having a community college campus in the city I live in is really important. Also we need to have decent paying jobs and affordable housing.
We picked these 3 cities because they had the most of what we are looking for as far as stores we shop at/gym we go to/school close by.
Any information you could give us would be great! Also my husband has a car but I dont. I might need to use public transportation if we dont get jobs close to each other. How is your public transportation system?
All 3 places are fairly spaced apart so it would really depend on where you land a job. It wouldn't make much sense for instance to live in Littleton when your job is in Ft. Collins.
Of the three, I'd say Broomfield. They have the best transit of the three. Front Range Community College is up that way. You could consider further south in Westminster as well.
Personally, I'd recommend your husband trying to find work anywhere in the country (or even out of the country), and decide where to move based on where he finds work. My personal opinion is that too many people concentrate more on where they want to live than on what they want to do.
But being an entry level employee, I don't think it's that bad an idea to move somewhere and try to apply locally. Especially if where your leaving is struggling as much economically as California is. He can network better if he lives locally, and many employers prefer a local candidate. But if you do that, you have to be open to moving again if he finds work elsewhere.
Again, Broomfield is my gut instinct on which is the best place of the three for you. Littleton is a good option as well. If you were further north, in Englewood, you could take the Light Rail or 0 and 66 buses down to Arapahoe Community College. Don't rule out downtown Denver either. There is Metro State College and Community College of Denver on the Auraria Campus, and downtown Denver (e.g. Capitol Hill) would also have the best transit options. I wouldn't recommend moving to Fort Collins without a job offer at the present time. It's not a very big place.
Personally, I think stores you shop at and gyms you go to may have to fall further down on your list of priorities, especially in this economy. Just a thought.
Out of curiosity, what's so bad about California summers ? I always thought California had the ideal weather, especially southern California. Not sure what part of California you're coming from. I know the economy is in bad shape in that state.
All 3 places are fairly spaced apart so it would really depend on where you land a job. It wouldn't make much sense for instance to live in Littleton when your job is in Ft. Collins.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. Job first, then place.
However, if the cost of living in the Denver area is less than where they are in California, and the job prospects are better, it may not be disastrous to move and make Denver their new home base for their job search. It kind of depends on what their situation is in California. They'd also have to continue to search for work in other cities as well, and be open to moving again if they find work elsewhere.
A lot of people do like and prefer CA weather. And if you like to be warm then its for you. But I personally would rather be cold then hot. Most of the time its 72 to 80 degrees, no snow, and summers can be 90-107. I dont like the 90+ days at all! Since I can remember I have wanted to live in CO, but dont know which part exactly. My dream is to have a cabin one day with a fireplace and snow outside. But since I work I do need to be where jobs are right now.
In CA decent jobs are very hard to come by. My husband with his BS degree had a job a few months ago where he had to commute an hour (sometimes longer in traffic) and it only paid $8.00/hr. I consider that a slap in the face. $8.00 is the minimum wage here and its insulting to offer someone with a degree the same amount you would offer a 16 year old right out of high school. My husband is currently working just a temp position this month.
My job is so high stress. I honestly wouldnt mind getting something a little less stressful even if it paid a little less. I make decent money but is it really worth the high constant stress. I would like something more enjoyable like working at Sephora or Ulta. Or an entry level job somewhere else.
My husband and I dont need a lot of money to live off of. We would only need a one bedroom apartment and utilities and food for both of us and car insurance. The apartments Ive looked at in CO that are decent were $800 to $900/month. So we would have to make enough to afford that.
What do jobs pay there for entry level or retail? Such as someone who does book keeping, making appointments, answers phones or works in a retail store? And what is your public transportation like? How often does your busses run? Especially during winter?
Fort Collins is our #1 choice but if we found a job closer to Broomfield that is where we would go. Broomfield is our #2 pick anyway. What I like about Fort Collins is the small town look. I would think it has less traffic since its not as close to Denver.
But my husband and I are trying to secure jobs first. We cant afford to fly out each time we find something we want to interview for. Do jobs in CO offer phone interviews?
Whether a job does a phone interview depends on the employer. In this economy, I think many of the employers can afford to be picky and only offer in-person interviews. Also, it's been said that many employers aren't even currently considering out of state applicants.
That being said, it is a risky time to be quitting a job (especially a well-paying, even if high stress, job). Sometimes, winners in life take risks. But it has to be a calculated risk. It sounds like you are doing your homework. If you move to Denver, it may take a while before you land a job. It's taken some people even a year or more in this economy. Your years of experience should come in handy. Your husband may have more trouble landing anything, in my opinion, but he'll have trouble in California too. Again, I feel like his best shot is applying throughout the country. You can move to Denver, but be prepared to move again if he gets a good paying job offer somewhere else in the country and you don't already have a higher paying job in Denver.
To be honest with you I never heard of those two stores you mentioned, but I used google maps to map where they are in the city of Denver, and there are a handful of each of those stores. Two of them are up towards Broomfield (Sephora at Flat Iron Crossing Mall, Ulta at Northglenn Mall).
At this point a cabin in the mountains with snow outside is kind of a fantasy. As you recognized, you've got to pay your dues first, live where there are jobs. Maybe that's a retirement dream. People with cabins in the mountains probably are mostly retired or own a tourist oriented business up there, or what not. And there's a certain poster by the name of jazzlover who likes to come around and pop the balloons of those who are dreaming of a snowy paradise in the mountains. It's great for a vacation, but it's kind of a hard-scrabble, do-it-yourself-cause-you-have-to, old-west way of life if you're actually living up there. 170 inches of snow per year is a lot of snow.
Another place to consider since he's into tech and you're into retail is Centennial, near Park Meadows Mall. Park Meadows is probably the top mall in Colorado, and it is the only place I found on google maps that has both a Sephora and and Ulta. Denver Technical Center with lots of professional businesses is north of Park Meadows along Interstate 25. The Light Rail travels down the Interstate 25 corridor from Downtown Denver all the way to Park Meadows, and you could use that to commute from further north in Centennial to Park Meadows. You can ride the 66 bus down Arapahoe Rd from Centennial to Arapahoe Community College in Littleton. Along that route, there's a new shopping area called Streets of Southglenn on Arapahoe Rd at University Blvd, and maybe there are jobs there. Seems to mostly be restaurants, though.
Most suburb buses are about once an hour (except in Boulder where buses are very frequent). Most inner city buses are once every half hour. Rush hour main line buses such as the 15 and 0 are once every 10-15 minutes. I like RTD. Winter conditions don't really shut it down, to my knowledge. Big snowstorms are pretty rare, like once a year on average. Again, for details on schedules, visit the RTD website, which I linked to in my last post.
I don't know what kind of salary retail pays. I think the bigger worry is finding a job at all, not whether the salary will be high enough. I think it probably depends on what the employer offers, and on what you say in your interview about your salary requirements.
I think you're kind of mixing apples and oranges here. Fort Collins is it's own city (and little metro area), and the other two are really suburbs of Denver.
One good thing about the fort (and there are many, many good things), is that it's pretty small, and bike commuting is pretty popular. Weather is usually decent, not too many hills in town, lots of bike lanes/paths. So though the public transport may be lacking a bit, biking is a great option there.
You can easily find a good one bedroom there for $700-800. In a good location as well.
There have been threads about the low wages in Ft. Collins. A lot of people go to college there and then don't want to ever leave. So they work at low-paying jobs to stay in Ft. Fun. You could do a search here on CD for these threads.
Myself, I'd go with Broomfield. Lots of retail at Flatirons, and close proximity to Denver and Boulder.
A lot of people do like and prefer CA weather. And if you like to be warm then its for you. But I personally would rather be cold then hot. Most of the time its 72 to 80 degrees, no snow, and summers can be 90-107. I dont like the 90+ days at all!
You are going to be very disappointed in CO weather. Weather on the Front Range can range from -15 to 105 degrees. 90+ days in the summer are more common then not. Expect lots of 90+ days, and summer temps about 5-degrees cooler then you are used to. Add to that snow and freezing temps in the winter.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Destiny 25
In CA decent jobs are very hard to come by. My husband with his BS degree had a job a few months ago where he had to commute an hour (sometimes longer in traffic) and it only paid $8.00/hr. I consider that a slap in the face. $8.00 is the minimum wage here and its insulting to offer someone with a degree the same amount you would offer a 16 year old right out of high school. My husband is currently working just a temp position this month.
What do jobs pay there for entry level or retail?
CO minimum wage is $7.25 hr. You will be lucky if you start at a retail job at more then that. On the bright side, as you already know the cost of living in CO is a lot lower then CA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Destiny 25
Such as someone who does book keeping, making appointments, answers phones or works in a retail store? And what is your public transportation like? How often does your busses run? Especially during winter?
Fort Collins is our #1 choice but if we found a job closer to Broomfield that is where we would go. Broomfield is our #2 pick anyway. What I like about Fort Collins is the small town look. I would think it has less traffic since its not as close to Denver.
You should be looking at Metro Denver, not Ft. Collins. Because: 1. you need the larger job market that is available in Denver, and 2. thats where most of the public transit is, that you will be relying on.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Destiny 25
But my husband and I are trying to secure jobs first. We cant afford to fly out each time we find something we want to interview for. Do jobs in CO offer phone interviews?
Probably not. Also if you can't afford to fly out there for an interview, I wonder how you will be able to afford to move there. Anyway if your husband doesn't have another job lined up after his temp job is up, he should probably consider going to Denver and start looking there. Because CA = 12.3%, CO = 8% unemployment rate. Which means he will probably find a job in Denver a lot faster then he could in CA. And that seems to be where you want to be anyway.
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If you move to Denver, it may take a while before you land a job. It's taken some people even a year or more in this economy. Your years of experience should come in handy. Your husband may have more trouble landing anything, in my opinion, but he'll have trouble in California too. Again, I feel like his best shot is applying throughout the country. You can move to Denver, but be prepared to move again if he gets a good paying job offer somewhere else in the country and you don't already have a higher paying job in Denver.
