Leadville vs. Evergreen (Denver, Boulder, Highlands Ranch: home, living, housing)

[Fuzz]

Your visit is a good idea.

Visit Leadville (that's where you'd live) and then Frisco/Breck/Silverthorne/Dillon (that's where you'd work). Talk to the locals, employees at the stores and restaurants to get a flavor of what life is like. You can meet some local workers by taking the free Summit Stage bus on weekday mornings. There are also often free clinics, shows about outdoor stuff (orienteering, ski movies, etc.) put on by different sports stores -- check the local paper (Summit Daily News for Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper and Frisco Colorado) and attend one -- you'll find locals there too. Go on a hike -- you'll run into people as well (hint: start early). While there are definitely many multi-million-dollar homes in Summit County, most people who actually live year-round in SuCo are not millionaires.

Then check out Evergreen (that's where you'd live) and Lakewood/Golden/Littleton/Denver (that's where you'd work).

Gunnison is definitely a good choice that has been mentioned. If possible, you should check out that area too.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by onthamove

Thanks for all the help guys, yea millionaires and Californians do ruffle my feathers to put it nicely. Evergreen or Leadville? My goodness questions do abound but there is only one way to figure it out go to these places for myself and figure it out. I am looking for the Colorado of old, not the one hollywood and millionaires dropped a big huge bucket of **** on. But my 18th bday is 9/17 and on 9/18 i am headed out to Colorado and with the money i have saved should be able to live in Evergreen and Leadville for a while before being employed.
Here is my plan; i like leadville because of the local college and oogobs of snow they get, but there is the one little thing jobs, i will search for jobs out there for two weeks if i find one, leadville it is, if not back east to Evergreen i'll have to make do with evergreen only 85'' snow in a winter the local college 2o miles away but guarteed jobs will be waiting just beyond the hill in lakewood. So wish me luck! I hope its leadville!

If Californians and millionaires "ruffle your feathers," then you can just about forget anywhere in the Colorado mountains, because that is what you are going to get. People like them can outbid most Coloradans just about every time for real estate in the mountain areas, and the markets and the demographics reflect that. It's still possible to find some Colorado natives living in mountain areas of Colorado, but it's increasingly a rarity. They have simply been priced out.

I just talked to a friend of mine who grew up in one of Colorado's mountain towns that got turned into an expensive resort. He left the town to go to college and wound up settling in Denver (no jobs in his home town then). He worked a good job, raised his family, saved quite a bit of money. He did everything "right." He's now nearing retirement age and he would love to move back to the area his grew up in. He can't even come close to affording even a minimal house there now. A house that sold there for $35,000 in the early 1980's now sells for around $600,000. That is the story of today's Colorado. A realtor told him that they call what's driving the market "MFC," meaning Money From California. As far as people like my friend, who grew up in the mountain areas of Colorado, who now can't afford to move back to the areas they grew up in, the Front Range is full of them.

[onthamove]

Why couldnt they just stay and squalor their own place up? I mean there is skiing in colorado but lets not forget the harsh winters of the high country as well why does that not bother them, californians are the wimpiest people of all i am surprised they can make it through a winter.

[sunsprit]

The two places you're looking at represent entirely different paradigms of Colorado living.

Evergreen is a front range town that is essentially a bedroom community to the Denver metropolitan area. There's lot's of activity, jobs, and all the amenities of the big city on your doorstep ... or, at the most, 20-30 minutes away. That includes colleges and a thriving job market for an 18 year old starting out. Affordable housing may be problematic, but it should be available. You'll not lack for snowfall and a true "winter" season in Evergreen, and an average year will have substantial storms coming through ... enough to be an inconvenience at times.

Leadville, on the other hand, is a very depressed local economy town where the mines closed down some number of years ago. Climax Molydenum is supposed to be reopening in a couple of years, and then is projected to employ about 2-3,000 workers again in the high paying mining jobs. Keep in mind that mining here has historically been a boom/bust cycle for well over a century; right now, it's at the tail end of a bust cycle (if the mine does open again as proposed). For the last several years, the town's been very economically depressed and it's become a bedroom community to workers in the Vail Valley or over at Keystone/Breckenridge area. You will have very little activity in Leadville except for your outdoor interests ... skiing, hiking, and so forth. The school is OK for liberal arts degrees, and it's a very small campus; we've had friend's children go there for their degrees for a teaching career. You will have to go elsewhere for almost everything you need as a consumer, unless you want to pay top dollar remote mountain town prices for groceries, etc. Winter here will be typically 7+ months out of the year, and it's cold and snowy ... to the point where you may not always be able to be outdoors and enjoying that winter climate. If you need a job while going through school, it may be a problem ... you'll spend so much time commuting to your job that with your school workload, there won't be much (if any) time left for recreation.

Leadville will definitely give you the old time small town community feeling. If that's what you value and are willing to pay the price to live there, then it's a better choice than Evergreen.

If, however, you value your time and economic opportunities, Evergreen will give you many more viable options for school, housing, a job, and an opportunity for the outdoor recreation that's close by to it.

As you've indicated, a trip to both might be helpful in making your choice. Best of luck with whichever you decide on.

PS ... Gunnison offers a good combination of what you're seeking ... check it out, too.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

it's cold and snowy ... to the point where you may not always be able to be outdoors and enjoying that winter climate.

That is precious! Absolutely precious!

[onthamove]

You guys have been very helpfull, but the more i think about this the more i realize that Evergreen is the better decision. I would be more willing to try Leadville if the mining jobs were opening upon my arrival to the state but it doesnt look like thats happening anytime soon. Evergreen gets about 90'' in a winter so i guess i'll have to settel for that, heck thats alot by my eastern standards ( the same as what buffalo averages) but by Colorado standards 90'' is nothing, huh it just shows how relative everything is. Well one things for sure i cant wait to get to the mtns!

[Fuzz]

Evergreen has great mountain biking. Check out Alderfer/Three Sisters and Elk Meadows Open Space Parks.

[onthamove]

But looking at city data arnt most of leadville population young people? i mean a very large majority of them are under 22

[Katiana]

The median age is similar to the state-wide average. There are a number of college students there, too.

[High Altitude]

onthamove

You are getting a bunch of great info.

What's nice about Evergreen is that it is in the mountains but still has all the amenities and is close enough to commute to Denver if need be.

If you don't have time to get up into the high country, the open space parks are outstanding.

For example, I can drop my kids off at school and in 3 minutes I am at 3 sisters. Get in some ride (or hike, snow shoe) time and then go about my day.

Only have a an hour or two, grab your bike and hit up elk meadows etc.....

I am no photographer but here are a couple pics from 3 sisters.