Living in Montrose Colorado? (Denver, Pueblo: crime, house, neighborhood)

[duece7]

Hello everyone,

I've read through several Montrose threads but wanted to start my own. I have a tendency to be long winded but I feel knowledge is power. My wife, in-laws and two children (2 and 3 months) visited Montrose on our way to Ridgway State Park for a camping trip last week. We stopped for a bit on the way out there and on the way back home and we loved it. We all immediately got the feeling, "we want to live here" after seeing the area and talking to some of the people. Everyone was so friendly and helpful it was amazing.

We currently live in Pueblo, CO and we have been thinking of a different quality of life for not only our children but us as well. We have been doing a ton of research since we got back and plan on going back out to spend a weekend just checking things out more. We aren't overly concerned about jobs due to my wife's and my backgrounds and professions.

We are however, interested in the school system, cost of living, and just general environment to raise a family. We don't mind the slower pace of things and actually welcome the change. We've lived in Denver as well before and it has it's advantages but we are not big city folk or at least don't take full advantage of the city life to balance the trade off.

I would love to hear from folks that have or do live in Montrose and why do you live there or did you move? I know there will be baddies and crime anywhere but we are hoping to raise the kiddos in a better environment and we love the outdoors.

Thanks for reading my novel and hope to hear from some of you.

[getmebacktothemountains]

I have been waiting to see if anyone would respond to you. I too have the same questions and I find it strange that not one response. Why do you want to move from Pueblo?

[GStone777]

If you can do it financially, Montrose is a great place to live. I have two young children and have found Cottonwood elementary to be an excellent school. We used to live in Canon City and moved because we can make more money here. We are also much closer to my wife's parents. Shopping is good enough in Montrose and if you're an outdoors person you can't hardly beat it here. Yesterday I went fishing near Morrow Point Dam and today I was hiking in the San Juan's above Ouray. The people are generally friendly but I did find people in Canon City to be a little friendlier and a bit more genuine. Even so, I would say people in Montrose are probably friendlier than most places. We used to shop a lot in Pueblo and the cost of living here is definitely more expensive than Pueblo. It seems that housing is also more expensive in Montrose than Pueblo and gas is more. I live in a family friendly neighborhood on the west side of Montrose where crime is almost non-existent and I don't have to worry too much when my kids are outside.

If I could, I would live in the Pueblo/Canon City area four months of the year and Montrose the other eight months. I could fish, camp, hike and bike in Montrose in the summer and enjoy the Springs and Pueblo in the winter. If you ski, Telluride is closer than Monarch.

[duece7]

There are a lot of threads on Montrose so folks may not have anything new to add. Most threads have nothing but great things to say but only a couple from this year so figured I would see if any new comers had anything to add.

We want to move to a little slower paced town and honestly Pueblo is not where we see raising our family. We are looking for a different way of life than what Pueblo has to offer. Not saying Pueblo is bad just not for us.

[duece7]

One more question, how is the wind, dust, and dirt out there? Websites show more percipitation in Pueblo than Montrose yet Montrose is so much greener.

[StarrySkiesAbove]

Colorado as a whole is pretty windy and dusty. Areas of Montrose appear greener due to irrigation. However the area surrounding the town of Montrose where there is not irrigated farmland is very dry until you start to get into the mountains. Once you get to the town of Ridgway for example.

[GStone777]

The prevailing winds come from the west and southwest so we get dust from the desert areas to the west in Utah and Arizona. Where I live just west of Montrose we are in a desert but the area around us is heavily irrigated. Driving west towards the uncompahgre plateau you leave the irrigated area of the valley and drive into hills which are at first wooded with pinon and juniper and then finally with pines, firs and aspens so there isn't much dusty terrain in that direction. On the east side of town going from north to south there are the "adobes," which are mostly barren clay hills that do make the air dusty but usually that air seems to blow away from town more than towards it. In the spring a lot of farmers and landowners like to burn weeds during the burn time from March into May. It is not uncommon to have clouds of smoke blowing past my house. I have a child with asthma so we have air cleaners in our house just for that time of year. Overall I would say Montrose and the area around it is greener but you do have some nice parks in Pueblo.