NH to CO- Which town would be a good fit? (Denver: ski resort, for sale)

[rg8488]

Hi everyone!

My family and I are thinking about relocating to Colorado from New Hampshire. We are really struggling on deciding which town would be a good fit for us. I have been researching, and so far we have been interested in the western area like Grand Junction/Fruita, and then Denver area like Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock, Woodland Park, Colorado Springs, Pueblo. Open to more suggestions!


Some information about our family:

We are both 26 years old with two young children- Middle class family
Our 5 year old will be starting Kindergarten this upcoming year
I have an associates degree in accounting
My husband works seasonally as a snowmaker at a ski resort and then he is a route sales associate with his CDL-A license. He drives and delivers bread to grocery stores/restaurants/gas stations
We enjoy the outdoors and love to hike
We have family in SLC, UT & Denver, CO

I heard the job market is pretty tough, but what town would hold the best chance of us finding jobs?
My husband was going to apply for driving/vendor jobs such as Coca Cola, UPS/FedEx, US Foods, Miller/Coors, Anheuser-Busch, etc. Any other big companies out there he could apply to?

My uncle works for Questar Energy and he suggested that my husband should look into the oil companies, but I read that it is off and on employment. Is this true?

The town with least worries of Tornadoes/Wildfires/Flooding?

We just want to find the right town to settle down and raise a family, possibly buy a home within the next two years, low crime, good weather, low unemployment, has a lot to offer with outdoor activities, decent schools, a good selection of restaurants/shopping.

We are flying out and staying out there for two weeks next month and definitely plan on exploring and see with our own eyes what we like, but any of your opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Mike from back east]

Safe path is to start with Denver if he can get work there, rent a home (though the rental market is tight) and then get around the state to see what works best for you. Denver is the junction of I-25 and I-70 with lots of commerce, trucking, warehousing and a metro area of 3M+ people where there's lot of delivery work.

To avoid wildfires you want to avoid wooded / mountainous areas. Tornados usually occur well east of I-25 out on the plains. To avoid floods just check the flood plain maps and/or avoid housing near waterways.

Check realtor.com for an idea of home prices here, you may find your current location more affordable.

[rg8488]

Thanks for your help, I appreciate it. I looked at the cost of houses for sale and rentals in CO The real estate in some of the areas we are interested in are the same price here. The rentals we looked at are a lot cheaper. Rent in NH is high. We currently pay $1,600 for a 2br townhome with no utilities included. So that is advantage. Our family lives in CO/UT so that is our main reason for moving.

[jim9251]

Grand Junction. No tornadoes or flooding. It gets HOT in summer. Powderhorn ski resort is on the Grand Mesa 45 miles away. Good luck to you.

[jazzlover]

It would probably be smartest to find a job first, then figure out where to move. For what your situation is, I would much more strongly recommend Salt Lake City. Contrary to what the Chamber of Commerce-type Coloradans say, the Wasatch Front economy is actually more diversified than the Front Range. Unlike Colorado, several major Utah ski areas are literally out the back door of SLC--with city bus service to several. So, the possibility of your husband continuing in both his careers would likely be better there; in Colorado, he might well have to choose one or the other. Yes, the oil/gas patch is a boom/bust type business, but no businesses in Colorado are immune to that. Colorado's over-reliance on the F.I.R.E. economy is especially troubling, and high-tech is no longer the darling that it once was. Meanwhile, Colorado continues to become more hostile toward primary industry and manufacturing--something that Utah is, so far, avoiding.

All of the Front Range of Colorado is subject to severe thunderstorms and hail in summer. As I've posted before the most hail-prone area of the United States is the Front Range from Colorado Springs north to Cheyenne, Wyoming. The Wasatch Front's biggest problem is poor air quality in winter--probably the place's biggest "downer."

Many of Colorado's larger cities have only middling crime ratings--often worse than that in areas that are affordable to younger families. Schools in Colorado are generally getting poorer in quality, partly as a result of the state's Constitutionally-mandated revenue limits that are sending government, including schools, into ever-worsening fiscal crisis. Utah, on the other hand, consistently ranks high in having effective, yet cost-efficient government.

[GStone777]

The Wasatch Front is an excellent idea if you have family there. I lived on the Wasatch Front for a year and the one big negative is the winter temperature inversion. The cold air will sit up against the mountains for weeks at a time and become very polluted. I had days where murky sludge would settle on the windshield of my car. In January I saw the sun for exactly 5 minutes while living in Provo and Salt Lake. To avoid the worst part of the inversion you will want to live in Spanish Fork or south of there in Payson or Santaquin. It helps if you are Mormon but I found the larger cities had a lower percentage of Mormons as opposed to the small towns. The population is younger and seems more vibrant than what you will find on the Front Range. Utah schools are generally some of the best in the country and people in this area are very family oriented.

Fruita is a nice little town and way better to live in than Grand Junction. It is definitely a small town environment and a lot of younger people gather at the rec center/library. Jobs are the only issue in Junction/Fruita but there is plenty of outdoor recreation in the Fruita area with the exception of skiing. Fruita has a grocery store and if you are lucky enough to work there you will find yourself driving the 10 minutes into Junction for the big city shopping maybe every week or two. From my own experience and from the stats I've seen the crime rate in Fruita is much lower than that of Junction.

Tornadoes and wildfires are not an issue in Fruita or Utah unless you buy a place up in the forest outside of town. For flooding just make sure you aren't building on a flood plain. Flood Insurance | Flood Maps | Flood Risk | FloodSmart‎

[Miss Hepburn]

Bec you are so young...Denver area for sure..all the surrounding areas you mentioned.
Close to all you need.
You won't be sorry.
You will never be bored.


Art, theater, shopping, museums, restaurants, your family, concerts,
bands, clubs, a nightlife, hiking, bike paths..
very cool areas tucked away...more jobs....

[rg8488]

We really love the Grand Junction area because its the half way point between my family and my husbands. My parents recently moved to SLC and I have visited a few times over the past year. The only thing that I really didn't like was the air quality and pollution. I was also wondering if there is any diversity at the schools between Mormon students and non Mormon?

We figured my husband would have to choose one of his two careers, which ever pays the best. We are visiting soon and plan to explore and then meet with a realtor to give them an idea of what we like. We will be driving from Denver to Salt Lake City, so that will give us the grand tour :-)

I appreciate everyone's input, you all have been extremely helpful!

[davebarnes]

1. SLC is much cheaper for housing than Denver.
2. If you move to Utah make sure that your child's school if full of non-Mormons. Many Mormon parents shun non-Mormon children.
3. The vast majority of jobs in greater Denver and SLC. Not in the hinterlands.

[jazzlover]

Grand Junction is not a good place for employment, unless one is tied to the energy industry and even that is not going especially well. A lot of those workers may still be based in Grand Junction, but more and more them are working away from there--in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico, in Wyoming, in the Bakken in North Dakota, even as far away as Pennsylvania. Needless to say, that is hard on families. Lots of divorces.

In Utah, the two most "non-LDS" cities are the greater SLC area and Ogden. Provo is solidly LDS. A friend of mine (non-LDS) from Colorado worked in Ogden for a number of years, and then moved back to Colorado, a decision she regrets. I suspect that she will relocate to Ogden at some point. Price, Utah is also more "gentile" than a lot of Utah locales, but the economy there is based a lot on coal mining. One of my good friends is from that region originally--now working in Colorado, but may retire to there at some point.