Is Colorado more like California or Illinois? (Denver, Fort Collins: ski resort, transplants)

[Pacifico]

My impression is a tough, hearty mountain town (reminding me of the northeast US) with some west coast live n let live feel, and also Midwestern/ great plain states' "under the radar" demeanor. I almost wanna say there's a tinge of southerness to it too that's hard to describe?? Does anyone agree with this last observation?

[Katarina Witt]

Both are larger than CO; IL by greater than 2X, CA by almost 8X (in population). Illinois govt. is corrupt. CO is like CO.

[CosmicWizard]

Both states start with the letter C so they stand next to each other in the road atlas. Other than that they have only limited similarities.

[Indigo Cardinal]

What parts of Colorado are you comparing to which parts of California and Illinois?

I can't speak for California, having visited there several times but not actually living there, but in regards to Illinois, you could get many different answers.

Somebody from Chicago might insist that Denver (which would probably be the most comparable city in Colorado to Chicago) is *nothing* like Chicago.....and they'd be right, in a number of ways.

On the other hand, somebody in Southern Illinois might find a lot of similiarities between themselves and some of the more rural areas of Colorado. Heck, Southern Illinois might have a lot of sympathy for San Juan Valley--both are areas that are both geographically and culturally distant from *the* city that 'defines' their state (Southern Illinois doesn't relate to Chicago at all--more likely to be St. Louis, MO or Evansville, IN, depending, and San Juan Valley doesn't relate to Denver much.)

Culturally....I don't find many differences between Denver and the Midwest, but every so often when I say or do something, somebody here will say that I hold a "very Midwestern attitude about these things." So while to my mind it's close, apparently there's a few differences in there. Perhaps a California transplant to Colorado can speak as to their experiences in this.

From where I sit, Colorado is like the Midwest in some ways, but different in others.

[otterprods]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

Both states start with the letter C so they stand next to each other in the road atlas. Other than that they have only limited similarities.

Come on, Cos, don't be so dismissive... they both have O's, L's, R's and A's in them too! That's practically like sharing a coastline!

[lurtsman]

Very different from both. Since the title called for picking one or the other, I selected California. We have virtually nothing in common with Illinois. Except both states have one huge city. End of comparison.

[Indigo Cardinal]

Originally Posted by lurtsman

Very different from both. Since the title called for picking one or the other, I selected California. We have virtually nothing in common with Illinois. Except both states have one huge city. End of comparison.

I would slightly disagree here, but mainly because in my mind, I compare Colorado cities to Missouri cities (I am aware Missouri wasn't one of the options here). Missouri has several main cities on the more 'main' interstate (I-70) going through--St. Louis, Columbia, Kansas City--and one 'important to that particular region of the state' city on another interstate (Springfield off of I-44.) Colorado has Fort Collins, Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo along I-25 and Grand Junction along I-70.

I don't view Colorado as having 'just one huge city'. I view Colorado as having one huge city and several other good-sized ones.

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by lurtsman

Very different from both. Since the title called for picking one or the other, I selected California. We have virtually nothing in common with Illinois. Except both states have one huge city. End of comparison.

Chicago's MSA is almost 10 million people, while Denver's is 2.6 mil.

[lurtsman]

I didn't think the entire comparison was based on geographic proximity of major cities to roads, or percent of population with one city. I assumed it would have more to do with weather, scenery and culture.

I can agree that the geographic proximity of cities to roads, and the nature of one large city with the majority of the state's population would favor Illinois, but in any sense we are having to make some huge leaps. Colorado has neither great lakes nor oceans. Colorado has mountains, and California has mountains. Illinois has bumps.

Honestly if I were picking a state similar to Colorado, it would be New Mexico.

NM creates a better comparison because it also has similar road proximity. It has the majority of population in the state capital. (So these are the same two points Illinois had) However it also has major mountain ranges, and the largest city is fairly close to a major range (ALBQ to Sandia mountains). The property taxes are relatively low (compared to many states). The total tax burden in NM is reasonable, it is low in Colorado, but it is extremely high in both Cali and Illinois. Both Cali and Illinois (Chicago only, but most people live there) have the kind of traffic that makes you say "**** it" when you consider going out. Albuquerque traffic can be a pain, but isn't near as bad. NM also has a desert environment. The major population centers in both regions have large swings in temperature. There is a significant hispanic influence in the housing designs and culture in both states, though much stronger in NM. Cali also has this, Illinois does not.

By far the state we have the most in common with is New Mexico.

[denverian]

I don't see much of any comparison to Illinois. IL is flat, humid farmland.

Having moved here from SoCal, the mountains look very similar in Denver to the way they look in that part of CA, and once it's warm, it's not humid/sticky, so it feels like California. Driving to work this morning, it felt very much like CA as I drove on a 10 lane freeway under clear, sunny skies