where to move to in Colorado? (Denver, Colorado Springs: rental market, home, unemployment rate)

[Colorado Rambler]

Meh, I'm nowhere near as foolish as to think that my opinion is shared by the majority of Coloradans. I will hazard the guess that it's shared by many native Coloradans, but we're in the minority these days.

I can't comment about the superiority of Denver vs. Buffalo. The nearest to Buffalo that I've ever been is Arlington, VA, so I bow to your greater wisdom. I threw out "Rochester" as merely a hypothetical. It probably came to mind because I used to have a good friend who was originally from Rochester. Once she got out here 30 years ago, she turned more more "Colorado native" than I am, hated the population explosion in Colorado Springs way back in the early 80's, and convinced her Colorado native husband to move down to Westcliffe, where as far as I know they're still living happily ever after. You're living happily ever after in Denver, and I'm living sometimes happily ever after in Cortez. Good for every last one of us. You go your way, and I'll go mine.

[Count David]

To answer the OP's query, I'm going to offer Colorado Springs as a suggestion.

I love how a simple query turns into a "move here, don't move here", debate. Not exactly the best way to roll out the welcome mat imo.

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

To answer the OP's query, I'm going to offer Colorado Springs as a suggestion.

I love how a simple query turns into a "move here, don't move here", debate. Not exactly the best way to roll out the welcome mat imo.

Who said that it was everybody's sworn duty on this forum to "roll out the welcome mat?" People can get that from the Chamber of Commerce.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Who said that it was everybody's sworn duty on this forum to "roll out the welcome mat?" People can get that from the Chamber of Commerce.

No one. I think if you'll re-read the thread from the OP's original post, you'll see what I mean.

To rub salt in the wound, "we don't do it this way in the other states I've lived in".
^They really don't.

We should just put a sign up at the borders, and/or a sticky at the top of the forum that reads:

Colorado
Population: too many
Elevation: too high (pun intended)
Cost: too expensive
Jobs: non-existent
Climate: completely awful, not for the weak
Water: N/A
Things: not like they used to be
And last but not least: "turn around!"

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by David Aguilar

To answer the OP's query, I'm going to offer Colorado Springs as a suggestion.

I love how a simple query turns into a "move here, don't move here", debate. Not exactly the best way to roll out the welcome mat imo.

I wouldn't suggest Colorado Springs at this point in time - not if you need to work for a living, anyhow. The Springs has come to rely heavily on the defense industry and has been hit hard by cuts in defense spending. I believe that it currently has the second highest unemployment rate of any other city on the Front Range with Pueblo having the dubious distinction of being first. You can find affordable housing in Colorado Springs, but can you find a job with decent pay as well? In my opinion the problem of finding a decent job in an area with affordable housing is statewide. Therefore, I would not recommend that someone just move to Colorado out of the clear blue sky and think that life here is going to be easy. It's important that folks get a word of caution along with the y'all come on down replies.

This forum seems to get a "moving to Colorado" post almost every other day. Many times I'm so tired of this same old repeated question that I don't even bother to reply either way. I suspect one or two other members who are regulars here feel the same way. Newbies would really do themselves a favor if they would just learn to read before jumping right on in. Mike has put that informative stickie right at the very top here, and he's compiled an excellent index of all sorts of Colorado topics including recent info regarding "where to move to in Colorado." Plus, if folks would bother to scroll down through the threads on the very first page, they'll almost always find a thread about this topic without ever even having to click on page two. If these two commonsense suggestions make me sound "unwelcoming," well, then so be it.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by Colorado Rambler

I wouldn't suggest Colorado Springs at this point in time - not if you need to work for a living, anyhow. The Springs has come to rely heavily on the defense industry and has been hit hard by cuts in defense spending. I believe that it currently has the second highest unemployment rate of any other city on the Front Range with Pueblo having the dubious distinction of being first. You can find affordable housing in Colorado Springs, but can you find a job with decent pay as well? In my opinion the problem of finding a decent job in an area with affordable housing is statewide. Therefore, I would not recommend that someone just move to Colorado out of the clear blue sky and think that life here is going to be easy. It's important that folks get a word of caution along with the y'all come on down replies.

This forum seems to get a "moving to Colorado" post almost every other day. Many times I'm so tired of this same old repeated question that I don't even bother to reply either way. I suspect one or two other members who are regulars here feel the same way. Newbies would really do themselves a favor if they would just learn to read before jumping right on in. Mike hs put that informative stickie right at the very top here, and he's compiled an excellent index of all sorts of Colorado topics including recent info regarding "where to move to in Colorado." Plus, if folks would bother to scroll down through the threads on the very first page, they'll almost always find a thread about this topic without ever even having to click on page two. If these two commonsense suggestions make me sound "unwelcoming," well, then so be it.

Colorado Springs' unemployment rate in September was 5.1%, better than the 5.7% national average, and obviously well better than the numbers we saw a few/several years ago. COS is arguably the best bang for your buck city in CO. Unless one stated that they were prepared to pay the higher prices, I would recommend Denver/Boulder/FC, and I tend to only recommend Pueblo, Greeley, and Grand Junction in more unique situations.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Originally Posted by Colorado Rambler

This forum seems to get a "moving to Colorado" post almost every other day. Many times I'm so tired of this same old repeated question that I don't even bother to reply either way. I suspect one or two other members who are regulars here feel the same way. Newbies would really do themselves a favor if they would just learn to read before jumping right on in. Mike has put that informative stickie right at the very top here, and he's compiled an excellent index of all sorts of Colorado topics including recent info regarding "where to move to in Colorado." Plus, if folks would bother to scroll down through the threads on the very first page, they'll almost always find a thread about this topic without ever even having to click on page two. If these two commonsense suggestions make me sound "unwelcoming," well, then so be it.

++++++++

How many times have I suggested to new posters that their question has already been answered many times and they should take the time to read through existing threads first! When I do that I get yelled at for being rude or, as you say, "unwelcoming". Then they say that they don't want to waste their time reading through pages and pages of comments. To that I say -- I'm not going to waste my time responding to your question.

OP, these comments are not aimed at you

[CosmicWizard]

Colorado Rambler wrote: Newbies would really do themselves a favor if they would just learn to read before jumping right on in.

I agree! But you know what....it ain't gonna happen.

I can almost guarantee that tomorrow there will be a new thread titled, Moving to Colorado....where should we live?. We've done some really serious research about moving to Colorado the past 10 minutes and we've narrowed down our choices to Telluride, Vail, and Aspen. We're looking for a cool mountain town with lots of high paying jobs, and cheap rent ( up to $500 a month, but hopefully less ), with a great social life, and fabulous scenery. .

[texdav]

My experience is the nicest places are gone as far as low COL. If your young your not going to be content living like a retiree. Best you can do is live in city with more jobs and do weekend trips to real beauty areas more central. Colorado certainly has them in central state. Many are owned by rich or long time residents. Friend has 100 acres outside Ouray but he moved from California in 70's.He said he may soon have to sell and move on even there. He is a engineer but took a heck of a salary cut to live where he does. Since he is nearing 65 so he wants to cash in and have less to deal with. I winters there. Vail; Telluride and Aspen are play grounds for rich and tourist.

[Colorado Rambler]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

Colorado Rambler wrote: Newbies would really do themselves a favor if they would just learn to read before jumping right on in.

I agree! But you know what....it ain't gonna happen.

I can almost guarantee that tomorrow there will be a new thread titled, Moving to Colorado....where should we live?. We've done some really serious research about moving to Colorado the past 10 minutes and we've narrowed down our choices to Telluride, Vail, and Aspen. We're looking for a cool mountain town with lots of high paying jobs, and cheap rent ( up to $500 a month, but hopefully less ), with a great social life, and fabulous scenery. .

LOL! I can't give you any more rep points, but your post is right on. And I know the newbs will never ever learn to read, so maybe they deserve what they get around here (which is mostly welcoming advice punctuated by a diatribe from jazz and a snarky post from me along with a little humor from you).