Best place to move to in Colorado (Denver, Colorado Springs: apartment, how much)

[joey lewis]

Hi! My husband and I have been discussing a move to Colorado. We are actually going to visit the state this summer and I would like to tailor our trip with an eye towards livable areas. We have discussed the mid to northeast section of the state. I would like towns no larger than 10,000 - 15,000 with good schools, a mixed race population, good job opportunities, a decent grow season, and no tornados...sorry Wray! Thanks for the help!

[SkyDog77]

Anywhere east can get tornadoes, anything in the mountains at higher elevations has an abbreviated growing season. Small towns don't have near the job opportunities that the larger cities do. They're also less diverse.

Have you looked at the western slope?

I think it's helpful to understanding Colorado to read this article: http://www.denverpost.com/business/c...n-urban-legend

We don't have near the volume of quaint small towns with lots of services that you will be used to coming from Ohio.

[brown_dog_us]

What type of jobs will you be looking for and do you want to live in the mountains or along the front range?

[NW Crow]

Unless you count Hispanic identity as a race (some do), most of the places with much "racial" mix will be in tight to Denver or Colorado Springs. Fort Collins and Boulder have 5-8% non-"white", non-Hispanic populations. Small towns under 15,000 will generally have a lot less. Maybe a town close to one of them could give you what you want in the combination of that town and its neighbor. Say Windsor or Erie.

Or consider Fountain with racial diversity (20 - 25% non-white , non-hispanic) coming mostly from its population associated with the military.

Anywhere on front range will have some tornado risk. The citydata place profiles have that information. For example, http://www.city-data.com/city/Windsor-Colorado.html
Scroll down a pretty long way and see that there have been a few big tornadoes in last 75 years.

[BornintheSprings]

Originally Posted by joey lewis

Hi! My husband and I have been discussing a move to Colorado. We are actually going to visit the state this summer and I would like to tailor our trip with an eye towards livable areas. We have discussed the mid to northeast section of the state. I would like towns no larger than 10,000 - 15,000 with good schools, a mixed race population, good job opportunities, a decent grow season, and no tornados...sorry Wray! Thanks for the help!

Outside of Denver and Colorado Springs the job market is quite weak in Colorado. Frankly your list of requirements is ridicolous you would be hard pressed to meet them in any state.

[joey lewis]

Thanks for the info! I appreciate those of you who took the time to gave me addition options in my research as opposed to just snarking on my admittedly short list of requirements. They were just the highlight and most important as I didn't want to compose an essey... I see now I should have gone into more detail.

[BornintheSprings]

Originally Posted by joey lewis

Thanks for the info! I appreciate those of you who took the time to gave me addition options in my research as opposed to just snarking on my admittedly short list of requirements. They were just the highlight and most important as I didn't want to compose an essey... I see now I should have gone into more detail.

[jwiley]

Originally Posted by joey lewis

Thanks for the info! I appreciate those of you who took the time to gave me addition options in my research as opposed to just snarking on my admittedly short list of requirements. They were just the highlight and most important as I didn't want to compose an essey... I see now I should have gone into more detail.

It doesn't matter how much more detail you go into, what you want does not exist.

Denver has had tornadoes, and Windsor had some of the worst in the state history just a few years ago that actually hit around Fort Collins as well. I have also heard of small tornadoes in the mountains of Colorado. Our eastern plains get more tornadoes than anywhere in the country they are just not as deadly due to a low population and a lower strength tornado being the norm here.

The job market is marginal at best away from Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs.

People even complain about a lack of diversity in Colorado Springs and Denver our 2 most diverse areas.

Sorry if you cannot accept the facts, but it is not others fault that you have very unrealistic expectations and obviously do not know much about the state.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by jwiley

It doesn't matter how much more detail you go into, what you want does not exist.

Denver has had tornadoes, and Windsor had some of the worst in the state history just a few years ago that actually hit around Fort Collins as well. I have also heard of small tornadoes in the mountains of Colorado. Our eastern plains get more tornadoes than anywhere in the country they are just not as deadly due to a low population and a lower strength tornado being the norm here.

The job market is marginal at best away from Boulder, Denver, and Colorado Springs.

People even complain about a lack of diversity in Colorado Springs and Denver our 2 most diverse areas.

Sorry if you cannot accept the facts, but it is not others fault that you have very unrealistic expectations and obviously do not know much about the state.

I tend to agree with most of this. In the OP's profile, she lists that they live in Defiance, OH. It's a town of 15,000 people that is 55 miles from Toledo, which is a metro area of 600,000.

If she is trying to replicate that, there really isn't anything similar to that in Colorado that I can think of. Maybe something like Palisade with a population of 2,600 or Fruita with a population of 12,000. Both are only a few minutes from Grand Junction and included in the Grand Junction metropolitan area with an overall population of 150,000.

It is going to be a fairly drastic change from Ohio. It's high desert living in the Colorado River valley. Beautiful, but very different. Jobs will be a concern.

If she does want to go Front Range, maybe check Louisville. Population of about 20,000. Easy access to Denver and Boulder. Might feel like more of a suburb though than a small town since it is part of the 3,000,000 person Denver/Boulder metropolitan area.

[moosedog66]

The average 1 bedroom apartment in the Denver area is around $1375.