Are there any cheap/middle class areas in Colorado?

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by wilberry

cool near Castlewood canyon state park off of hwy 83 ?

Yes.

[jabbermouth58]

Colorado has become the "it" place to live for certain weedy reasons. I has always been expensive to live here (pretty much anywhere in the state) - I oughtta know. I was born in Colorado Springs in the mid-50's and I have lived all over the state. Within the last 2-3 years, certain laws have attracted lots and lots of undesirables who have pretty much taken over all the low rent spaces forcing the working poor to move into "middle class" accomodation and try to keep a roof over their heads. So, unless you have a lot of money, don't even think of moving here. Someone mentioned the SE side of Colorado Springs and I'm just shaking my head. This part of town has one of the highest crime rates in Colorado and the schools are awful. The high schools in this area only graduate something like 20% of their students and their main claim to fame is their day care centers so at least all the unwed mothers will at least have child care while they are in school. But, I digress. Colorado also is not an agricultural state. I guess you could try to grow fruit or other row crops but with a statewide growing period of only 2-3 months per year (and water selling for sky high prices) I wouldn't move here with farming on my mind. Also, the soil is not the kind that grows things well. I recommend the OP consider the East Coast of the US. Nice long growing seasons with plenty of rain and a more gentle cost of living in the mid-Southern states.

[DoodlemomCoS]

I have to agree with almost everyone on this post. The front range is expensive. We moved here for (special needs) schools and medical. We are definitely paying for it. If we are lucky enough to get our special needs kiddo through college or trade school and onto a job, hubs and I may consider other locations for retirement. Best of luck OP!

[sunsprit]

jabbermouth58 wrote: "Colorado also is not an agricultural state." and "statewide growing period of only 2-3 months per year (and water selling for sky high prices) I wouldn't move here with farming on my mind ..."

For someone who claims to be a "native" and "lived all over the state" ... you sure don't seem to know much about it when it comes to agriculture, which has been a big segment of the economy since before statehood years.

Consider the various fruit producing areas (for examples, just a few of them ... Rocky Ford cantaloupes, or Peaches from the Grand Junction area, apples from the Western Slope ... famous produce from this state), vegetable farms all up and down the Front Range, onions, sugar beets, corn, sunflowers, potatoes, and seed potatoes from the San Luis valley (famous for being some of the best in the biz), alfalfa hay production, mountain region grass hay farms, hops for the brewing industry, winter wheat tracts of huge acreage; this is just a partial listing.

Yes, water is a valuable and limited resource here. Has been since statehood years, as is typical of the Rocky Mountain West. It can be expensive for the irrigation needed for various crops, but agriculture is the major user of water in this state. Most of the development of water resources in Colorado was done primarily for agricultural reasons; it's only been in more recent years with the demand from population growth that those resources/water rights have been purchased by water companies/municipalities to supply potable water for domestic use.

There is certainly a longer growing season than a "2-3 months" of a "statewide growing season". Indeed, as an alfalfa farmer in SE Wyoming (just over the Colorado border), I am very aware of the much longer growing season as nearby as Greeley or Fort Collins ... where alfalfa is typically near it's first cutting for the season while we're just a week or two out of dormancy. They get 3-4 cuts/year ... we get 2-3, depending upon the last snowstorms/frosts and moisture in a season.

Farming is most certainly a viable business in Colorado for many crops. It isn't as "easy" as some other areas of the USA, but it is doable and can be profitable if you buy right and have the water for your crops.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by jabbermouth58

Colorado has become the "it" place to live for certain weedy reasons. I has always been expensive to live here (pretty much anywhere in the state) - I oughtta know. I was born in Colorado Springs in the mid-50's and I have lived all over the state. Within the last 2-3 years, certain laws have attracted lots and lots of undesirables who have pretty much taken over all the low rent spaces forcing the working poor to move into "middle class" accomodation and try to keep a roof over their heads. So, unless you have a lot of money, don't even think of moving here. Someone mentioned the SE side of Colorado Springs and I'm just shaking my head. This part of town has one of the highest crime rates in Colorado and the schools are awful. The high schools in this area only graduate something like 20% of their students and their main claim to fame is their day care centers so at least all the unwed mothers will at least have child care while they are in school. But, I digress. Colorado also is not an agricultural state. I guess you could try to grow fruit or other row crops but with a statewide growing period of only 2-3 months per year (and water selling for sky high prices) I wouldn't move here with farming on my mind. Also, the soil is not the kind that grows things well. I recommend the OP consider the East Coast of the US. Nice long growing seasons with plenty of rain and a more gentle cost of living in the mid-Southern states.

All opinion, no facts.

[TCHP]

I find it amazing, albeit somewhat disappointing, that some in CO seem to point to weed as the reason for our success or the biggest stumble of our downfall based on a personal perception that isn't rooted in any real fact finding.

[wilberry]

it s all because Of John Denver that is why Colorado is so popular.

[TCHP]

He certainly was sowing the seeds of Colorado way back when. If he were alive today, I wonder what he would be saying about CO now.

Although CO has always down a great job of marketing itself, going all the way back to the 1880s.

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by TCHP

He certainly was sowing the seeds of Colorado way back when. If he were alive today, I wonder what he would be saying about CO now.

If he were alive today he'd be 7o-something and like most 70-something's not especially pleased with all the new-fangled developments (the list goes on and on and on). Heck I'm 40-something and already feel it starting.


I think a more interesting question is if John Denver were alive today and starting his life and singing career in his mid-20's what would he be saying about CO now? My guess is he'd be saying exactly the same thing he was saying back then. The mountains are just as beautiful. The cities are just as practical (jobs) and as messed-up as they were back then, they're just bigger. But they were bigger in the 1970's than they were in the 1930's and THAT didn't seem to bother John Denver very much because he'd never seen them in the 1930's so he had exactly zero baggage and just went up to wander the mountains and fell in love, just like he'd do today. I'm guessing the John Denver of today would not settle in Aspen but somewhere else in the vastness of Colorado's mountain goodness.


To the OP, there are vast numbers of "cheap/middle class" areas in Colorado. Same with California. Same with New York. There are very few or no "cheap" and "nice" areas in the larger cities, for obvious reasons. Every state has endless options of small town and rural areas that have very little economic activity and few jobs where housing is relatively cheap. Do a cost-of-housing search in Walsenburg CO or Bakersfield CA and you'll likely find lot's of comparatively "cheap" options. If you want to be like John Denver and have a place in Aspen, then you'll be competing against hedge-fund billionaires and Saudi "royalty" looking to buy their fifth vacation house and good luck with that.

[wilberry]

" Do a cost-of-housing search in Walsenburg CO ".... Oh YEAH WALSENBURG !