Somewhere between Denver and Greeley (Boulder, Thornton: apartments, rental, job market)

[lms400]

I am originally from Massachusetts and have lived there my whole life.

At the end of July/beginning of August my fiance and I will be relocating to Colorado. He is in medical school and will be starting his rotations in Greeley. I am a teacher and will be looking to teach in Denver as I like teaching in diverse cities.

We would like to find a place to rent between Greeley and Denver. We would like some place safe and affordable - preferably 2 bedrooms. I am not sure what rent is like in Colorado.

So my questions are:

What places are safe/affordable between Greeley and Denver?
What are rent prices like for a 2 bedroom?
What the job market like for teachers in Denver? I have my Masters and am a licensed special education teacher.

THANKS!

[mcolo]

For a safe affordable place between Greeley and Denver, try Longmont. It's pretty much half way between the two cities. It has about 90,000 people, is a very friendly and nice looking town. You can find two bedroom apartments between $750-1200 a month. Most seem to hover around $900 a month.

Teaching jobs in Denver can be pretty competitive, but I have heard there is a need for more special education teachers.... though, I have no idea how truthful that is.

[Katiana]

You should check the indexes for threads about teaching. I would suggest applying everywhere possible and not worrying about the demographics of an area. Teaching is indeed competitive in the Denver area. Many of the districts are diverse.

Try criagslist for typical rental rates.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

Why not just live in Greeley? Your husband will have a crazy schedule and probably won't want a long commute, and do you really want a long commute to Denver especially in the winter? Greeley is pretty diverse. Or maybe check out the school districts in Ft. Collins.

I would suggest applying now for whatever district you decide on. My husband works in the Cherry Creek District and they are already looking at next year's staffing at his school.

[kalipsoh]

You'd really hate the daily commute in rush hour from Greeley to suburban Denver areas. Ft. Collins has great schools and has frequently been ranked high in the lists of best places to live. Also ditto to the Longmont suggestion. My mom lives in Boulder/Longmont area and looooooves it. Most of their schools are also very good.

[tfox]

There are two routes to look at between Denver and Greeley, both roughly equal in travel time, depending mainly on weather and traffic. One is I-25 to U.S. 34E, and the other one is U.S. 85. U.S. 85 is an expressway, rather than a freeway, so there are signal lights but less traffic.

So, suburbs and towns to look for along the I-25 route would be Northglenn, Thornton, the northeast corner of Broomfield, Erie (about 5 miles west of I-25) , Firestone/Frederick/Dacono (each about 3 miles east of I-25) , Longmont (about 6-7 miles west of I-25), Mead, Johnstown, and Loveland (which is about 1-6 miles west of I-25). As you can tell, I-25 is littered with sprawling exurban subdivisions nearly from one end to the other. Of these, up to NE Broomfield would be considered "suburban Denver", and from thereabouts it's more exurban subdivisions and bedroom communities, with Longmont and Loveland both being a bit more self-contained communities.

Along the U.S. 85 route, there is the Commerce City (North Range), Brighton, Fort Lupton, and Platteville. After that, there's a few small farm towns right on Greeley's doorstep, La Salle and Evans. This route is more agricultural, particularly north of Brighton. Brighton itself is undergoing a change from agricultural town to Denver suburb.