Small town (Denver, Colorado Springs, Boulder: to rent, low crime, buy)

[goingreene]

Hello!

I am looking for a small town in the mountains, maybe 45 minutes to an hour from a larger city, with shopping, restaurants, etc. This smaller town should be liberal with good schools, low crime and have jobs, or atleast be close enough to drive somewhere else to work. I'm hoping to rent for about six months before I buy to sorta get the lay of the land.

Got any suggestions?

[Shuffler]

Nope.

[Dreaming of Hawaii]

OP, this question is asked about a dozen times a week. I suggest doing some looking through the archives on this forum.

It will be really hard right now to find a small town that meets all of your criteria,especially in the mountains. Everyone is looking for exactly what you are looking for right now, which means that if it does exist the housing prices are sky high. This is a really bad time to be looking to move, because if there are any jobs in the small towns, they are taken by the people already there.

Small mountain towns within 45 minutes to an hour from jobs would be in the foothills of Denver, Boulder, or Colorado Springs, on the east side of the state. That would include Conifer, Evergreen, Bailey, Nederland, Woodland Park,all which have been discussed at length in this forum. Also have discussed Durango, Grand Junction, etc. on the west side of the state.

[SheridanL]

EVERGREEN....Kitteridge in a pinch!!

[Lupulin]

One snippet to add, regarding your request for a "liberal" town: Contrary to popular belief, many Colorado mountain towns are more conservative / less liberal than most realize. Sure, there are some liberals in places like Breck, Crested Butte and Steamboat Springs, among others, but I think conservatives are overwhelmingly the silent majority (and I think it's even more evident in the smaller, more remote towns). I suppose they're not like your "text book" conservatives, and they may be fairly liberal on social issues, but I'll bet most are fiscally conservative, in the least.

I read an article about Lake City years ago and I was surprised to learn how conservative most of its residents are.

Decades ago I think many mountain towns were more like the hippie havens people think of when they think of Colorado mountain towns (like Crested Butte in the '70s, for example), but eventually I think the hippies got priced out of those towns.

[goingreene]

Thanks for all the replies so far. I will be checking out quite a few of these mentioned. And I should have clarified when asking about jobs. I should have asked since the economy has taken such a hit.There are many threads and I've been reading them for awhile now, but some don't mention conditions since this awful downtown. Maybe a new Pres will help?!! At any rate, thanks!

[Katiana]

45 min to an hour to a larger city eliminates virtually everything in the central mountains, except the ski towns themselves. Of them, I believe Steamboat is the largest, and closest to what I'd call a "real town". Evergreen and Kittredge, already mentioned, are roughly that distance to Denver; Nederland (fits the bill as liberal) and Estes Park are about that distance from Boulder.You might post this on Colorado Springs for some suggestions in that area. I'm not trying to be sarcastic, but I'd also suggest a look at a Colorado map to give you some idea what we are talking about.

[tfox]

Frankly, if you actually need to work for a living, living in the mountains proper isn't a great option for anyone, with the notable exception of the energy-boom towns on the western slope. Given your political preferences, I'm guessing that energy exploration probably isn't your industry of choice.

So, my guess is that you're best off commuting to the cities of the front range; for that, I echo Nederland -- it fits all your criteria except for for wide availability of jobs, but jobs can be had in Boulder, which is drivable from Nederland. There are several other, smaller towns in Boulder County (Ward, for example), that might also fit.

As mentioned, the foothills on the eastern slope don't tend to be all that liberal in the usual sense of the word, for the most part. Libertarian views, OTOH will be pretty widespread. Nederland and most of foothills Boulder County are a bit of the exception in that liberal views would be the norm there.

[Sockeye]

Its pretty simple. Paint the Front Range from Ft. Collins on down to Denver blue. Same for the resort corridor along I70 in the mountains, including Aspen, Telluride and Crested Butte to the south. Paint just about everywhere else red. The vast majority of rural CO leans more conservative, and this is also true for most of rural USA. People who work the land and have been here for several generations tend to have a much keener appreciation for their heritage, and don't take kindly to the "change" that has happened to CO over the last 25 years.