look who is moving to CO (Pueblo: real estate, houses, unemployment rate)

[2bindenver]

Noticing more California, Texas and Arizona license plates on Colorado's roads in recent years?

Chances are many of those people aren't visiting the state for the week, but have pulled up stakes and settled here.

Maybe there have been too many fires in California or too much hot weather in Arizona and Texas. Could be Colorado's quality of life or attractive real estate are drawing newcomers.

Look who's moving to Colorado : Local News : The Rocky Mountain News

[CapHillboy]

For CA, it could also be jobs. I just heard from a friend back home that the unemployment rate there is over 8% and scheduled to go higher this year (he's afraid much higher).

Lower housing costs would be a definite plus, as well, but depending on where the Californians are coming from and wanting to move to in CO, they might not see much of a savings (assuming they can sell their CA homestead). I can't believe how far prices have fallen in the Central Valley. Even the East Bay has seen drops of over 30%. For the Bay Area, even for a not-so-desirable location as the East Bay, that's incredible (to my mind, at least).

[Charles]

Originally Posted by 2bindenver

Noticing more California, Texas and Arizona license plates on Colorado's roads in recent years?

People from California, I can understand. There's a huge difference in cost of living (housing) between CA and CO, so moving to CO is an economically smart move. And not just for people, businesses are doing it too.

What I don't understand is why there are so many people from TX and AZ moving to CO (I didn't read the article). There isn't that big of a difference in housing prices so the economic driver isn't there. And, I don't think a whole lot of people move to somewhere purely for climate or aesthetic reasons. Maybe they do, but it seems like a weak reason.

I think the CA to CO trend will diminish as CA housing prices fall like a lead zeppelin.

[Josseppie]

Originally Posted by Charles

People from California, I can understand. There's a huge difference in cost of living (housing) between CA and CO, so moving to CO is an economically smart move. And not just for people, businesses are doing it too.

What I don't understand is why there are so many people from TX and AZ moving to CO (I didn't read the article). There isn't that big of a difference in housing prices so the economic driver isn't there. And, I don't think a whole lot of people move to somewhere purely for climate or aesthetic reasons. Maybe they do, but it seems like a weak reason.

I think the CA to CO trend will diminish as CA housing prices fall like a lead zeppelin.

I actually think it will increase as companies from California move to Colorado because the cost of living is lower and people are moving here so they will follow the population movement.

[vegaspilgrim]

Uh oh 2bindenver, you've been warned.... prepare for the firing squad!

[jazzlover]

One thing that really gripes me is that Americans have lost just about any historical knowledge or insight they might have had about their own geography. This thread is a great example. It wasn't that many years ago that places like California and Arizona had a relatively high quality of life for the average person, and were relatively affordable, as well. Because of that, they attracted tons of in-migration, and have been losing both quality of life and affordability ever since. Those who can are fleeing, and those "refugees" come to places like Colorado where they perceive affordability and quality of life as being better. Unfortunately, when they show up in droves--especially when they want to live exactly the way they did where they were--they cause the same decline of quality of life and decline in affordability wherever they land. Sort of like an infectious disease that finds a new healthy host.

That is happening in spades in Colorado. First to go is usually affordability, and that has been ongoing for quite awhile now in Colorado. After awhile, the decline in quality of life starts--and then accelerates. We may be behind places like California in those regards, but what has happened there is just a harbinger of our not-distant future if we don't change course. For those of us who have lived in the Rocky Mountain region our whole lives, this is difficult to watch--sort of like watching someone you love die of a horrible disease and not being able to do much about it.

Of course, there are those who pimp real estate and the like who think this kind of "growth" represents "progress," but even some of these self-serving types have to wonder what they are doing to their state. Sort of like s***ting in one's own nest.

[Idunn]

Time for a new definition of 'progress.'

[Josseppie]

Jazzlover,

That is making a blanket statement about growth. Look at Chicago, and Boston. Those areas have grown but are better places to live today. The problem is not growth but how a city manages that growth.

That being said the Springs needs help but Pueblo has done a good job of keeping urban sprawl to a minimum.

[cobmw]

I like urban sprawl. What's the alternative? Crowding everyone into a "managed growth area" and then forcing them to take public transport? Suburbs are the American way. Houses with big yards, new parks, shopping malls - the whole lot. I guess we could stop people from coming here, but how? Yup, we're from California. Left not so much because the place was getting run down, but because CA has turned very liberal and with far too much government. CO does appear to be heading slowly in the same direction.

[formercalifornian]

I despise urban sprawl, and I don't mind using public transit, especially the light rail that stops about a mile from my house. In fact, my spouse and I are in the process of getting rid of our second car because he can walk or ride his bike to work. And, while I enjoy the parks, you can have the big yards. That is a part of the American Suburban Dream I never had any desire to embrace, along with the huge houses filled with crap nobody needs.

"He who knows he has enough is rich." -Tao Te Ching