Akron, CO

[sterlinggirl]

Mike gave you good advice. The cost of living should be pretty similar overall, with some things a little higher, and some things a little lower. Most city people would hate it there, but you sound like you're the right kind of people to live in a dusty little town in the middle of nowhere. It could be a good move for you....but these days it pays to take a close look before you leap.

The first thing I'd do would be to talk with the potential employer and ask if they're willing to split the costs for you to come take a look before you invest your family's future in their company. If they aren't willing to put up a little money to recruit him, you have to ask yourself why the job is available and why a local hasn't taken it. If your husband really wants the job, you might want to consider letting him move down for a month to try it out, and then move the rest of the family if everything goes well for him.

The towns in that area are pretty similar to little towns everywhere in the plains. It will take a while for the people to get to know you, but once they're sure that you're decent people, they'll take you in as one of their own. Its hard to say how your allergies would be without knowing what you're allergic to. The grass pollen and cottonwood trees get to me a few weeks out of the year, but it generally isn't too bad. Mold allergies aren't much of a problem here...

[jwiley]

I actually lived in Akron, and have an ex roommate that used to work at that grain elevator. So I may be able to provide some insight on the area, although it has been 10 years since I have spent much time in the area.

Akron itself is about 2500 people with many of them older and retired. Due to this they have a stronger economic base and very few students which help tremendously. People I know that graduated from Akron high are much better educated then some people I have met that are said to be college graduates.

If you are making upper 50s you should have a very good lifestyle in the area, and the rents are pretty comparable to what you pay now. We had a 5 bedroom house that we rented in the mid 90s for the grand total of $350 a month. Overall the utilities were not bad at all.

The climate is probably drier then what you are used to, and allargies do affect you more at first, however your body has a way of adapting to the differences pretty quickly usually.

With you being from a small town you will find that Akron is okay, they do have a couple of bars with dancing and socializing, a couple of restaurants with decent food, and a small grocery store for anything you forget on your trips into the larger towns to get food.

Otis is really the only town relatively close that you could rent in, however there are usually a few rentals available in Akron, as houses do not sale very fast in the area.

As for the company, my old roommate loved working for them. He started at a young age as an assistant, and moved into management through a transfer to another area, he also moved back to work as a manager at the same elevator a couple of years later when the old manager retired. As far as I heard he moved out of the area a few years ago, to get married a live with his now wife. They treated him well, and paid him well.

Part of their issue in finding replacement worker is that there is not much of a base of the youth in the area, which could also be a problem for a younger couple moving to the area. The ones that do live in the area usually have solid long term jobs, and plan on being there for life.

Overall I would take the job if your husband hates what he is doing now. While it is nice to be close to family, and close to where you are from, it is never a good thing for long term prospects if one of you is considerably unhappy.

[kacorey]

Thanks jwiley - you're exactly the guy I need to talk to. Really wanted someone who's lived there or at least very close to. Do you remember what your utilities cost you a month? MN kind of soured us and I'm finding out that it's just generally a really expensive place to live, as even their income tax was 4% higher than CO and ND's. It seemed to me that our utilities were ridiculously high, also, which is really the major concern for us right now. Our water bill was $200/month and our heat was $300/month - the equivalent of what our rent was. Outrageous, I thought.

[jwiley]

I do not remember what the utilities cost us in Akron, however they should be much less then you paid in MN. From what i understand after speaking to a couple of people I know who have moved to Colorado from Mn is our utlities and taxes are actually much cheaper then they paid there, although I cannot give you specifics on Akron.