Pagosa Springs,Co (Grand Junction, Durango: low income, real estate, high crime)

[kerrymac]

Is it possible to get some info on Pagosa Springs...Econ,Crime,Weather the usual stuff.

Any info will be helpful....Thanks

[Jaybee]

Use the "non-forum" section of this site. Click on "City-data.com" above and then click into Colorado and choose cities over 6000 population. Scroll down until you find Pagosa Springs. Lots of data on this site. Beware though, some is inaccurate.

[kerrymac]

I know some of it is inaccurate ...thats why I would like anyone with "real" info on it to tell me about Pagosa Springs

[debbie at bouontiful]

Me too! I've always been interested in that area. Spend most of my time studing Chama, NM because it seems to bes a tad cheaper I believe than Pagosa Springs but will spend time there this Sept. to look at prices again.

[CosmicWizard]

Pagosa Springs was on my short list 3 years ago when I was scouting out Colorado. I liked it, especially the hot springs. We crossed it of our list however because of the job situation and the generally poor economy...and that was in the good old days of the boom in 2006. If you are dependent upon the local economy for your livelihood, I'd advise you to think long and hard about settling in Pagosa Springs. On the other hand, if you have lots of money in the bank and/or a source of income that does not rely upon the local economy, I think it would be a nice place to live. Housing was reasonable in '06 and it is probably alot more reasonable now, and it will probably be even more reasonable a year or two from now.

[debbie at bouontiful]

Originally Posted by CosmicWizard

Pagosa Springs was on my short list 3 years ago when I was scouting out Colorado. I liked it, especially the hot springs. We crossed it of our list however because of the job situation and the generally poor economy...and that was in the good old days of the boom in 2006. If you are dependent upon the local economy for your livelihood, I'd advise you to think long and hard about settling in Pagosa Springs. On the other hand, if you have lots of money in the bank and/or a source of income that does not rely upon the local economy, I think it would be a nice place to live. Housing was reasonable in '06 and it is probably alot more reasonable now, and it will probably be even more reasonable a year or two from now.

What is on your short list now? We are looking for retirement area, no job needed. Did you think of Trindad, Co or maybe Chama, nM?

[CosmicWizard]

No more short list. We chose Grand Junction 3 years ago, and we have been pleased with our choice. It's not the perfect place, but it supports most of our interests and needs.

We looked at Prescott-AZ, Silver City-NM, Ruidoso-NM, Santa Fe-NM, Pagosa Springs, Durango, and Grand Junction. I'd still like to live in northern Idaho one day, but my wife is not too keen on Idaho. If I could get back into Canada as a legal resident I'd be there in a heartbeat. There's no place in North America than can measure up to British Columbia....and ya got affordable health care to boot.

[80skeys]

I don't have any "hard facts" but I can tell you what I know:

it's a small touristy-town located next to the San Juan mountains
pretty cold in the winter with a good amount of snow
doesn't seem like it would have much of a crime issue
i think the economy is probably based on tourism, i don't know of any big employers
pretty isolated in the sense that it's far from any cities or bigger towns

[debbie at bouontiful]

I guess I should have mention that I go to Chama, NM and Pagosa Springs, Co every year. They say on city forum that both places have high crime. Never seen any crime in those area. The two are a like but Pagosa springs is bigger but a little more costly than Chama. Both are for the very out door type personality. We ranch so it is us but I do worry when we get older and need medical. Both places you would have to do a bit of driving for medical, groceries etc. Chama has a wonderful grocery store AGAIN but I mean like Sams or Super Walmart there would be a bit of driving.

To me weather would be wonderful LOTS AND LOTS OF SNOW, summer without needing air. Look at the temps, high 80s to low 50s evening. By the time your hot, it cools down. elevation for Chama is 8500 and I am thinking Pagosa is the same.

I would think there would be any jobs. Never looked though! People seemed pleasant to me.

[jazzlover]

Let's weed out the garden of misinformation. Altitudes: Chama, NM 7,875 feet; Pagosa Springs 7,079 feet--not 8,500. I wish people would get their facts straight.

Now, about Pagosa. It is suffering from serious economic issues. The economy of the town has lived for years on mostly construction and real estate speculation--the two industries in the current economic environment that have the bleakest future of just about any. Even before the bust hit, Archuleta County had severe fiscal problems within county government--enough to adversely affect their ability to do things like maintain roads, etc. I have posted before that Colorado's county and local governments are headed for an absolute fiscal train wreck within a few years (probably about 3 years from now at the latest) that very likely will cripple many agencies' ability to provide some pretty essential public services. We're not talking the fluff and bull**** stuff here--we're talking things like law enforcement, fire protection, public health and other basic services. Colorado's tax system--especially a constitutional disparity in the assessment of residential vs. commercial and industrial property, will financially cripple areas where most of the property value is in residential property. That includes most of rural Colorado outside of the counties with heavy energy production (which is now in decline). Archuleta County is a great example--they just got there a little ahead of everybody else.

As I have also posted before, about 30 years of completely insane real estate speculation have left much of rural Colorado overpriced and overbuilt, but still without a sustainable local economy. The still-developing collapse of the real estate bubble is going to cause these areas to revert to what they were many years ago--places with low incomes, limited (and possibly unreliable) public services and commercial business, and increasing isolation as fuel costs escalate and road maintenance deteriorates. For people who can tolerate a relatively isolated and VERY austere lifestyle, such places can actually be pleasant places in which to live, but most of the "wannabe rural Coloradan" posters I read on this forum do not want and do not expect to live that kind of lifestyle here--but that will be the lifestyle that will likely predominate in the years ahead.

I weathered the bust of the 1980's in a rural Colorado county--one of the poorest in the state at the time (and still)--I survived it, but it was not easy or materially very comfortable at all. What we are going to face in rural Colorado very soon will likely make that earlier recession/depression in this region pale in comparison. For most all of my adult life--save just a few years--I have lived in rural Colorado. I love the history and natural heritage of this area (that population growth and overdevelopment have not wrecked)--especially in the southern part of Colorado, but I am concerned enough about the viability of this area in the years ahead to be looking at alternative places in which to relocate. Colorado's economy and demographics have gone through this kind of "bust" before--the prime example being the bust following the Silver Panic of 1893--it only took rural Colorado better than half a century to really recover from that one.