Is there any rural Colorado left??? (Denver, Colorado Springs: transplants, foreclosures, home)

[ajoell]

Any reason you are not looking into UT if that is where your husband is from? The weather is better a lot of places in UT and it is still mostly rural except for the Salt Lake City area. Logan is a really nice small city, 40000, but all around the valley area there are tiny settlements, well under the 3500 you mentioned. Also WY has one fo the better economies at the moment. Southern Wy is not terribly different weatherwise than from CO. N/NE New Mexico is very rural, not sure if any jobs are down there, but it is rural.

Your going to be getting the occasional blizzard in any of these states.

Jobs are very hard to come by right now. I just talked to a waitress friend of mine who also teaches school. She lost her job this year, so waitressing is all she has now along with two kids to support.

If you had been trying this about 5 years ago the story would have been totally different.

Good luck to you.

[Kristin_09]

Ajoell--You asked why we're not considering Utah, and I'm going to be completely honest, regardless of how bad it sounds. I'm not sure what it would be like living in a predominately Morman area. Since the first day I met my husband's family they talked about how "Utah was a good place to be from"... As in, they wouldn't want to be there anymore. They had a lot of negative things to say about the state (too cold, too hot, too many Mormans, too spread out...) Personally, I've been there one time, and it was on business. I thought Provo was gorgeous.
I don't mind a blizzard. I would actually really prefer a lot of snow to the ice storms we get here in Missouri. The ice takes out all the power lines and sometimes you'll spend a week with no power in the middle of winter. It would also be nice to be out of tornado alley. I've had my fill of scrambling for shelter in the middle of the night, to huddle for an hour or so in a damp basement.
Also, I realize that jobs are tough, but I don't think they could be any worse than here. And the thing is, we're used to it. The recession hasn't had much of an impact on Southern Missouri, as it's always been very poor.
I think I will look into Logan though. What is the climate like in Logan?

[jazzlover]

There is a big difference between living in a "poor" area with poor wages, but lower living costs versus living in a pretty high cost area with low wages. Thanks to the real estate bubble, which still has not deflated in much of rural Colorado, that latter circumstance is pretty common here.

All the things you said about Utah--"too cold, too hot, too many Mormans, too spread out..."--is pretty much true of Colorado, except for the fact that Colorado is not a predominantly LDS state. However, there are quite a few areas of Colorado--especially the San Luis Valley and far western Colorado--with a significant LDS population. There are also significant LDS populations in Idaho (a majority in some areas of the state) and western Wyoming.

There are also large areas of Colorado and New Mexico with a majority Hispanic population, which some Midwesterners find uncomfortable--several of Colorado's less expensive and still rural areas fit that description.

[dynimagelv]

altho Iusually agree with jazzlover...he does seem to forget that there is a lot of rural left in colorado....try east of the front range....Limon comes to mind [since I was born n raised there a million years or so ago.]

[livecontent]

There is huge amount of rural lands left in every state but there is a small amount of people willing to live in the rural lands. The lands are there and many areas are becoming even less populated than the many years ago. It is the desire of people wanting more, and needing more, that depopulates the rural areas.

You want to live in a rural area. You have many choices but it comes with some hardships that many people no longer want to endure; It comes with the lack of fanciful amusements; It comes with less comforts that people now consider necessities. Sure there are less jobs and lower wages because there are less people and less industry; but if you have simple needs and simple wants, you can live on much less, and perhaps live a happier life. It is not the land's fault, it is what nature has defined; accept it or reject it; but the land will always be there for those people who can adapt to its characteristics.

Livecontent

[jazzlover]

Originally Posted by dynimagelv

altho Iusually agree with jazzlover...he does seem to forget that there is a lot of rural left in colorado....try east of the front range....Limon comes to mind [since I was born n raised there a million years or so ago.]

You are right--the most truly rural part of Colorado is the Eastern Plains east of the Front Range. That area doesn't fit most peoples' little fantasy of what Colorado is about, though. They would rather live in some phony-baloney overpriced, overrun resort area in the mountains rather than a "real" small town on the Eastern Plains. As livecontent alluded to, real small town living means making sacrifices that the "beautiful people" just aren't willing to make, so they take some formerly sleepy quiet mountain town and try to remake into the ****hole that they left--the one they left because they hated it so much . . . Go figure.

[wanneroo]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Thanks to the real estate bubble, which still has not deflated in much of rural Colorado, that latter circumstance is pretty common here.

I tend to believe it has far to fall yet but somehow it's still staying pretty high. However from what I have heard not a whole lot of property is moving.

I knew it had reached a crazy point when they built $5 million townhomes across the street from the Vail sewage treatment plant.

[80skeys]

Well, certainly neither Cortez nor Montrose have sky-high cost of living. THey're definitely affordable. Whether or not you would want to live there is another question. Cortez is a small, dusty town in the desert and it doesn't look to me like there's much of anything going on there, especially jobs. If you were to move there, you may find it rather bleak. Montrose is also in the desert, although it's a larger town with more development.

These towns are rural in the sense that they are small towns with some farming and agriculture. But they are not "mountain rural." For mountain rural you would need something like Cimarron or the Collbran area.

[la junta econ devel]

Originally Posted by Kristin_09

Hello everyone! My husband and I are considering a move to Colorado. I am from Missouri and we currently live in my hometown. However, my husband, who is from Utah, says he can't handle the midwest humidty, ticks, chiggers, etc. anymore...He wants to go home. He works in construction, and by this, I don't mean building multimillion dollar homes, although he is certainly capable of it. We're not rich, and we're not looking to get that way. He can do anything from concrete to roofing to framing to sheetrock...whatever. We are both from a small town, ranching background and I was wondering if there were any towns left in Colorado that fit that description, but still large enough that a person can make a living. It seems like the cost of living is sky high in Colorado anymore... Could anyone give me any suggestions? I was thinking that Cortez could be a possibility. What about Montrose? I'd appreciate your advice!!

The short answer to your post heading is...yes there is plenty of rural Colorado out there! And the expanded answer is that there is a great quality of life there that many are not aware of.

According to Pueblo Chieftain reporter Anthony Mestas, there are some great rural areas to live and a lot of pride in them. You can read what he has to say at The Pueblo Chieftain :: Community pride rampant in small town of La Junta

At the risk of reposting, you might look at what I posted about La Junta a while back on http://www.city-data.com/forum/color...a-junta-2.html

Small rural towns in Colorado can be found in every area of the State, and they all have their own positives and negatives. I can also assure you that for the most part, they all have a great sense of pride in their kids, schools, churches, and lifestyles. The people that live in these towns have not been sentenced to a life in them....they have chosen to live there and even more would live there if there were employment opportunities.

Another Pueblo Chieftain article talks about Las Animas, (The Pueblo Chieftain Online :: For residents in rural Las Animas, small is good
and the quote by Lisa Trigilio of Bent County Development is of special note as to why some people choose to live in small, rural communities.

I think there may be many possibilities for you in rural Colorado.....and good luck to you in your search.

[dynimagelv]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

You are right--the most truly rural part of Colorado is the Eastern Plains east of the Front Range. That area doesn't fit most peoples' little fantasy of what Colorado is about, though. They would rather live in some phony-baloney overpriced, overrun resort area in the mountains rather than a "real" small town on the Eastern Plains. As livecontent alluded to, real small town living means making sacrifices that the "beautiful people" just aren't willing to make, so they take some formerly sleepy quiet mountain town and try to remake into the ****hole that they left--the one they left because they hated it so much . . . Go figure.

how true....I remember going to Aspen for XMAS in 1948......slightly differant from what they've now done to it.