Looking for medium-sized city out west for young Jewish family (Denver: low crime, neighborhoods)

[lynnlabe]

Denver looks great, it has all of what we are looking for with some other things that are less desirable and found in all large cities, such as traffic, smog, harder access to get into/out of city for weekends, etc. I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a smaller city (ideally 500,000 range) that has an active Jewish life including Jewish day school, conservative and orthodox synagogues, some access to kosher food. In addition, good air quality, low crime, reasonable cost-of-living, four seasons that are not torture (regularly above 90 or below 20), family-oriented. Maybe too much to ask? We are just scoping out the areas at this point. Thanks in advance for any comments/leads.

[davidv]

According to Jewish Web, here are medium-sized cities in Colorado that have day schools:
Fort Collins: pop 300k
Colorado Springs: pop. 650k
Pueblo: pop 150k

I guess you could assume access to the other stuff.

[lynnlabe]

Yeah, unfortunately that's not correct. The list includes any type of schooling, including Sunday school. From what I understand, Boulder has a day school but it closed, and the other two never had one.

[vegaspilgrim]

No place exists that has everything you're looking for on your list. You have to prioritize what is most important and live with the imperfections. From reading your post, I think you actually need to be in a large metropolitan area and are mistaken that you want to live in a small city in the west. I think Denver has the gist of what you're looking for, though obviously not 100%. Why don't you tell us where you live now (I'm gonna guess either NYC or DC-- am I right?) so we can compare?

The only place in the state that has the Jewish community you are looking for is Denver-- and within Denver the greatest concentrations are in Hilltop, Southmoor, and Greenwood Village. You could probably add Boulder to that list too, although functionally Boulder is a satelite city part of the Denver metro area, it's really not a standalone city, even though some people there imagine it to be so. The Jewish community that does exist in Boulder is extremely left-wing and new-agey-- it's actually where the Jewish Renewal movement is headquartered. Sounds like you're on the more conservative/traditional side, so that's probably not what you want.

Phoenix has a similar sized Jewish community as Denver, but if you don't want extremely hot weather for half of the year that is obviously out. LA has the largest Jewish population in the western US, especially in the western SFV, but it sounds like that's not what you're looking for. I'd imagine the SF Bay Area and Seattle would have a number of synagogues and kosher food but I don't know for sure. Beyond that, most of the other small to medium sized cities in the western US such as Colorado Springs, Tucson, Albuquerque, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Reno, Boise, Portland, Sacramento, etc, etc, are all very similar when it comes to Jewish life-- ie, not a whole lot, other than a few dinky synagogues (usually exactly 1 of each denomination) with mainly old people, maybe one grocery store that caries some kosher meat items, maybe an after-school program or a Chabad run day school, and you'll definitely stand out as something exotic if you wear your Jewish label loud and proud. Just my opinion, anyways-- feel free to send me a direct message if you have further questions.

[Count David]

Originally Posted by vegaspilgrim

Southmoor, and Greenwood Village.

That explains why my King Soopers has tons of Kosher items!

[Autodidact]

I think for a smaller city with that level of Jewish culture you would have to go all the way to the coast, probably California.

Denver does have a good-sized and diverse Jewish community dating back well over a century.

[lynnlabe]

Thanks for everyone's thoughts. We live in DC now, as Vegaspilgrim so astutely guessed. It is a nice place but on a good day I spend 2 hours in a car, and that's not yet including taking kid(s) to/from activities. The sprawl and congestion has gotten much worse in the past 5 years. That's my hesitation about Denver- it sounds like it may be a similar situation.
Although, I have lived in Boston (which I loved) and it was possible to construct life, work, etc. in a several-mile radius and pretty much walk everywhere. I would go back, but it about the same cost-wise as DC and we figured if we move, we should try to go somewhere more affordable.
So, am wondering if it's possible in Denver to live somewhere where you can walk most places. Obviously depends on line of work- I am in health care field and my husband does not yet know what he'd be doing/where he'd be working. We need to plan a visit soon, but this is helping drive our research. Thanks!

[Count David]

Originally Posted by lynnlabe

That's my hesitation about Denver- it sounds like it may be a similar situation.

No, not like DC.

Originally Posted by lynnlabe

So, am wondering if it's possible in Denver to live somewhere where you can walk most places.

Overall, no, but there are small neighborhoods that are considered walkable.

[sayulita]

Portland Oregon has all that you are asking for. Here's is a recent thread about our Jewish community.

Strong Jewish community in Portland?

Sometimes when I post these threads, the link doesn't work. If it doesn't, just go to the Portland forum and scroll down on the first 40 or so posts to find a thread that reads "Strong Jewish community in Portland?"

[docwatson]

For a city/metro of the size you are looking for, with a more or less similar climate to Denver, you may check out Spokane, WA ... I googled it an there is a congregation and Jewish community. I've never been there, but it does seem like it has a neat downtown, old neighborhoods, and great scenery not too far from the city. I know some folks on the Washington forum are negative about Spokane, but I suspect this is more coming from Seattle/Portland people who just couldn't imagine living in a metro of less than 2-3 million that wasn't on "the coast".