Good, Bad Areas in Denver (Colorado Springs, Aurora: low crime, how much, house)

[fllover]

Looking at Denver as well as Colorado Springs....not sure which one is better with low crime and good school plus affordable housing (non-vegas pricing). I've heard that Highlands Ranch and Littleton are nice areas but...are these the only areas of Denver that we should be looking at?.

[2bindenver]

There are "nice" areas all around the Metro Denver area. Most people look for community first, like schools, shopping, transportation, closeness to something (job, family, worship), then subdivisions like ones with pools, or lots of walking trails or age (of the properties) then they drill down to the type of housing that fits their needs 3 bed, two story, cul de sac...

Make sense?

[fllover]

I KNOW what to "look for", I was just hoping some one with SOME knowledge of the city could point me in the right direction where low crime is concerned.

[xxman777]

The metro area as a whole is pretty low crime. Specific areas to look at include south and southeast Denver, extreme southern Aurora, Parker, Lone Tree, Highlands Ranch, Centennial, Greenwood Village, Cherry Hills Village, Littleton, South Jeffco, south and west Lakewood, Golden, western Wheat Ridge, west and north Arvada, west and north Westminster, Broomfield, Superior, Louisville, Lafayette, northwest and north Northglenn and north Thornton.

These in General are the better communities, but once in a while there will be a not so go neighborhood mixed in. There are also plenty of nice neighborhoods mixed into the other communities.

[fllover]

xxman,

Thank you very much for answering my question, I appreciate your help!! =D

[2bindenver]

crime happens everywhere. define affordable? The Springs has more affordable (cheaper) homes, but Denver has more activities and jobs.

Most of the military bases are in the Springs. As is the Air Force Academy.

The Springs is in the middle of a highway expansion project called COSmix, and Denver's T-REX project will be done in September. The Southeast light rail line will open in November.

It takes 40 minutes to get from north to south in the springs. more than an hour and a half for denver.

[xxman777]

You should expect it to take longer to get across Denver then CS because Denver so much larger then CS. CS is a little under 600,000 while Denver is over 2.6 million according to emporis. That said I think 1.5 hours for Denver is a little unrealistic unless you are traveling during rush hour. It should take at most 45 minutes.

Second, I lived in southeast Denver for 23 years and I don’t know where “china town” is. The only place I can think of would be on the west side at approximately Alameda and Federal (stay away from this area), not on the southeast side. There are some bad parts of SE Denver but most parts are nice and relatively safe.

Colfax is also an interesting street. I would not recommend spending much time on this street, especially at night. However if you get a block off east Colfax you will be in some of Denver’s nicest and most expensive neighborhoods. They have also been doing a lot it recent years to clean up Colfax, but I am not sure how much it is actually helping.

I’m not sure that I would suggest Westminster near Denver if you are looking for an area with low crime. This area isn’t bad but it isn’t exactly known for its low crime rate. There are lots of other suburbs which have much less crime and fewer seedy characters then Westminster.

Amen to staying out of Aurora. Aurora isn’t bad as long as you get very far south. The main city is a *%$?hole. Probably the worst area in the metro.

[revclaus]

I've lived in Denver for over three decades.

Aurora has some high crime areas as does Denver. That doesn't mean both cities are to be avoided! Check with the local police department -- most of them have websites -- to see what crime is and the neighborhoods it affects. Westminster can be either bad or good, depending on the neighborhood. Same for Aurora and Denver. As for southeast and southwest Denver, again, it depends on the neighborhood.

I live in east Denver, almost to Aurora, and love it. There's a new urbanism infill across the street with homes valued at $400,000 up to well over $1 million.

It depends on what you're looking for whether the neighborhood will be appropriate for you. I'll be happy to comment -- just ask.

[Rhapsody]

There are some rather nice neighbourhoods in Denver, such as Hale/Park Hill, Stapleton, Lowry (those two are newer), and much of Washington Park. If you're looking into suburbs, I'd say go for the south, Centennial and Littleton, for affordable housing and great schools.

[aroddy]

You'll never hear people say anything good about Aurora, but in my opinion, it's a great place to live. North Aurora is not nice at all. South of about Iliff Ave, however, it's generally very nice. You can get a nice 3-4 bedroom home for just over $200k in a safe neighborhood. Children are playing all day and into the night in the streets. I don't worry about crime here. There are high-paying tech/aerospace jobs nearby. Life is good. I think it's much better here than the alternative of living in over-priced cookie cutter Highlands Ranch or and old Denver neighborhood with an old house and no yard.