Diversity in Denver (Aurora, Highlands Ranch, Littleton: crime, neighborhoods, school district)

[socalover]

I am relocating from Los Angeles California, and my first impression is I don't see diversity like in LA, are there any suggestions you all may have where I can see some diverse/professional/liberal communities on the southern or mid side of town? We are mixed family and prefer to be in an area where there is some diversity/melting pot, not so many stares wondering what races we are mixed with.

I was looking at Aurora, Highlands Ranch, Castle Rock, Littleton, but know nothing of these areas.

Good schools are a must which is partly my reason for the above choices.

I will be working on the south side of the city.

[Katiana]

Aurora and perhaps Littleton would be your best choices among those, I think. Don't worry so much about the "good" schools. All those areas have some good schools.

[Charles]

Go to the link below and recenter it on Denver. There are drop down boxes for census demographic data. You can look at maps of %white, % hispanic, %black, etc. as well as economic attributes (median income, %owner occupied, etc)

http://tiger.census.gov/cgi-bin/maps...onf=mapnew.con

[vegaspilgrim]

Denver is not an ethnic zoo like L.A. If that's what you want, you're probably looking at the wrong place. However, there's still plenty of diversity, IMO. Aurora as a whole is the most culturally diverse city in Colorado, if that's what you're asking, with many immigrant families from all over the world. This is readily apparent driving around and seeing all the ethnic strip malls and stores with foreign language signs. North Aurora (Colfax Ave) is very diverse, but dangerous. Central Aurora is very diverse too, and much safer (but still could be hit and miss depending on which specific neighborhood). South Aurora is the newest part, and has a little bit of diversity, but not much. Crime can happen anywhere, of course, but the perception is the farther south you go, the "nicer." I'm not too familiar with the actual city of Littleton, but Highlands Ranch and Castle Rock (pretty much all of Douglas County) have no diversity. However, Douglas County schools are pretty good in general. Parts of the city of Denver are also very diverse-- although not necessarily the most glamorous parts.

[Mike from back east]

Read this post by LiveContent for a great perspective on diversity from one who lives within it:
- http://www.city-data.com/forum/denve...ml#post2364834

[DenverAztec]

Denver is fairly liberal and you won't have much of an issue in a majority of it. As Mike sent the link above to LiveContent's analysis of the Highlands, I would agree. Also, check out South Park Hill and Washington Park. Southwest and West Denver are not the best of areas, though diverse. South and Southeast are good.

[greyhead]

In the city of Denver, most people are very liberal and could care less about a mixed couple or anything like that. Why are you interested in the burbs though? Look into neighborhoods Denveraztec said, they are much more interesting.

[bbandy]

For your job location in South metro area, and good diversity Aurora would be a good choice, especially those areas in the Cherry Creek School district, which is generally well regarded by most people. [ mod cut ]

[livecontent]

I have to say this is the most happily diverse area that I have ever seen. Mixed Families are everywhere and so many of them--that hardly causes a second look--only when you see that the mixed kids are soooooo cute.

Some of the post have referred to me because I written on this issue. I am a former New Yawker and been here for close to 30 years--I think the area is getting very much more diverse with the influx of the new wave of immigrants.

This area does not have the strict "red lined" neighborhoods like I saw when I was a kid. Yes, there are predominate ethnic areas but not so hard lined that if you walked there you would start your own "West Side Story".

People in this area have not, for the most part, taught their children to "hate and fear"

"...You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught..."

"You've Got To Be Carefully Taught"
South Pacific
Rodgers and Hammerstein

[sweettearose]

Sadly, I think this is a real problem with the Denver area. I think many don't take issue with Denver's lack of diversity but it clearly lacks any. I was there this weekend and I didn't see ANY diversity. There was more diversity in cities like Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Phoenix. I was also disturbed by some of the Christian conservative fundamentalists that I saw on the street pandering about some issue. Some of the people I spoke to mentioned many great things about Denver but admitted it lacked diversity. Oddly enough, these people felt the lack of diversity was a positive thing which rubbed me the wrong way. It was as if they were almost happy they didn't have much diversity.