Best Family Area of Denver (Boulder, Highlands Ranch: real estate, low crime, house)

[ali-89]

We are a young family (early 30's) with an 8yr old and a baby on the way relocating from Phoenix to Denver. We want to find the safest, low crime, family friendly neighborhood for our children. Looking in particular for a suburban area with great schools, parks, etc. Dream area would have all that, as well as, Mtn views & lots of trees without being more than 40 minutes from downtown.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[sally.white]

Parker, Co(south east)

It is the best place in the country to raise kids!

[Micktooth]

We moved to Louisville last year. We are about 10 min from Boulder and 25-30 from Denver. Louisville was recently rated as one of the best places in the entire country to raise a family. The Boulder Valley School District is very good. We have a 13yo and an 11yo and we are very happy with the schools. All of the local kids have been super friendly to our children and they have had no problems making new friends. Our neighbors are great and welcoming. Being in Boulder County we have a nice view of the Flatiron Mountains with the taller peaks of the Continental Divide behind them. We feel very safe here. Sometimes we our son even forgets to close the garage. I work in Denver and at rush hour it takes me about 35 min to get past downtown, the drive is very easy. There are parks and open space throughout the Denver area. Most communities also have rec centers that adults and kids enjoy, complete with year-round indoor pools. As far as trees, we do have some here, but it's not a forest. I guess compared to Phoenix, any tree would be an improvement!

[2bindenver]

I think most of the metro area is family friendly. Boulder Valley (NW), Jeffco (W), Douglas (S), & Cherry Creek (SE) are some of the highest rated (CSAP) school districts in the state.

have you read the Highlands Ranch thread?

[ali-89]

Thank you all for your helpful responses!

Micktooth ~Louisville looks like a place my husband would love! We both are from Montana originally and miss the small town atmosphere. I've had a bit of difficulty finding many real estate listings under Louisville or Denver. Am I looking under the wrong area?

2bindenver ~ I have not had a chance to read all the threads that list Highland Ranch, but the few I did find have me interested in that area as well. Thank you so much for your suggestion.

[Micktooth]

ali- not sure about all the listings, plug in 80027 zip code and see what comes up. We moved last year and we had a great realtor. If you are interested, you can send me a private message by clicking on my name and I can give you her info. You will love it here!

[BTNS_TX]

Originally Posted by ali-89

2bindenver ~ I have not had a chance to read all the threads that list Highland Ranch, but the few I did find have me interested in that area as well. Thank you so much for your suggestion.

If you will click on the "Sticky" thread at the top of this board you will find most of those various threads in one place.

We close on our house in HR Friday!

[2bindenver]

Originally Posted by BTNS_TX

If you will click on the "Sticky" thread at the top of this board you will find most of those various threads in one place.

We close on our house in HR Friday!

Congrats...maybe now you will have to change your user name

[tfox]

If you like trees, unfortunately our area doesn't have many within the urbanized areas -- which may come as a surprise. By trees, I'm not sure if you mean natural forests -- which you'll find in the foothills and a few areas to the south, or human-planted trees.

If you want natural forests, you're going to commute a long way for that -- there's a few areas in Douglas County like Larkspur, Castle Pines, the Pinery, etc that are in natural forests, but they're all a hefty commute to downtown. To the west, you can find natural forests in foothills places like Evergreen, Conifer, and Genessee, also a considerable commute.

As for human-planted trees, they tend to be found in the greatest numbers and sizes in the older neighborhoods -- in this case, the Denver neighborhoods and some of the older suburbs. The newer suburbs tend to have fewer trees, and those that they have tend to be small, but it does depend on the neighborhood and how the original developers and builders developed the area. That is to say, some of the newer neighborhoods will eventually grow a nice tree canopy, and others probably never will.