Safety (Denver, Aurora, Lakewood: apartments, to rent, crime)

[jlstiff]

My husband and I are still torn about where to live - I have posted once before but am back with a new question. We are wanting to move to the suburbs of Denver. We are now deciding between Lakewood, Littleton, Westminster, and Broomfield. We are wondering if anyone could fill us in on the good and bad areas for these cities - neighborhoods, streets, or any other landmark would be great.

Thanks!

[David Aguilar]

Originally Posted by jlstiff

My husband and I are still torn about where to live - I have posted once before but am back with a new question. We are wanting to move to the suburbs of Denver. We are now deciding between Lakewood, Littleton, Westminster, and Broomfield. We are wondering if anyone could fill us in on the good and bad areas for these cities - neighborhoods, streets, or any other landmark would be great.

Thanks!

Lakewood - I would live anywhere in Lakewood, but I would think the older neighborhoods that are more north and east, in some circles could be considered "bad".

Littleton - Ha, haha, ha. I don't think anywhere in Littleton could be considered "bad".

Westminster - See Lakewood, except change N/E to South.

Broomfield - See Littleton.

[2bindenver]

Where is work and what else is important? Renting? Buying? needs? wants? pets?

- Denver is not NYC or LA or Houston, or Miami.

[jlstiff]

We don't have work yet. We are moving in Jan. and are going to start applying to jobs in the fall. We want to be close to the outdoors (parks, bike paths, hiking, etc...).

We don't want to live where it is too congested with traffic. When we visited we stayed in Aurora and it was pretty busy there. We are from medium-sized towns in the Midwest and do not like dealing with the traffic near Chicago. When we were in Denver, it really only seemed like that traffic was during rush-hour on the interstate and in and around the Denver Tech area - is this correct?

We are going to rent. We would like to be near some kind of downtown area where there are things going on (farmer's markets, summer concerts, etc...). We did like that the area where Westminster and Broomfield mingle together is close enough to downtown Denver we could get there quickly by bus.

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Since we live in IL and can't drive out to CO to research which areas are good and bad we were hoping this forum could tell us what parts of these cities are the good areas and which parts are the bad. Most all cities have a "bad" area, even if it is not anything like the crime of big cities. From what we have researched it seems like most of the crime is related to theft and not the more serious crimes like murder, rape, etc... so we know that most of the suburbs won't have crime problems like NY and LA. However, we don't want to live in an area that we are worried every night that something might happen to our car or our apt if we are out of town.

[2bindenver]

I think you need to come for a visit. Maybe in line with a few interviews.

Where you settle and where you work should be closely related. The metro area is too big to settle here and work there.

[jlstiff]

We actually did come visit last month, which is why we are looking in those 4 cities. While the area is big, it seemed very drivable for work. We aren't settling on an apt at this time since we don't have jobs yet, but are just trying to find out what parts of each of these cities are the better areas.

[Jerry Bckr]

All those areas you picked are good. They are suburbs and not like saying what's the bad part of Chicago we need to avoid? Some of these areas have older homes where the yards will be bigger and so will the trees. As with older homes, they may be a little functionally deficient, but what the heck, you'll be renting. Same with apartments. All these areas are big enough that some will have newer apartments and some older. You'll get a feel instantly by looking at the exteriors. There really isn't a "bad" area in any of these cities. East Lakewood is older, so you may prefer being more on the west side of Lakewood. That would give you good access to work on I-70 and C-470, plus you still have 6th Ave for getting down town.

[Katiana]

I agree with Denver Aztec. I know more about Broomfield, and while there are older areas, none of it is considered unsafe. Ultiamtely, where you live will depend on what you can afford. I'd stay in a Residence Inn or some such until finding a job, so you can locate close to the job. It is not a given that you will be working downtown.

In re: traffic, there can be traffic any time, anywhere. There's almost always lots of traffic on I-25, on US 36 into/out of Boulder, esp. at rush hour. There's lots of traffic IN Boulder all day long.

What type of work do you/your spouse do?

[jlstiff]

My husband has a BS in Industrial Management Technology and an Associates Degree in Electromechanical Technology. He is interested in project management or getting into safety engineering. I will be a dietitian shortly after we are out there - I am finishing my accredited internship and will be able to take the RD exam in January or early Feb. I have a MS in nutrition and dietetics and a BS in Human Bio, so I figured I can find a job in health care or research. We will likely need to come out and explore some more once we get interviews lined up in the fall, so the information from this forum will be useful in where we should look.

[Katiana]

There are several "nodes" for engineering work in the metro area: The Denver Tech Center, downtown, Broomfield, and Boulder. Plus, there are various employers outside of those areas as well.

Re: health care, there are jobs scattered around the metro area, but the big teaching hospitals are in Denver and the immediate suburbs, e.g. Aurora (U of Colo Hospital), Englewood (Porter), and soon Lakewood (St. Anthony). For research, I'm not so sure, but I'd guess most of the jobs in your field would be in Aurora at the health science center. CU Boulder has some bio research jobs.

You would not want to live in Littleton and work in Boulder.