England to America, oh my! (Denver: foreclosure, violent crime, how much)

[Maximum Bison]

Hmm... Florida is a good mention. I used to vacation there almost every year as a wee nipper but, the storms and such do put me off. I'm not a huge fan of rain. We get enough of it in England.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by Maximum Bison

Long story short, I'm getting married and moving to the US. I'm only in my early 20's and work within Healthcare, so the next year or so may be a good time for me to get work out there. My fiancé used to live in butt-end-nowhere Wyoming so she's

Here in the States, the phrase we use is "BFE." I won't say what it stands for. you can look it up.

But that aside, we're both willing to find a place to rent either in Colorado or down in SoCal.

Personally I'd recommend SoCal if you mean San Diego. Better weather. Nice town. Ocean. Only a couple hours drive from mountains. It's got a lot of what you can have in Colorado plus the ocean.

If by SoCal you mean L.A. forget about it. I mean, maybe you'd like it but it's a huge city with a lot of problems. By problems I mean crime, pollution, transporation, etc.

Downsides are the price and how much of a desert I remember there being. I like wildlife photography and it'd be a shame to have nothing to take pictures of.

Most of Colorado is desert. Even the Rocky mountains are pretty much "desert"/arid mountains.

Having all those mountains and wilderness appeal to me as I do get wanderlust... but when I eventually have a family, going to the beach for the day or taking my kids out fishing won't be something I can just do on whim.

correct. Okay so Colorado is great for exploring. There are just mountains all over the place, you can spend a lot of time driving around, going from one little town to the next and enjoying the mountains. But this is limited in the winter and the fishing sucks (means poor) and there's no ocean.

So uhh.... I guess what I'm asking is what you guys think. My fiancé said she'll go wherever I do so long as she's not in a town with about six people.

[/quote]

Better be careful where you move in Colorado. Most of the state is made up of very small towns.

As I said before, I personally would favor San Diego. It's a nice city, it's a large city, it's got great weather, the ocean, and it's an easy drive to the mountains, lakes, etc. It's got a lot of culture and if you need the "big city" it's just 45 minutes by train to L.A.

If you move to Colorado, you'd better move to Denver, otherwise you're gonna get really bored, especially if you're coming from London.

[chilaili]

Originally Posted by Wingfoot

For a rational person obviously Denver is better than SoCal by a wide margin.

I'm well into my 70's ,had a career that had me move over 30 times in 45 years and have lived coast to coast in the US. More importantly, I've been paying attention.
IMHO, the best large metro in the USA is, hands down, the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Cold but,for the US, quite civilized with a lower cost of living and higher wages within an outstanding medical infrastructure.
Its suburbs have very good school systems with far less crime than the your selections. I can think of few places I'd rather not raise a family in than SoCal.
Now to mention a plethora of outdoor activities all about, the 10,000 lakes motto on Minnesota license plates is no jest !

I would agree (Minnesota can be a great place to live with lots and lots to see and do including oodles of sailing opportunities on all those lakes and rivers) but for a Brit moving to Minnesota, the change in climate might be a tad overwhelming. Trust me - I know! You might want to ease into the idea of 5-6 months of Winter, 6ft of snow and -20º C windchill by spending at least a couple of winters in Colorado first.

[80skeys]

Originally Posted by Wingfoot

For a rational person obviously Denver is better than SoCal by a wide margin.

Reason? My sister lived in San Diego for a few years. I found it to be a very nice city.
Now if you're talking about L.A. I'd agree with you, although my sister lives there now and says she prefers it because of the city vibe.

IMHO, the best large metro in the USA is, hands down, the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. Cold but,for the US, quite civilized with a lower cost of living and higher wages within an outstanding medical infrastructure.

I've heard very nice things about the twin cities.

Now to mention a plethora of outdoor activities all about, the 10,000 lakes motto on Minnesota license plates is no jest !

From what I've heard, hands down the best freshwater fishing in the entire U.s. is to be found in Minnesota.

[Maximum Bison]

I'm coming from a place called Southampton. It's got about 200'000 people in it so Diego and Denver both **** on it in terms of size and population.



Edit - Tug on my goose, West Palm Beach looks incredible (I'm checking out houses online). I've spent the last three months researching mortgage rates and I'd get a lot more for my buck, as you'd say, there. Right on the beach too. The trade off for having no mountains would be the beach and the locality of the everglades. I am in love with the everglades. Last time I was out in Chicago I made a -bit- of a detour down to Florida just go go there for the day. :P

Could anyone well me more about the all year round weather?

[flyers29]

Originally Posted by Maximum Bison

I'm coming from a place called Southampton. It's got about 200'000 people in it so Diego and Denver both **** on it in terms of size and population.



Edit - Tug on my goose, West Palm Beach looks incredible (I'm checking out houses online). I've spent the last three months researching mortgage rates and I'd get a lot more for my buck, as you'd say, there. Right on the beach too. The trade off for having no mountains would be the beach and the locality of the everglades. I am in love with the everglades. Last time I was out in Chicago I made a -bit- of a detour down to Florida just go go there for the day. :P

Could anyone well me more about the all year round weather?

Hot and humid all year round. Pretty much tropical weather.

[chilaili]

Originally Posted by flyers29

Hot and humid all year round. Pretty much tropical weather.

Don't forget the hurricanes
Avg temp in June-August is 33º Celsius with close to 100% humidity. September gets an average of 20cm of rain. (West Palm Beach People & West Palm Beach Demographics - Zillow Local Info)

[Maximum Bison]

Sounds good... trouble is I've been looking around and the crime rates just look insane. It's a huge turn off to living in Florida if there's twice as much crime per 1000 people.

[Wingfoot]

Originally Posted by chilaili

I would agree (Minnesota can be a great place to live with lots and lots to see and do including oodles of sailing opportunities on all those lakes and rivers) but for a Brit moving to Minnesota, the change in climate might be a tad overwhelming. Trust me - I know! You might want to ease into the idea of 5-6 months of Winter, 6ft of snow and -20º C windchill by spending at least a couple of winters in Colorado first.

Actually the Twin Cities get LESS snow than Denver.
The last 6 ft snow was well,never.
Cold,yes, but the body adapts and one dresses in layers and its not always that cold.90% of adjustment is psychological, the body is less stressed by cold than heat.

What a Brit might have trouble adjusting to is the amount of violent crime in the places he picked.If/when he has children he most certainly won't put them in a big city american school system. MN burbs schools are the best in US.

[chilaili]

6ft of snow fell in the Twin Cities in 2001 ([Mpls] Minneapolis parking restrictions lifted). Also in 1983-1984, 1950-1951, 1991-1992, etc Minneapolis/St Paul Snowfall History, from the NWS Twin Cities.

Minneapolis and Denver have comparatively very little violent crime; Florida considerably more (W. Palm Beach Area Among Most Dangerous - West Palm Beach News Story - WPBF West Palm Beach (http://www.wpbf.com/news/19283336/detail.html - broken link)). San Diego seems pretty low but it's also a lot more expensive to live there.