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We lived, and drove, in Jacksonville, Florida for 10 1/2 years! When we left, the population was 982,000. We done fine. The 2022 population of Vegas is 653,000. IOW, if we could live in Jacksonville, Florida for 10 1/2 years, most likely we could live in Vegas!
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Again, just some factual data from the U.S. Census Bureau so someone considering a move to Las Vegas won't be misled:
2022 population of the Las Vegas metro area (of which the city of Las Vegas comprises just a small geographic section): 2.8 million. Las Vegas has been growing at a rate of about 2.5% for the last decade.
2022 population of the Jacksonville metro area (of which the city of Jacksonville is a larger portion) is 1.6 million. Jacksonville metro population is growing at an annual rate of about 2.3%.
Population of Denver Metro area (which does not include Larimer County) is also 2,897,000 in 2022. So, the Las Vegas metro area is comparable in size to the Denver metro area more than Jacksonville metro in terms of population. However, the population of the Denver metro area is growing at an annual rate of 1.4%
Current population of Larimer County, CO is 320,000. The county has an annual population growth rate of about 1.2%.
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Again, please don't shoot the messenger.
I am simply providing factual information so anyone considering a move to Las Vegas from Larimer County can make a fully informed decision by comparing apples to apples.
Don't know why you're concerned with it OP. You've already said you don't like the town/area and are planning to move away.
If you're from any substantial city, you'll chuckle at the insignificance of that city. It's hyped up just like neighboring Fort Collins, which suffers from the same rather lame attributes.
Since traffic safety is a concern for many, here is another statistic, from the Las Vegas police Department that may be useful for anyone considering a move from Larimer County to the Las Vegas metro area:
In the first five months of 2022, there was an 8% increase in car crashes in Las Vegas metro over 2021. Vegas police responded to 8,000 collision calls, which averages to about 56 accidents per day in the first five months of 2022.
A spokesperson for the Las Vegas police attributed the increase to "more drivers speeding, more distracted drivers, and more drivers ignoring the basic rules of the road."
Since Denver metro and Las Vegas metro are most similar in population size, it may be helpful to compare car accident fatalities. As of September 13, 2022, there were 100 fatalities in car crashes in Las Vegas metro this year. As of October 3, 2022, there were 68 fatalities in Denver metro.
Someone living in Larimer County may want to also compare the number car accidents in Larimer County to Las Vegas in 2022. I know that the local newspaper in Loveland covers this topic, so someone with a subscription to the paper should be able to find some data for comparison.
Again, please don't shoot the messenger. I am only trying to provide helpful factual information, not dispute anything anyone may have said in this thread.
We’re currently in the research phase for getting out of Florida in a few years and for Colorado, Loveland keeps coming up because we don’t want Colorado Springs for assorted reasons and it seems like you get a lot more for your money in the $400-$600K single family home budget than you do closer to Denver or Ft. Collins proper while at the same time being close to a good number of amenities.
Our plan would be to be cash buyers somewhere; love the freedom of not having a mortgage anymore.
Beachmouse -- I highly recommend talking to StealthRabbit for insight into the Loveland/Fort Collins area. Although he is not a full time resident now, he has a wealth of knowledge due to having grown up in the area, has friends in the area, and still spends time there every year.
We've been looking at homes in Larimer County for the last 4 years, ever since our daughter and son in law (who grew up in CO) relocated to Fort Collins. The price of homes in Loveland are indeed consistently lower than Fort Collins. Even less expensive: Johnstown and parts of Weld County (but amenities are fewer or farther)
We agree with StealthRabbit that a lot of the homes in the area are overpriced for what you get (lots of outdated homes in older areas, and lots of micro lots in newer ones). I'd also suggest that if the area stays on your radar that you ignore the list prices and look closely at the actual sales prices of homes that have sold recently. For the last 3-4 years, many homes have been selling at MUCH higher prices than the list price (we've seen homes that ended up selling for $100,000 over list price).
We are noticing that the list to closing price ratios and days to close have dropped *somewhat* in the last 4 months, no doubt due to the increase in mortgage rates. If you're paying cash, and plan to move soon, the next year or so might be a very good time to buy, although whether prices will drop fully to pre-pandemic levels again remains to be seen.
We personally prefer Fort Collins over Loveland for a number of personal reasons and even there, prices *seem* to be starting to be more "negotiable" based on recent sales data and talks with our realtor.
Time will tell -- if we do decide to relocate full time and you end up there too, perhaps we'll meet you there some day in the future!
(P.S. if you want real "cheap" there's a cabin in Lyons up for sale for $199,000 right now. It doesn't have indoor plumbing though. Red Feather Lakes also has cabins like that.)
Solidify your selection criteria and focus on having your feelers out. (It might take a while to find the right place).
This region is quite overpriced, and has had some brutal housing corrections, and may be over built. So reasonable pricing could be in your future.
Unless a good job opportunity comes up, we’re a couple years out from being very serious. So for the next couple years, it’s investigating Colorado and the PNW- loved Portland when we spent a week there in 2019 and the Williamette Valley needs a couple more deep dives too.
I couldn’t see going the 55+ route unless there were huge cost savings involved. We like how our current neighborhood has a lot of age diversity and just aren’t interested in being entirely surrounded by old people, even if it’s an ‘active adult’ community.
Homes prices in our little bit of Florida were very sticky downward in the last recession- the federal government distorts the local housing market in multiple ways (military town with a huge amount of land as part of base) so the numbers might actually work out better for us in a bit of an economic lull rather than a nationwide boom.
Course it all depends on just how much longer we can dig in and stand it here- there is definitely a temptation to just put the house on the market in May and move somewhere pretty much blind even though it’s not usually how we roll.
The growth mentioned in original post has a lot more to do with eastern Loveland / Windsor / Kelim, which has very little impact on western Loveland. There is plenty of housing east of Loveland for the Windsor based workforce. (warehouses employ few, and will become more automated, employing less.).
Seniors still love to move to Loveland, and there are a lot in that age group yet to arrive. But it is incremental, not explosive growth. 2 bdrm 1500SF homes will increase in demand, but there will be plenty of money inbound for those seeking 4000sf places for their families (or self). Senior and medical service will grow, but that is slow and purposed.
We all live with our choices, or execute our next choice.
I don't plan on returning to Loveland as a resident, as it is too hearbreaking to see the change (thus it is now a nice place to visit often, but I don't desire to live there (but I could, and be content).) CO has politics and changes which are just like I've endured on the left coast. I don't desire to witness or participate (endure) in that transition again. I'm Ag centric (Farm kid), Colorado is being very regulated and painful to that industry, far more rancher friends are forced to leave, as we were in the late 1970's, and thousands since. CO will become another CA and FL (and TX). There are already waiting lists / recreation pressures on CO resources and those places are being eroded in quality and sereneness. Just a fact, not a complaint... so we who desire what once was... must move on, or recalibrate our desires.
For any future reader... do what is best for you, it won't be perfect, and it may not remain as you hope.
Fully explore your choices. (That is what we always stay in local homes (not hotels) and attend events while visiting, as if we lived there. Significant to that effort is community volunteering and involvement (as visitors). We purpose to serve others and to meet those who do likewise. This is our 'thing', so we add that to our research excercise. There was nothing keeping OP from asking the rodeo and tattoo and traffic, and peer pressure (others looking at your western garb), when they did their survey trip.
Seems there was a lot of ranting about how terrible FL had become since they arrived, and no rodeo (tho there is plenty in FL). ... What goes around, comes around, so for other readers... enjoy the journey, it's a wild ride. Expect the unexpected!
When discussing the increased population of Loveland, I look at Loveland itself, not one direction or the other. There are lots of apartment that have gone up, and continue to go up in the Centerra area down the street from Best Buy and the theater. We were totally amazed!
As for rodeos in Florida, 99% of the ones that are there are below Orlando. We went to one in Lake City, just west of us, off of I-10 and it was pretty much a disaster. Looked like a bunch of PRCA Permit Holders. Couldn't stay on bronc or bulls and I've seen kids that could rope better than what was at that rodeo.
We didn't really "rant" about Florida, or living in Jacksonville for 10 1/2 years. We simply missed the wildlife of RMNP, sight of the foothills/Rockies, rodeo action and (believe it or not) in 2019, when we moved back, the sight of snow. But, that was three years ago and we are now three years older. As (some) people get older, they simply can't tolerate winter weather like they use to. That's why many seniors move to Arizona and Nevada. We, after those 10 1/2 years, decided we didn't make good "Southerners".
There is a guy I know, about 10 years young than us, that runs a Roping Arena by Longmont during summer months. He just recently closed it down and getting ready to head to his winter home in Wickenburg, AZ.
Listen folks, I wasn't "bad mouthing" Loveland when I done this thread. I was only inquiring about a possible population increase to Loveland, due to Amazon and all of the apartments being built, and already built, in Centerra area. Quite a bit of new building construction going on by the I25 from Loveland to south Ft. Collins.
And, a whole lot of young folks go to Centerra for shopping and restaurants galore.
We've lived here since 2019 and seen very few seniors moving into Loveland. In our apartment complex/building, there have been two and one had already moved out. We haven't seen any big/major Moving Company vans driving down streets, so that's why we think that. When seniors move, they move like we do (I'd think most of them anyway)..........using a big/major Moving Company. All of this is just what we've observed, that's all.
With winter coming, those young folks here who have arms, legs and their neck full of tattoos, should be living someplace like So. California or even Florida, where they can show off their "art" all year long. But, that is just MHO, which counts for very little on this thread or other threads I've done.
Maybe they'll all move to Las Vegas where they can show them off all year round... wait, isn't Las Vegas already full of those folks?
ALL of your locations eventually become the target of your longwinded, repetitive btching. Some earlier than others. When you posted that you had just moved back to Loveland, the very first few posts already started in on the young people, tattoos, and lack of idolization of your hobbies. Since then, which was not that long ago, your badmouthing has deteriorated into even longer lists of things and people you want to move away from you.
You’re the one who will have to move. Nobody else is going to leave to make you happy (and there is no such thing, anyway). Your negativity is entirely self-generated.
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Red Feather Lakes also has cabins like that.)
), when they did their survey trip. 
