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NYisontop thank you for all the info! we went to colorado last year and loved it, i think we will have to go to LI thi year and then decide from there what we want to do. It might be expensive but it is NY lol thank you!
StephM my plan is not to go with the idea of getting hired as a police officer, we are going with one paycheck and if i get hired it will be a bonus. also i don't have to work for nassau county theres NYPD as well.
beanie13 about the driving part, i meant that in nyc i can go to the city, or to washington dc, or even to philly and it would all be driving distance. in colorado 2-3 hours of driving will just get you to another area in colorado like a resort in the mountains.
Again, with the savings on basically EVERYTHING in Colorado, you should have no problem affording plane tickets to fly somewhere interesting when you feel like it.
If "proximity to northeastern cities" is worth spending $300K-$400K on a house (and I'd say that's even low-ish end for move-in ready in a good school district, particularly in Nassau), $10K or more a year in property taxes, and putting a significantly higher percentage of your income towards basics like groceries and utilities, then go for it. But on a purely financial calculation, Colorado is going to win every time.
If I could move to Colorado (or similar), I personally would, but I have family and career ties here that aren't transferrable.
Just an additional thought - if you move to Colorado and hate it, you're a lot less "stuck" financially than you would be if you moved to Long Island, since you'll be able to put a greater percentage of your income towards savings while living in Colorado (which could then be used to get out of Colorado).
If you are in Suffolk it is at least a couple of hours to get off the island and on the other side of the city, so you won't really be anywhere much with 2-3 hours of driving. We found "driving somewhere" to be much more accessible when we lived in Utah than we do on Long Island because of the traffic congestion. And Boulder isn't exactly in the sticks. It is not only naturally beautiful it is culturally unique with a lot of great activities for children. Lastly, the Boulder area has a lot more walkable communities than I've found on Long Island. Many of the neighborhoods here, at least where we house-shopped, do not have sidewalks, parks and stores in walking distance, etc.
It really comes down to your priorities. For schools Long Island has some excellent districts, and that is one of the reasons I took a job here. Culturally, Long Island doesn't have a ton to offer and we have to travel 1.5 hours to get into the city, whereas in the Boulder area it is all right there, and Denver isn't far off. If you are oriented towards the ocean for 3 months a year than Long Island is a better choice. If you like the outdoors and mountains 12 months a year than Colorado is probably better. If you are a boater then it is a tossup because CO has a lot of lakes to play on.
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