Moving from Ca. can't decide between Utah or Colorado. HELP! (Washington: neighborhood, schools)

[MrAnderson]

I think it's funny how Colorado posters come over here and try to 'convert' people to their state. I'm not really sure why you want everyone to live in your state - especially with the nation's unemployment rate the way it is, and the reason many people are migrating is to leave their high unemployed state and go to a lower unemployed state (thereby making it harder for the natives of that state to find jobs).

So, to answer your question, it depends on if you're in the same professional field as me. If so, head to Colorado

[MrAnderson]

Originally Posted by TRW22

Which direction do you lean politically? If you are a liberal, you might enjoy the political atmosphere in Colorado more (hint, hint). Utah is 75% mormon and thus a very conservative state.

I don't think it's that high of a percent. I've seen recent studies say 62 percent. It feels like 75 percent though

[MilehiDenver]

You need to look no further than the Colorado vs utah poll. Colorado is up 38 - 7 at the moment. That should tell you all you need to know! I love how utah feels they have the better of it with regards to skiing! We have FAR MORE resorts, more international events (yes we had the olympics first, but sadly decided against them). We have far more international skiers that come here. OK you are closer in SLC, but not by much! I can be on the slopes in a little over an hour! Try taking a train to a ski slope from slc! You can't! In Denver, it is no problem. In fact Denver owns Winter Park! Utah clings to its resorts, but the truth is that Colorado has more, more skiers, more out of state and international skiers! And Steamboat has as good of snow as anywhere! By the way, can anywhere in utah claim as many Olympic winter medalists as Steamboat? Probably not even the top 10 combined!

I will give you that the people are nicer in utah!

[osugirl2]

Originally Posted by MilehiDenver

You need to look no further than the Colorado vs utah poll. Colorado is up 38 - 7 at the moment. That should tell you all you need to know! I love how utah feels they have the better of it with regards to skiing! We have FAR MORE resorts, more international events (yes we had the olympics first, but sadly decided against them). We have far more international skiers that come here. OK you are closer in SLC, but not by much! I can be on the slopes in a little over an hour! Try taking a train to a ski slope from slc! You can't! In Denver, it is no problem. In fact Denver owns Winter Park! Utah clings to its resorts, but the truth is that Colorado has more, more skiers, more out of state and international skiers! And Steamboat has as good of snow as anywhere! By the way, can anywhere in utah claim as many Olympic winter medalists as Steamboat? Probably not even the top 10 combined!

I will give you that the people are nicer in utah!

I have nothing against Colorado at all, but as far as getting on the slopes....I can be on one in less than half an hour and only commute 15 mins to my job at the air force base......that's hard to beat. I wouldn't be able to afford property this close to a resort in Colorado. We don't have trains to the slopes but we do have vans that will take you there. I think no matter where you choose, either state is a great place to be. In the OP's position either one would be way better and more affordable than California.

[zebrashoes]

Hands down Colorado. Utah is soooo boring. Beautiful but very weird people (which has nothing to do with being mormon because I am mormon myself). I think the people are friendlier in Colorado and you still get the beautiful mountains. Plus Colorado has way more to do.

[Poqui]

Having lived in both states I think that they have their good and bad. I loved the openness of Colorado's great plain. You can see for miles and miles. This allows the cities to spread out and not be all crowded. Lots of "green space" inside city limits. The down side was how far you were from the ski resorts. It literally took a couple of hours to get to the slopes. And another down side (at least for me) is that Coloradoans love their country music and the country "lifestyle." I'm not a NASCAR-type of guy so that wasn't for me.
Utah is great for raising families and being close to the mountains for skiing and hiking. But it does feel more "crowded" than Colorado even though it has less people in it. The population is more white collar (at least along the Wasatch Front) and more educated. Aside from that, I enjoyed both places for what they offered.

[MitchMZ]

I will chime in as a skier and an outsider researching numerous places to live in the West; including Salt Lake City and Denver. And, yes, I have been to both cities.

As far as skiing/boarding are concerned, Utah has some of the lightest and deepest powder snow in the world. Although, Steamboat in Colorado gets wonderfully light powder too. When my wife went back home to Thailand, there were advertisements in the Tokyo airport for skiing in Utah. Colorado is my favorite state, but for skiers/snowboarders Utah is practically heaven (Brighton is considered the snowboard capitol of the world).

*Whereas many resorts in Colorado get around 300" of snow or less on average, most of the resorts in Utah get 400" or more.

[jaceepc]

Originally Posted by jazzlover

Colorado is probably ahead on the road to destruction because of its larger population, but Utah has more limited water resources and prime ag land, so it may hit the wall first.

On "more limited water resources": Untrue. I have also lived in both UT and CO. Did you know that Colorado Springs is trying to pipe more water for miles and miles, over mountains (can you imagine the cost?) because they don't get enough snow run-off, nor do they have enough reservoirs (neither does Denver). The biggest cities in CO are on the wrong side of the mountains. The western slope gets most of the water, which is why they have agri land, groves of fruit trees and wineries (of all things in CO - good ones too!).

As for Utah, most of our cities are located on the western slope side of the mountains. We get more snow (as someone else mentioned); therefore, more water and we have more reservoirs to store it. Yes, it's true, we live in a desert, but most of CO is using up water from the aquifers, including Colorado Springs. They will run out, just as they will in western Utah. And Colorado has given up too many of its rights to the Colorado River water - sending it to California! Now it's a battle to get it back when they need it.

Two things I hated most about living in Colorado: the roads suck (check out how smooth the roads feel as you drive over the state line to any state around Colorado) and, Colorado Springs - it's full of slow-moving-got-all-the-time-in-the-world-can't-decide-where-to-turn retirees. They drove us crazy on the roads, which they occupy all day long.

[skibarbie]

Colorado gets way more snow than Utah due to a couple of geographic factor. One is the elevation of the mountains. Higher mountains are able to "catch" more rain/snowfall. Next time you are over there, take a look at the trees-lots more trees than in Utah. Another is the light fluffy snow we get in Utah has a low snow water equivalent-that is what makes it so great. Snow in Colorado tends to have a lower SWE-hence, more runoff. The east slope in Colorado is a great orographic feature to get huge storms going. These storms are loaded with moisture coming up from the Gulf of Mexico-this helps to replenish the groundwater in the Ogallalah aquifer and allows-somewhat-for agriculture to keep on in the plains of eastern CO/western KS.
Reservoirs are devils in disguise in Utah as the evaporation rates in southern Utah are huge.
All of this aside, water use in West is a huge issue. So many people are relocating on this side of the continental divide-and usually wanting to have a nice lawn, swimming pool etc, that the resources can not and will not be able to keep up. I doubt that much will change until the toilets in SLC, Vegas and LA stop flushing.
That being said, I hope that more people move to Colorado so that I can spend less time in the lift lines when I am on the mountain!

[jaceepc]

Check the snow depths at the ski resorts and you'll find that Utah ski resorts get quite a bit more snow than Colorado ski resorts. Having lived in Colorado Springs for 8 years, I can tell you they don't get near the amount of snow that we get here in SLC (overall). I know mostly because we ride motorcycles and we were able to ride longer in the fall and sometimes, even in Jan. or Feb. and earlier in the spring. They may get dumped on big time once or twice a winter but it's gone in a week or two. If you look up at Pikes Peak a few days after a "normal" snow storm, you will notice the snow is gone. How long does it take the snow to melt off of the Wasatch Range - all winter and sometimes into June. We just get more snow here in northern Utah than any city on the Front Range (east side of the Rockies). Colorado Springs does not even have enough snow plows to adequately handle a large snow storm, even though they have them sometimes. It is the most dangerous place I have ever driven in winter when it snows!

Southern Utah is a completely different story than northern Utah. I agree - evaporation is a big problem down south.