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Asheville, NC or Denver, CO? I am more familiar with Denver but I actually already reside in Asheville. I am seriously torn so I thought maybe others on here who are familiar with both areas could lend me their opinion. The schools are generally better in Asheville. The pay is a little higher in Denver. Cost of living is about the same. My wife would make a lot more in Denver. But my concern is Asheville has a lot around it. I could write pros and cons like this all day. Just wondering about others thoughts.
Thanks!
Asheville, NC or Denver, CO? I am more familiar with Denver but I actually already reside in Asheville. I am seriously torn so I thought maybe others on here who are familiar with both areas could lend me their opinion. The schools are generally better in Asheville. The pay is a little higher in Denver. Cost of living is about the same. My wife would make a lot more in Denver. But my concern is Asheville has a lot around it. I could write pros and cons like this all day. Just wondering about others thoughts.
Thanks!
We spent time looking and if you have a choice and you're young enough, I'd choose Denver. The city is bigger. It's not just a seasonal tourist town, for retirees, and they have more than one hospital. They have a football team (and it's not an embarrassing one). We considered Denver but opted for Ashe. but we're in our mid to late 50s. We looked at other places with a lower cost of living in CO, NM (no way), Bristol VA/TN (too dirty), and even considered PA. We're here in Ashe.
Have fun and best of luck. If we had more money, we would've gone to Denver or Boulder.
Denver isn't a bad place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there--almost moved to Ft Collins in the mid 1980s. The worst problem is the air pollution. They call it their "Brown Cloud" and it hangs over the city most of the time. Another thing that always gets to me about southwestern towns is they look and feel dirty--maybe its the lack of grass and trees. It is a large city that sprawls out everywhere with the usual problems that come with sprawl. I've always felt it to be a pretty impersonal place. Best thing going for it is you can be up in the mountains in an hour or so and the RMNP is just a couple hours away.
Asheville on the other hand is a small city with improving air quality that is pretty good by itself already and not much sprawl. It is a friendly place with lots of trees and grass, and mountains you can almost reach out and touch. We have GSMNP less than an hour away and the BRP runs right through town.
That said, if you have decent jobs here that's one thing but if a career is beckoning in Denver you may want to bite the bullet and head west young man. You can always retire to Asheville in 30 years--it'll still be here.
^ Well, I can't rep you, but you're on the money as always. Especially that first paragraph. Denver is a city that is culturally ambiguous; there is no real "Denver culture". It's just a metroplex that started when a land speculator from Kansas moved there to stake a claim near some defunct mining town. It's not really in the West, not really in the Midwest, not really in the East, I mean, what is it really? I dunno, to me, that perpetually brown landscape and hideous sprawl would be horribly bothersome. Also, western North Carolina has so much history it's unbelievable. Way more interesting than anywhere on the Front Range, IMHO. I dunno though, to each his own, if you like Denver then go for it. It's just not somewhere I would want to live. If I moved to Colorado I would need to be way west of the Front Range. The Front Range is actually designated as an "urban corridor", meaning (from what I understand) it's urbanized all the way from CO Springs on up to Fort Collins. If it were me, Asheville would be a no-brainer, unless you're willing to live in one of the outlying mountain towns about an hour from Denver and commute. That would make it much more tolerable, but then again, that's a longer commute than you would ever have to do here.
I currently live in Breckenridge Co, but spent 6 months in Boulder/Denver and didn't like it very much. Its too many people/pollution/traffic for me. I am planning on moving to Asheville in the fall. Some people like Colorado and others( like me) don't. I am originally from Georgia and I miss the charm of the south. The only two positive's in Colorado are the Skiing and legal weed.
Both Denver and Asheville are great towns. Both share the environmental, sustainable, organic, close to nature lifestyle. But the cities are very different. Even the air is different. Asheville has a more humid type air and Denver is more arid or dry air. The colder times of the year are longer in Denver. But it's one of the sunniest cities to live in -- even more sun than cities in Florida. It is a big sprawling city but it also have great neighborhoods and good roads. The city has everything. And it is a great sports town and is a cultural town too. But it does have a western flair due to its history and geographical location. The tax situation seems better in Colorado than in NC. Both Denver and Asheville are wonderful places to live. It just a matter of what you want at this time in your life.
I think there is a "City to City" forum to compare cities in two different states, since posting in only one of the two will likely get you skewed responses.
If you can get work in Fort Collins you'll find a lower cost of living and much better schools than in Denver. You'll also be north of most of the congestion and traffic problems which Denver sometimes deals with and the aforementioned brown cloud is not as bad. Living on the south side of the Fort puts you only about 45 minutes to big city amenities in LoDo or shopping at the Flatiron Mall.
Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love Asheville, but there is not a strong job market there at all. While Fort Collins is not a super strong market, it is better than Asheville and you also have access to Greeley, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder and northern metro Denver within a 1-hour commute. I also think Fort Collins is a top notch spot for low COL, scenery, outdoors, safety, beer!, schools and an overall family-friendly environment.
Denver, Lincoln County? If so, we rent a condo on the opposite side of Lake Norman in Cornelius. We too are looking for a 3 bed/2 bath house to rent. I have looked at alot of properties an believe me you get what you pay for! Our budget was $1500 pm, but we have had to up it to $2000 as we want to be near the lake. We looked at a property in Denver yesterday (4 bed, waterfront with floating dock) at $1400. It was ok, but depends how high your standard are. The area in which it was situated wasn't that good. We are looking higher up the scale as alot of these will negotiate on rental price. If you register with one of the Real Estate companies on line they will send you lists in your price range on a daily basis.
Last edited by Green Irish Eyes; 12-22-2010 at 08:00 AM..
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I think it comes down to whether you are an east coast vs. west coast/mountain type of person.
I like Denver a lot and even considered living there for a time. I ended up living in Santa Fe and can't wait to leave to get back to the east coast.
I think it basically comes down to 2 issues:
1. where can you get the best jobs -- with excellent potential into the future
2. what's your background? are you an east coast person who is used to dense population and a green environment? It turns out I am an east coaster at heart and even though Denver is beautiful -- the mountains are gorgeous -- I miss the charm, the dense population and the green of the east coast. You'll find your background matters -- what you are used to. I imagine I would tire of Denver after about 2-3 years.
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