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Since we are resurrecting old threads from the grave,
I still stand by what I say here. Tucson is a great little eclectic city, and is severely underrated.
For my experiences and opinions I see Tucson very different. When I think of great little eclectic cities I think of Sedona, or Santa Fe. Tucson is a huge city by comparison. It has always felt under it’s potential, disappointing, and lacking vibrancy in places away from the university. It’s downtown core is well behind it’s peer metro’s, and it’s resident base will fight all the way to the Supreme Court to stop new things from coming in.
That said I disagree with our new Co. Springs poster saying Co. Springs beats every city due to scenery. The difference between the two is negligible and I’d choose Tucson easily over Co. Springs. As someone who’s lived out west for a decade I find Mountain View’s, and dry air over-rated. Not saying that I’d never live in Colorado Springs but there are several less isolated cities that I find much more appealing for what I like. Give me the dense greenery and frequent good thunderstorms out east. If I can’t have that I’ll take Tucson over Colorado Springs for it’s many more offerings and access to other interesting places.
One thing I've learned on C-D...... is that when people spell it "Tuscon"........ generally what follows is a bunch of baloney.
Fact of the matter is that people look at the stats on Tucson and they look terrible. But that is because 90% of the wealth in Tucson is located in Pima county. This is essentially suburban Tucson, and is not included in the stats for the "city of Tucson" despite the fact that they are essentially one in the same.
I like Tucson, especially the northern part near the Catalina's. Very underrated part of the country. I live in the Denver area now, and used to live in Colorado Springs. The Springs has a beautiful backdrop (Pikes Peak) and is a great outdoors city. Other than that, I find it a very boring, soul-less place to live.
Wouldn't personally enjoy Colorado Springs' conservatism/religiosity or Tucson's heat and run-down-ness (and both are smaller cities than I like), but being a stone's throw from Denver would be cool so I'll pick CS.
Colo Spgs religiousness is exaggerated. It is virtually invisible during day to day living. You will see more overt religiousness in many other places of the US than you will see in Colo Spgs. Conservatism, or should I say tightwadedness, on the other hand, is quite obvious.
I am pretty biased here, but I love Tucson. I lived there 7 years, and graduated from the University of Arizona (U of A - Go Wildcats!).
However, Tucson has such an amazing amount of culture, and it is a cool city that has such a relaxed pace, with stunning mountain and desert surroundings, simply perfect winter weather, and a decent amount to do both outdoors/attraction wise.
I've only passed through Colorado Springs and loved the mountains near there too--but there is not a desert like Tucson is surrounded by.
Update 2021: Colorado Springs has a horrible economy with much higher unemployment rates than Tucson and the job situation has gone downhill very fast, while droves of people have move into the city.
In general, Colorado Springs is an exceptional city for retirees who want to sell a small house in NYC, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco and move into a mansion in the Southwest part of the city which is against the 14,000 foot mountains and which has some of the front ranges highest concentration of trees and many different types of them.
Colorado Springs though is not a place I would recommend for those moving without a job who aren't well established.
Colorado Springs Southeastern part is the city is just as rough as the roughest parts of Tucson also.
Average home price in Colorado Springs $437,000. Tucson is much less expensive and the economy is on par now with Colorado Springs, actually Tucson metro has far more job selection than Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs is a fantastic city for retirees who sold their homes in more expensive states who are introverted and don't mind the cold weather.
Tucson appeals to more. it's a a great city to be a college students, but many senior-citizens seem to love Tucson also especially it's Northeast suburbs.
lovecrowds, your anti Colo Spgs bias is showing again.
Looking at the charts you linked to your reply, Colo Spgs employment figures show significantly fewer negative growth categories than Tucson. Colo Spgs has 6 categories with negative growth compared to 9 for Tucson. The average drop in those categories also is greater in Tucson, 5.5, than it is in Colo Spgs 4.0.
Your unemployment claim also fails. Colo Spgs unemployment figures over the six months average 6.6, whereas Tucson average 7.6.
Based on just those figures you provided, I don't see where the Colo Spgs's economy is horrible with much higher unemployment that is heading downhill.
I will grant you that real estate in Colo Spgs is on a troubling trajectory for price increases and Tucson is probably a better value.
lovecrowds, your anti Colo Spgs bias is showing again.
Looking at the charts you linked to your reply, Colo Spgs employment figures show significantly fewer negative growth categories than Tucson. Colo Spgs has 6 categories with negative growth compared to 9 for Tucson. The average drop in those categories also is greater in Tucson, 5.5, than it is in Colo Spgs 4.0.
Your unemployment claim also fails. Colo Spgs unemployment figures over the six months average 6.6, whereas Tucson average 7.6.
Based on just those figures you provided, I don't see where the Colo Spgs's economy is horrible with much higher unemployment that is heading downhill.
I will grant you that real estate in Colo Spgs is on a troubling trajectory for price increases and Tucson is probably a better value.
Colorado Springs is a fantastic city for retirees who like the outdoors moving from a more expensive city who prefer chilly weather several months of the year.
I can't understand why family household of median income would move to Colorado Springs and then they end up on the Southeast side of the city.
Seems odd, Colorado Springs is a wonderful place for retired people with lots of equity to relocate but a terrible place for median income families.
Metro Tucson it doesn't take much income, if it's a two-earner household to rent a 3,000 square foot home in Marana, Vail or other excellent areas.
A family who brings the national median income would likely be able to rent a 3,000 square foot house in ultra-safe and clean Marana for the same price as 1,000 square foot townhouse in the roughest areas of Southeast Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs bad areas, which are fairly bad for a metro of it's size are double the rent of Tucson with high winter utiltiies, expensive water, high auto insurance rates.
Colorado Springs though is perfect for retirees from Denver, San Francisco, Seattle and other expensive cities who can buy mansions in the Western part of the city against the mountains with cash from their home sale in another city.
Colorado Springs though is very economically weak. The state public university is tiny compared to Tucson. I can't even think of a huge company based in Colorado Springs.
The mayor of Colorado Springs is making all sorts of appeals to the space command an doesn't seem to understand that Colorado Springs high cost of living and poor infrastructure are bad for a majority of businesses.
Tucson is in a much better position to recruit new business because of the massive university and a very low cost of living compared to Colorado Springs.
Colorado Springs metro has non-farm employment of 292,000 people with a population of 745,000 which is an employment to population ratio of only 39%
Tucson metro has non-farm employment of 385,000 people with a population of 1 million with 39% of the total population employed.
Unemployment Rate is Tucson: 7.4%
Colorado Springs unemployment rate: 8.6%
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