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I wasn't necessarily speaking about recreation. Although I generally agree. But when it comes to immediate scenery (Specifically mountain scenery), I don't see how The Springs doesn't take it. Google Maps isn't the most accurate depiction of a place, as both of these look more impressive in person, but this is just to give a general idea of how close Mt. Rainier and Pikes Peak are to each city core.
I definitely agree that you can get to a lot of cool places from Tacoma and the region is beautiful. Areas like Point Defiance Park are pretty amazing. I guess it's not so much that COS easily takes it in the scenery department, but it's more immediate and dramatic imo
From a views perspective, you are right. Colorado Springs is about as good as you can get for an actual city for views because it's close enough to have the mountain look huge (compared to Denver where Evans and Longs peak are more distant points) but it's not so close so that the foothills block the peak, which happens if you get into the western burbs that are next to the foot'hills'. There's better views at somewhere like Copper Mountain, but you can't actually fit a city in somewhere that doesn't have a decent chunk of flat land; hence why people live on the front range, along with it not being so darn cold.
Both cities are similar as well for military presence. It's a large boost to the economy, but it's a double edge sword in that all the tech or higher paying jobs of such areas always require security clearance, which means if your not a vet, forget even applying. But you have to deal with the COL effect of other peoples well paid jobs.
Yes this is interesting and important. Tacoma became a substantial city way before Colorado Springs. Tacoma’s growth was earlier and related to industrial workers, while CS grew with tech in later years.
Kinda surprised Tacoma has never lost population in a census --- even Seattle did a couple times. I guess Tacoma has a bit of the Sunbelt effect where there are some more suburban neighborhoods in the city limits (up by Ruston, down by University Park) that have filled in more over the years to offset the losses in the core, or were originally separate towns or unincorporated land that got annexed by the city.
Last edited by TheTimidBlueBars; 12-13-2020 at 03:54 AM..
Half of Pierce County are actually suburbs of Seattle with people who commute to Seattle, not greater Tacoma.
Well even when adding the neighboring suburbs west of commencement bay (Ruston, Lakewood, University Place, Fircrest, Parkland and Midland) there are 363,762 people in an area of 87.35 sq mi with a density of 4,164/ sq mi
Also Tacoma has taller and more skyscrapers/high rises than COS
- Crime/safety - Colorado Springs
- Schools - don't know
- Housing affordability - Colorado Springs no contest
- Downtown - Tacoma
- Restaurants/Nightlife - Restaurants Colorado Springs/Nightlife Tacoma
- Shopping - Wash, specialty stores in Denver/Seattle, basics in both, Amazon delivers to both
- Weather - Depends. Both places generally have fantastic summer & fall. Do you prefer your winters & spring to be cold/snow or cold/rainy? No it doesn't snow every day in Colo Spgs and it doesn't rain every day in Tacoma
Colo Spgs is twice as big as Tacoma so not sure its really a good comparison. Scenery is pretty in both places. Tacoma is much closer to an international airport. Traffic is worse in Tacoma. There is the Tacoma aroma sometimes.
The Tacoma aroma has been decreased over the years and is hardly noticeable due to better technology from the pulp centers.
As grega94 mentioned above, Pierce County (Tacoma) is significantly larger than El Paso County (Colorado Springs) in population. The city limits are not important compared to the city + suburbs. Tacoma wins the population battle overwhelmingly.
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