Preferable State: Washington or Colorado (live, best, cost, better)

[BlueRedTide]

Washington State seems pretty popular, Let's try it with Colorado, Share How you feel about these states And Give Your Opinion, Can't Wait to See the Results


Preferable State: Washington or Colorado

- Preferred Location
- Brighter Future
- Best Major Cities
- Best Secondary Cities
- Topography & Landscapes
- Economy
- Higher Education
- Weather
- The State I Prefer is?

[TheTimidBlueBars]

This is probably the toughest one so far. IMO the only clear category here is location, WA is pretty isolated but CO is way more so. I'll still go through the rest.

Brighter Future: Probably WA just because it's not as dry
Major Cities: Seattle slightly > Denver, but I do also like Denver. Bigger gap IMO is Spokane >>> COS, just a more interesting, urban, and textured city
Secondary Cities: Probably WA just because I think it has more secondary cities throughout all parts of the state, CO seems pretty empty outside the Front Range
Topography and Landscapes: CO, the mountainous parts of WA aren't actually that large, I assume CO has more epic peaks just through having more peaks. I'd love to drive that road with the super steep drop and no guardrail
Economy: I'll say WA but I don't know anything about Denver's economy
Weather: CO, I'd take cold winters and hot summers back in exchange for more sun
Preferred State: WA but I'd like to explore CO more

[annie_himself]

Preferred Location - both are pretty bad but Washington has Canada for cheap medicine.
Brighter Future - both seem really bright
Best Major Cities - tie
Best Secondary Cities - tie
Topography & Landscapes - tie with slight edge to Washington
Economy - tie
Higher Education - no idea
Weather - Colorado
The State I Prefer is the one I'm in now but could easily be happy in Seattle but probably not the smaller cities.

[Thealpinist]

Originally Posted by TheTimidBlueBars

This is probably the toughest one so far. IMO the only clear category here is location, WA is pretty isolated but CO is way more so. I'll still go through the rest.

Brighter Future: Probably WA just because it's not as dry
Major Cities: Seattle slightly > Denver, but I do also like Denver. Bigger gap IMO is Spokane >>> COS, just a more interesting, urban, and textured city
Secondary Cities: Probably WA just because I think it has more secondary cities throughout all parts of the state, CO seems pretty empty outside the Front Range
Topography and Landscapes: CO, the mountainous parts of WA aren't actually that large, I assume CO has more epic peaks just through having more peaks. I'd love to drive that road with the super steep drop and no guardrail
Economy: I'll say WA but I don't know anything about Denver's economy
Weather: CO, I'd take cold winters and hot summers back in exchange for more sun
Preferred State: WA but I'd like to explore CO more

Colorado is a great state, but I will tip my hat to Washington State in pretty much every category besides weather and affordability. Both states share quite a few similarities.

You are a bit off about the mountainous part. There is a reason why the mountaineering community trains in the Cascades of WA. They are the most similar to the greater ranges of the Andes, Alps, Alaska, and Himalaya. The North Cascades are the largest area of sustained high-quality glaciated alpine terrain in the contiguous 48 U.S. states. The peaks in WA state are much steeper with larger greater relief than Colorado. Specifically the North Cascades. I am not even including the Volcanoes to the south of interstate 90. Those are equally impressive in their own right.

Only one major road bisects that part of the Cascades so it is much less explored, and much of it is not visible from any major roads. Colorado has some gnarly roads, but it is very difficult to construct and maintain roads in the Cascades due to terrain/large snowfall and avalanche issues even above a mere 3,000-5,000 feet.

With that logic the Canadian Rockies which are shorter than the Colorado Rockies would be less impressive, but clearly they are not. Most of the 14ers in Colorado are walk up peaks, and some even have roads to the top.

With that being said I prefer the dry climate of Colorado in some ways. Colorado on average gets quite a few days of sunshine vs. most of WA.

The I-5 corridor in some was is similar to the front range in that the majority of people live on a narrow strip of land close to the mountains. The biggest difference though is that there is more land to build on in Colorado due to the proximity of the major populations to the eastern plains. The suburbs and exurbs of Denver will continue too expand eastward.

Land in the Puget Sound region is at a premium due to topography of the sound and two mountain ranges. The Puget Sound really has no space to build out much more but on a north-south axis. In terms of cost, this is really reducing affordability in a place like WA compared to Colorado.

WA state probably has a brighter future though in a warming world due to its close proximity to large water reserves and cooler climate. The year around snow pack & ice fields in British Columbia/North Cascades is actually one of the largest fresh water reserves in the world.

The SW United States including Colorado is more susceptible to severe droughts.

[FL_Expert]

Preferred Location: Washington
Brighter Future: Tie, both are good.
Best Major Cities: Washington. I’d take Seattle over Denver.
Best Secondary Cities: Tie.
Topography & Landscapes: Washington. Colorado is great too, but Washington is more diverse since in addition to mountains and desert it has the San Juan Islands, beaches, volcanos, and rainforest. I also prefer the WA mountains over CO. I know they’re much shorter, but I thought the Olympic Range were more impressive than the Rockies. Hurricane Ridge is really stunning.
Economy: Washington. The Seattle metro takes this one, mostly due to tech. But CO has no answer to Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, etc that are headquartered in WA.
Higher Education: Washington.
Weather: Colorado. Colorado is a beautiful state and has good weather to actually enjoy it. Washington isn’t great. I went to Mt. Rainier NP and never saw the mountain due to all the clouds. I had planned on North Cascades NP but canceled it due to the weather unfortunately. The WA landscape is great, provided you can see it. lol

The State I Prefer is? Washington

[Prickly Pear]

Originally Posted by BlueRedTide

Washington State seems pretty popular, Let's try it with Colorado, Share How you feel about these states And Give Your Opinion, Can't Wait to See the Results


Preferable State: Washington or Colorado

- Preferred Location
- Brighter Future
- Best Major Cities
- Best Secondary Cities
- Topography & Landscapes
- Economy
- Higher Education
- Weather
- The State I Prefer is?

Preferred Location: Debatable. Colorado is significantly closer to the rest of the country meaning it's easier to visit family and friends unless they all happen to live in the same state you do, but if you are more insular and prefer more geographic variety then Washington. For example most of my family lives in Florida so... Washington is one out of three worst states to be in terms of visiting them (Hawaii and Alaska are worse).

Brighter Future: Washington over Colorado probably.

Best Major Cities: Seattle over Denver.

Best Secondary Cities: Unsure.

Topography and Landscapes: Washington obviously, but Colorado isn't a horrible option. Colorado is basically the US Switzerland (as close as we can get to that) and that deserves some praise.

Economy: Unsure. Probably Washington though, Seattle is a larger city and as a result has a larger economy.

Higher Education: Washington. UW is one of the better public schools in the country particularly in my field. Colorado on the other hand I don't hear much about, except maybe the School of Mines.

Weather: Debatable. I'm more familiar with Colorado's general weather as that exists here in Arizona than Western Washington (Eastern Washington and Colorado are basically the same) and I don't hate it. I'd like to see a gloomy Washington to compare. I'm used to the polar opposite (see my location) and it annoys me often, so I do wonder how I'd do in a Seattle winter. I'd have an easier time adjusting to Colorado than western Washington but who knows, I might like western Washington more.

Preferred State: I like both really, both are high contenders on my list for places to relocate. But I always thought it would be nice to live near the coast so I might give Washington the edge. Seattle is also the same size as Phoenix which I would like too, while Denver is half the size.

[FL_Expert]

Originally Posted by Prickly Pear

Topography and Landscapes: Washington obviously, but Colorado isn't a horrible option. Colorado is basically the US Switzerland (as close as we can get to that) and that deserves some praise.

I have to disagree that Colorado is the US Switzerland. Sadly the Swiss alps are better than anything I’ve seen in the US by a pretty wide margin. The closest I’ve see here were Hurricane Ridge in WA and Glacier NP in Montana (Glacier is different than the Swiss alps, but it’s at least rugged enough.) The thing about Colorado is the mountains aren’t that rugged and they don’t have much prominence. The Lauterbrunnen Valley is something like 2,000ft above sea level then Jungfrau next to it is >13,000ft so you’re gaining 11,000ft in a short distance. It’s pretty amazing! The Colorado Rockies are technically taller but it sure doesn’t feel like it since the base of the mountain is something like 7,000ft to begin with.

[Phil P]

It's not surprising Washington is winning. Topography and terrain wise, it's the obvious winner cause basically the entire state is packed with good land that people headed west in wagons first for. There's more variety, bigger mountains, mega trees, much more temperate weather. CO weather is really darn cold if you're actually in the mountains, and it's a place hardly anything edible grows, vs where basically everything grows in WA.

WA is much more Switzerland like; when I visited the Alps it was blown away at how much they were NOT like the Rockies, totally different ranges in so many regards: spacing, shape, rocks, glaciers, money and development, steppe taiga vs temperate... In winter on the ski slope, you could maybe be fooled, in summer the differences are glaring.

That being said, CO has some advantages:

1. Tourism: being in the middle of the country with DIA means it's just the much more accessible option for the majority of Americans. Summer or winter, it's a reliable spot for easterners that want to play in snow or get high.

2. Access and crowds: if you slice off the eastern plains CO the two are similar sized, but CO has less people and WAY more roads and trails. It's a very explorable state because you can get to so much so easy. Most of citydata that's visited has been to the I 70 corridor or Pikes Peak and those areas could give you the impression CO is a crowded place, but there's range after range and millions of acres that hardly see any people are in. There's tons of backyard for the locals and much more effectively useable forest and wilderness land.

3. Recreation sports: it's more skiable due to dry snow, more trails to ride on, rafting...

Colorado has some postcard valleys & peaks, you've seen them. But honestly, the good majority of the mountains are not very jagged or towering. What the real treasure is is the number of acres above treeline and how quickly you can get there and enjoy the miles and miles of views. The pic below captures this, hundred mile views and we ATVed right to that spot...

What's the future? Washington is probably more of what it's doing. For Colorado, I think it's future with remote working now is the dozens of mountain towns to pick from where people can have the million acre playground in their back yards.

[ccm123]

Washington.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by Prickly Pear

Seattle is also the same size as Phoenix which I would like too, while Denver is half the size.

Where did you read that Denver is half the population of Seattle? They are almost identical in size.