Is CO right for us? (Denver, Colorado Springs: crime, new home, university)

[norm]

I am retired and my wife will be retiring in the next few years at which time we plan on moving away from the NYC area. I would like to know if there is an area in CO that meets our requirement or at least most of them.

Lower humidity level (very important for health reasons).
Mild winters without a lot of snow.
Near a city with a college (for cultural events).
Good medical facilities nearby.
Not too conservative.
Good shopping i.e. Lowes or Home Depot, Dept. Stores, Target, etc.
Decent restaurants.
Houses below $250,000.
Reasonable taxes.

Any recommendations would be appreciated.

[McGowdog]

Now, how important would the last three entries be?

[Charles]

Lower humidity level (very important for health reasons)
Almost everywhere in Colorado has lower humidity than NYC

Mild winters without a lot of snow.
Vague requirement. However, since it is sunnier and less humid in Colorado then it probably feels milder for a given temperature.

Near a city with a college (for cultural events).
Colorado College and University of Colorado Colorado Springs are in COS. Colorado State is in Fort Collins and University of Colorado is in Boulder. All of these towns are generally described as nice places to live by the majority of participants on these forums. Each town has its cultural and affordability differences too but if you're coming from NYC than the differences are in the noise. Obviously Denver has higher ed too.

Good medical facilities nearby.
Any city with more than 100K people will have sufficient medical facilities for all but the rarest needs.

Not too conservative.
Vague requirement. Some people say Colorado Springs is relatively "conservative" (whatever that really means) and also some people say Boulder is relatively non-conservative. I can't tell the differences.

Good shopping i.e. Lowes or Home Depot, Dept. Stores, Target, etc.
Vague Requirement. Any city with more than 50K people will have sufficient medical facilities for all but the rarest needs. They even have a Wal-mart in Falcon.

Decent restaurants.
Vague Requirement. If decent = generic then yes but not compared to NYC or LA. You can still find most types of ethnic food (my definition of decent) in downtown COS, many places in Denver and I would imagine in towns greater than 100K.

Houses below $250,000.
Yes, Check out realtor.com and for COS check out 80920. Probably many others in COS but I know that area has homes in that price range and higher. Also try 80132. Both of these areas are nice places to live, little or no crime and since they are on the north side of COS they are about an 45-60 minutes from Denver.

Reasonable taxes.
Vague Requirement. Probably lower than NY but I don't know.

You can get a lot of this info quite quickly with google maps.

Say Norm, I see you are from Long Island. Any chance you worked at da Grum in Bethpage or Calverton?

[cbobfran]

Hi there, My husband and I lived in the Denver area for 8 years and loved the experience. There are a lot of people there, but if you can deal with that..it's truly awesome; with culture, sports, restaurants, stores, Western politeness and history still, the humidity is not there (I saw fog 1 time) you can go into the shade and feel 20* lower temp. The winters can be tolerated; last year was a fluke for Denver. The sun shines 300 days a year, it hardly rains if it snows usually it's gone in a few days. I always said the city was like a huge menu so much to choose from I'd get confused. I was back out there in January and it's still growing in a beautiful way and it is very family and sports oriented and can be a lot of fun that way. The stadiums are cool just to experience, the museums awesome, and the medical...the best, the senior services are quite ice for everyone; I could go on for ever. We moved to be back on the coast and I still visit because part of my family is still there as well as CT. We loved going to the rockies mountains...there's another whole world out there. Go for a visit before you move. We do have a great country to see. P.S. Wilmington NC is quite nice, it's our new home...6 miles from the ocean, my cup of tea.

[norm]

McGowdog,

The house price has very little wiggle room. Decent restaurants are a must. I have had it with high taxes, $5000 a year is low in our town.

Charles,

I worked off of Broadway in Hicksville right across from where Grumman was.

Both Denver & Colorado Springs get too much snow for my liking.

Are there any places in southern CO that would fit my needs?

Cbobfran,

Wilmington is a great town. I used to work for a company that had it's headquarters there. If not for the hurricanes it would be at the top of my list.

[MattDen]

Property taxes in Colorado:
400-600 dollars per 100,000 home value for most cities.
So on a 200,000 home you would be looking at 800-1000 per year property tax rates depending on the city more then likely might be slightly higher in counties like Weld and Adams where home values are slightly lower then alot of metro Denver.

I would recommend Thornton. Great interstate access to every where in metro Denver.

Also, they are building a massive new hospital right of Peoria and Colfax. From Thornton for example it would be just down Interstate 25 to 70 down to Peoria which around 46th I think and about 3 miles south of there is the massive new medical complex, they also have many other hospitals in metro Denver.

As far as arts goes. Downtown Denver has all the arts related activities one could possibly want.

Overall, North Metro areas such as Thornton/Northglenn that area along I-25 up towards 88th/104th are quaint, quiet and Adams county is one of the most affordable counties in metro Denver and its got great proximity to everything medical/arts/entertainment/retail/restaurants.

Humidity is very, very low in metro Denver. Especially in the winter. Relative humidity can be lower then 10% at times. Daytime highs in the summer are usually in the 80s, occasionally 90s though but because its such a dry heat it cools into the 50s usually at night.

Winters are sunny usually dry and mild with highs in the 40s and lows in the 10s usually. Although usually a couple of times every winter Metro Denver gets a big blizzard.

Anyway, enjoy the very, very low property tax rates in Colorado.

[McGowdog]

Sorry for my brievety, but I'd just envisioned that your list was a fantasy.

I figured that Denver would be the place for you culturally and politically, but not financially. Denver priced me out about 7 years ago.

Colorado Springs would be the next best thing for you, but still not politically or financially.

I'm biased about the Pueblo area (Southern Colorado), especially for retired people, but not people who want to be near good medical care. I also don't think that Pueblo is going to be the cultural mecca you might be accustomed to. You'll have to trade green chili and Carnitas for Pizza and a good bagel.

Good luck. I see a compromise in your future.

[CosmicWizard]

Norm

Take a look at Grand Junction. I think it would meet most of your requirements.


Grand Junction websites:

Life in Grand Junction

Welcome to GJSentinel.com!

City of Grand Junction, Colorado

Grand Junction, Colorado - Travel Planning, Hiking, Camping ...

The most helpful thing you could do is come to Colorado and visit the places you are interested in. You gotta spend some time in each place to get a feel as to wether or not it's right for you. All we can do on this forum is to express our personal opinions and maybe point you in a certain direction.

best wishes with your search...Franco

[Nadine]

Originally Posted by McGowdog

Sorry for my brievety, but I'd just envisioned that your list was a fantasy.

I figured that Denver would be the place for you culturally and politically, but not financially. Denver priced me out about 7 years ago.

Colorado Springs would be the next best thing for you, but still not politically or financially.

I'm biased about the Pueblo area (Southern Colorado), especially for retired people, but not people who want to be near good medical care. I also don't think that Pueblo is going to be the cultural mecca you might be accustomed to. You'll have to trade green chili and Carnitas for Pizza and a good bagel.

Good luck. I see a compromise in your future.

Why people here like to run Pueblo down, I really do not know. But check it out anyway. Only about 30 mins from CC No matter. It may be a fit. Or you might check out some other small towns close around closer into the mts. but within 40 to 45 miles to either Pueblo or Colorado Spings. Usual time time travel around 30 mins. Pueblo is probably the less expensive. On the plains and is hotter and cooler than farther west in the summer. But warmer in winter than the Springs and less snow on the norm. Low humidity. In this area.

[norm]

Thanks again for all of the replies. I will look into these places.