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Old 08-14-2013, 01:25 PM
 
83 posts, read 149,327 times
Reputation: 129

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Jazz is often repetitive and self-righteous, but he is often right about a lot of things. Many things he points out are not unqiue to Colorado alone.

The problem I have with Colorado is the typically poster on this forum: I want to move to Colorado for a change, I love the outdoors, I want to commune with nature, and ski 60 days a year, etc. etc. A few say I am moving to Denver for their career or some other reason.

There are choices to be made. You can live in Denver and have a more traditional career, but I think you will find it is hardly an outdoorsy utopia. You will drive to find those postcard spots and find many others there to share utopia with. Or you can work in a low-paying service industry job in a mountain town.
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Old 08-14-2013, 06:55 PM
 
Location: Eastern Colorado
3,887 posts, read 5,719,070 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by downtownnola View Post
I've said this many times, but my largest frustration with Colorado from a cost of living standpoint is the low wages compared to cost of living. This has been a problem since I arrived here in 2004, but has progressively gotten worse. Wages in Colorado haven't kept up with the cost of living increases over the past couple decades. Sure, some of the coastal cities can be more expensive, but the cost of living to wage ratio is more in balance, which makes a huge difference.

That is the part that so many do not seem to understand. The average price of a 2 bedroom rental is now $1072 a month in Fort Collins and the Denver metro area is $1,110, the median household income is less then $60,000 in both areas. Meaning you need to be almost at the median household income to truly be able to afford to even rent a 2 bedroom apartment. have a family and need a 3 bedroom or 4 bedroom, you have to make over the median household income to comfortably afford an average rental.

To me that is ridiculous, add in the higher costs and fees, the higher grocery costs, and it does not take long to make it damn near impossible for the average young family to live along the Northern half of the front range.
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Old 08-14-2013, 10:22 PM
 
812 posts, read 1,463,384 times
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Originally Posted by jwiley View Post
That is the part that so many do not seem to understand. The average price of a 2 bedroom rental is now $1072 a month in Fort Collins and the Denver metro area is $1,110, the median household income is less then $60,000 in both areas. Meaning you need to be almost at the median household income to truly be able to afford to even rent a 2 bedroom apartment. have a family and need a 3 bedroom or 4 bedroom, you have to make over the median household income to comfortably afford an average rental.

To me that is ridiculous, add in the higher costs and fees, the higher grocery costs, and it does not take long to make it damn near impossible for the average young family to live along the Northern half of the front range.
Nowhere attractive and desirable is "easy." Its always a challenge. That being said, after ten years of struggle to get established, I can make 100K+ in Colorado and be comfortably upper middle-class. I could simply never EVER do that at this point in the coastal West Coast city into which I was born (despite my 4 generations of Colorado ancestors). I paid roughly $75/sq/ft for a home (it needed work) in a gorgeous safe neighborhood in a top ranked school district in Colorado back in 2008. The same home in an equivalent neighborhood in the West Coastal city (the one I try not to think about or discuss) go for between $800 and $1200 a square foot. Colorado is not expensive. It is not even slightly expensive. Life is very very doable here for those who work and save. Many other places are so exorbitant that no amount of work or frugality will realistically allow the "American Dream" to happen without extreme financial risk/insecurity. Sorry to be so positive, but Colorado is still a place where vision/dreams can be achieved. I know dozens of folks who are doing it. I'm so grateful to be one of them.
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Old 08-15-2013, 01:21 PM
 
45 posts, read 154,256 times
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I don't see why Colorado overall would be in the top 10 states on cost of living.

The reason why Colorado is considered expensive is when many people think of Colorado or move to Colorado they many times move to Washington Park, Highlands Ranch, Boulder and the ritzy resort towns. I see relatively inquiries for Greeley, Grand Junction or Pueblo which have some of the lowest housing costs and costs of living in the US.

The mountain resort towns and Boulder proper are amongst the most expensive areas in America. The Denver area is only slightly more then a typical city. Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Greeley and Grand Junction have always had a low cost of living.

The Denver metro area is a more expensive metro area then most but only slightly more so. Housing which usually accounts for 30% of income is a lot more expensive in the Denver area but the costs on everything else tends to be more in line with most other places. I would say health insurance premiums are probably higher also because of the relatively high amount of uninsured and the abundance of hospitals that have been totally renovated for hundreds of millions of dollars each. Gasoline prices and electricity prices are relatively low in the Denver area also.

Colorado Springs has housing prices in-line with the national average, very low taxes, usually some of the lowest gas prices in the US and low utility rates except water. Colorado Springs once it's low property taxes and utility rates (excl. water) are into consideration is very much similar with a typical Midwestern city on costs overall.

Greeley, Pueblo and Grand Junction are some of the most affordable cities in America albeit small ones.
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