Most expensive states to live in? Colorado is not even in the top 10. (Denver: middle-class, apartment)

[Bob from down south]

Originally Posted by Bideshi

I'm afraid many people in America today have very limited attention spans. If the idea can't be communicated in brief, concise "soundbites" they glaze over. That's one of the reasons we have become rather stupid as a nation. Many have become resentful of those with real knowledge and belittle what they don't understand or that they disagree with.

Well said.

That sort of process is also evident in government (i.e. Congress voting on a 1,000 page bill written by lobbyists that nearly none of those voting had read, let alone tried to understand), and at the heart of the financial collapse, where many of the exploding mortgage backed securities had thousands of pages of documents that went unread by those claiming to have done due diligence in their rating/decision processes. And we know how that turned out...

Personally, I haven't found much lacking in Jazz' facts or analysis in the three years we've been swapping electrons in these forums. He usually doesn't just give an opinion, he backs it up with reasoning. In some cases, his going to the trouble is like casting pearls before swine.

[wanneroo]

I think that stats are just that, and not always the whole picture.

When it comes down to it, much of Colorado's terrain is either not realistically inhabitable by large numbers of people or just plain undesirable.

Of the most desirable places, they are also the most expensive and have the most competition for good jobs.

Mostly the Front Range Population Blob/I-25 corridor is about the only place in Colorado where you can have a regular middle class lifestyle with plenty of choice of goods and services and decent jobs. I don't feel though it is the bargain it was in the 1990's.

[yveaux]

It just depends upon what your standards are. Mine are higher. You can find property for dirt cheap prices, but then you have to consider the type of people who will be your neighbors. The nice neighborhoods with good schools will cost.

[brent516]

Originally Posted by jazzlover View Post
What none mention is the cost of living vs. what local incomes are. In that realm, Colorado does not fare so well--not the worst, but far from the best.

Jazzlover you are 100% correct. The other idiots on this blog, like most blogs, take a ten second factoid that they see in the media as gospel truth...and then they make incorrect inferences without doing even the slightest bit of research themselves.

Colorado does not have the industry that many other states do, the jobs are largely the $10 an hour variety in the service sector, and with the post-2008 increases in major taxes like auto registration, etc., many of the residents here fare poorly.

Just look on the web or at the paper for jobs....you see all kinds of ski resort jobs for $11 an hour [plus you have to live in Vail or Aspen or Brek...hahahaha] and lots of call center, driver, fast food jobs but that's about it.

With the current "leadership" in CO who hates oil and gas exploration--one of the most abundant resources in Colorado--and who wants to raise income and other taxes even more the industrial picture is unlikely to change anytime soon.

So, for all the people whose pride has been injured by your well-researched, factual post I guess they can feel better by attacking you as they go to bed without any real money in their pockets. The joke, my friend, is on them.

[brent516]

...or just thousands of low paying jobs...no thanks.

[Prodigal Native]

Originally Posted by brent516

Jazzlover you are 100% correct. The other idiots on this blog...

This isn't a blog.

Thanks for playing.

[proveick]

Nation of burger flippers.

[Josseppie]

Originally Posted by mquest123

Some people even in Pueblo make good money.

This is so true. Honestly I consider myself in that category and what I can do in Pueblo is a lot more then what I could do if I lived in the Springs or Denver. However when I feel like I can visit the towns and do so, especially Denver as I have friends and family and season tickets to the Broadway shows at the Buell and the Broncos. That is on top of the season tickets I have in Pueblo for the arts and CSU P. Plus I attend other events like concerts and go out to eat in some of the nicest restaurants in the state and love to ski at Aspen and Keystone. All in all I have a great life in Colorado and can't complain.

[motoracer51]

As of 2010, Colorado has the 32 lowest overall tax burden.

Annual State-Local Tax Burden Ranking (2010) - New York Citizens Pay the Most, Alaska the Least | Tax Foundation

[downtownnola]

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.