where to move to in Colorado? (Denver, Colorado Springs: middle-class, real estate, rentals)
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With that being said we are just looking to live within our meansas simply as possible. We are not running away but looking for an adventure. Wecannot have children so that is not a factor here.
If anyone has any positive feedback and suggestions Iwould gladly appreciate it.
Check out the "stickies" at the top of the current thread page(s) on all sub forums as well as Colorado. The Colorado moderator has set up a lot of good information on the front range cities as well as the state in general. Use the search box (search forums) and type in the city you're looking for info on.
With that being said we are just looking to live within our meansas simply as possible. We are not running away but looking for an adventure. Wecannot have children so that is not a factor here.
If anyone has any positive feedback and suggestions Iwould gladly appreciate it.
Well, here is the REALISTIC answer: Most places in Colorado that have a low cost of living also have poor paying jobs and poor job prospects. Some places in Colorado that are very high cost places to live (the resort towns, in particular) also manage to have low wages and poor job prospects. The Front Range cities have decent job opportunities, but living costs can be high if you actually expect to live in a decent middle-class neighborhood.
If you want to live someplace with reasonable living costs and decent wages, Colorado, for the most part, ain't it. I would suggest looking the medium size towns and cities in the eastern parts of the Plains states--Kansas, Nebraska, South or North Dakota. All have low unemployment, favorable living costs, and some industry that provides some decent paying jobs. If you work in the insurance industry, Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska have some of the highest concentrations of insurance headquarter operations in the U.S.
The oil and gas fields in Wyoming, North Dakota, and the San Juan Basin in New Mexico also have job opportunities, especially for decent mechanics, that pay well, but they can also be high cost places to live and often aren't the most savory places in the world--socially or otherwise.
As always easier to suggest if you have a target city size (and house price if you're buying). But I'll throw out Greeley, Colorado Springs and Castle Rock.Took a look. What do you like / not like about them? All high growth areas, for good and bad effects.
I left Colorado in part because of the cost of living and here in Pennsylvania it's about as good as it gets. Real estate is cheap for what you can get, taxes are lower than Colorado and most expenses are lower. Just as an example, car registration in Colorado is a couple hundred bucks a year and in PA it's $36.
I think back in the 1990's into the next decade, Denver Metro and Co Springs, which is where most of the population and jobs are in Colorado, back then I think there was a good mix in terms of real estate prices and living costs compared to the wages or income you could earn. Now I think living costs, taxes and real estate is far too high for the opportunities to earn income in that state are. Colorado has also been turned into the new California by all the bums moving into the state. Driving through Denver now I can see the decline with homeless bums, welfare layabouts and potheads everywhere. It's attracting the worst of the worst now rather than the best of the best like it used to. I remember back in the 1980's-2000's businesses were always very keen to relocate to Colorado and I just don't see or hear that anymore.
It's all an individual thing though, so if you can find a great job and a place to live that you like and can afford then go for it. I would certainly visit first.
I left Colorado in part because of the cost of living and here in Pennsylvania it's about as good as it gets. Real estate is cheap for what you can get, taxes are lower than Colorado and most expenses are lower. Just as an example, car registration in Colorado is a couple hundred bucks a year and in PA it's $36.
I think back in the 1990's into the next decade, Denver Metro and Co Springs, which is where most of the population and jobs are in Colorado, back then I think there was a good mix in terms of real estate prices and living costs compared to the wages or income you could earn. Now I think living costs, taxes and real estate is far too high for the opportunities to earn income in that state are. Colorado has also been turned into the new California by all the bums moving into the state. Driving through Denver now I can see the decline with homeless bums, welfare layabouts and potheads everywhere. It's attracting the worst of the worst now rather than the best of the best like it used to. I remember back in the 1980's-2000's businesses were always very keen to relocate to Colorado and I just don't see or hear that anymore.
It's all an individual thing though, so if you can find a great job and a place to live that you like and can afford then go for it. I would certainly visit first.
Your statements are nonsense and a ridiculous assessment of reality. To say there are bums everywhere is absolutely not correct. To further say that businesses are not relocating to Colorado is BS. You do not see it or hear it because you are not at here and you have a myopic narrow vision of reality.
Of course, the best and brightest are moving here. That is why prices are rising because those who are the best and the brightest make large salaries to drive up the prices and they make large salaries because businesses that pay well are relocating here.
Bums do not drive up real estate prices because they have little or no income and jobs that do not pay well.
Areas that have very low real estate prices do not have the competition from the best and the brightest and they are are not so desirous as places to live, so prices drop. San Francisco has high real estate because people want to live there; Detroit has depressed real estate price because it is not a desirable place to live by many.
I am not saying that places that have lower real estate prices are bad places. I think there are other cities, in Nebraska, Kansas and Iowa that are great places to live and can give a good quality of life. Denver is now moving to a very high desired place to live and that may not be the best place to move for many of limited skills and means.
I also think that some people who contemplate moving here are best to look closer to were they are in the eastern cities and as you have found, Pennsylvania, does offer a good place to live.
I am ex New Yorker and have been here for 36 years and I am very happy here but I think that there are many places in New York State that offer good amenities for living. Colorado is not the ONLY best place to live.
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 12-05-2014 at 10:17 PM..
I have to say that I feel Colorado has gone downhill. It has become very expensive to live almost everywhere in the state. Car license fees have gone so high it's ridiculous. I have to pay over $100.00 to put plates on my 1995 truck. That thing is twenty years old. The cost for a newer vehicle must be even worse, and that's only one example. The cost of housing continues to climb everywhere except for Colorado Springs and Pueblo, and both those towns have high unemployment - Colorado Springs has been hit hard by cuts in defense spending and Pueblo is an old steel manufacturing town which has yet to recover from the loss of a once major industry. If Colorado is so desirable for businesses to relocate to, why haven't they relocated to either of those towns and perked up their local economies? The price is right and both have good centers of higher education and a skilled workforce.
Denver is certainly expanding and the cost of housing goes up higher with each new arrival. It's called the law of supply and demand. I don't know why anyone would say the wages are high here. They're low by comparison to the pay for the same jobs elsewhere. People either come to Colorado with an income already in hand such as retirement pay from military and other government jobs or else they cut back one way or another. It's a sacrifice to move here if you can't bring along money you've earned elsewhere.
Yes, I know that jazzlover has said it all before, but I'm beginning to say it too. I've lived here all my life, and I see it all around me - especially because I've been checking out different places in Colorado to live, and towns which were once affordable are not anymore, and they've had no real influx of good jobs or higher wages to make up for it.
At this point I'd advise against moving here unless you already have a good job offer clutched in your hot little hand. If you want mountains, there's always the Appalachians which are very beautiful and have towns with a more reasonable cost of living. If you don't like the Appalachians, then move to New Hampshire.
Just because it's become fashionable to live in Colorado doesn't make it a great place to live. California is or was fashionable, too, but all I hear out of it these days is complaints from folks who want to leave. Find a place that's right for you in the real world. All this stuff people hear about Colorado is mostly a fairy tale. The Colorado forum gets more inquiries from people who want to move here than just about any other state forum on CD. You can come out here and live somewhere in Denver's ever growing suburbs, and it will be no different than living in a city of the same size anywhere else except that you'll pay more for your rent and get less pay from your job.
Just for kicks I googled "cost of living" and compared Lexington, Kentucky to Denver, Colorado. If you had a job that pays you $100,000/yr in Lexington you'll take a hit for a loss of $15,722 net change in disposable income by moving to Denver. Move to Lexington if you're yearning for a change of scenary. It's a very nice city and home to the University of Kentucky. You'll be happier in Lexington, trust me.
Last edited by Colorado Rambler; 12-06-2014 at 01:39 AM..
^very good post which made me think and ponder--I cannot give more reps!
I think it says something that goes to the point of what many people do and purchase:
They purchase what other people purchase to be part of the crowd.
The watch the movies what other people watch; buy music and books what is popular in the group.
The eat in the restaurants that are the most fashionable and to be seen that they themselves are in fashion.
They eat and drink what is considered the best by the group, so they can belong.
They wear the same clothes other wear so they can impress with the current style.
...and so the same applies as they follow the crowd to what is perceive as the top of the list place to live. Colorado is on that list and they stream in and love to say look at me and where I live. Of course they will seek the most trendy neighborhoods!
As the previous poster said "Just because it's become fashionable to live in Colorado doesn't make it a great place to live...". So, they pay more for what can also be found other cities and places. Yet, there is so many other places that can give good quality of life. However, many of those places do not necessarily come with the bragging rights and where one can make a fashionable statement.
Moving to a place is the same as the attitude and the reasons and the incentive of consuming any and all things. Many live their life for conspicuous consumptions and where you choice to live is also consumption--it is consumption of place. Many are not satisfied with themselves and need the constant praise and approval of the group and cannot take the path less trodden because they need to be noticed.
So, you do not think I am not considering myself. I have been here 36 yrs., originally from New York by way of Texas. I moved here because of the wanderlust of youth which impels one to go somewhere off the horizon. Colorado was somewhat off the beaten track at that time. I just happened to take root and stay with Colorado now being my home in a not so trendy part of town.
Livecontent
Last edited by livecontent; 12-06-2014 at 10:41 AM..
^very good post which made me think and ponder--I cannot give more reps!
I think it says something that goes to the point of what many people do and purchase:
They purchase what other people purchase to be part of the crowd.
The watch the movies what other people watch; buy music and books what is popular in the group.
The eat in the restaurants that are the most fashionable and to be seen that they themselves are in fashion.
They eat and drink what is considered the best by the group, so they can belong.
They wear the same clothes other wear so they can impress with the current style.
...and so the same applies as they follow the crowd to what is perceive as the top of the list place to live. Colorado is on that list and they stream in and love to say look at me and where I live. Of course they will seek the most trendy neighborhoods!
As the previous poster said "Just because it's become fashionable to live in Colorado doesn't make it a great place to live...". So, they pay more for what can also be found other cities and places. Yet, there is so many other places that can give good quality of life. However, many of those places do not necessarily come with the bragging rights and where one can make a fashionable statement.
Moving to a place is the same as the attitude and the reasons and the incentive of consuming any and all things. Many live their life for conspicuous consumptions and where you choice to live is also consumption--it is consumption of place. Many are not satisfied with themselves and need the constant praise and approval of the group and cannot take the path less trodden because they need to be noticed.
So, you do not think I am not considering myself. I have been here 36 yrs., originally from New York by way of Texas. I moved here because of the wanderlust of youth which impels one to go somewhere off the horizon. Colorado was somewhat off the beaten track at that time. I just happened to take root and stay with Colorado now being my home in a not so trendy part of town.
Livecontent
Yes, you made some very good points. I also compared the cost of living in Denver to the cost of living in three cities in Montana - Billings, Helena, and Great Falls. On that hypothetical income of $100,000, you'll take a hit in disposable income by $12, 697 if you move to Denver from Billings. Move to Denver from either Helena or Great Falls and the loss in disposable income is even worse.
Montana has a far lower cost of living than Colorado and it has mountains, great trout fishing, wonderful National Parks - the whole 9 yards - all the things that people say they want to move to Colorado for. Maybe Montana doesn't have legal recreational pot, but if you're picking a place to live just based on the availability of legal weed, you've got a problem.
I didn't move here because it was the hip thing to either. I grew up here and the crowded cities on the Front Range came to me - I didn't come to them. Back in the day, if you wanted to hit the slopes you didn't go to Vail or Telluride. Vail wasn't even a real town and Telluride was an old mining ghost town. We didn't wear snazzy ski outfits or pay a small fortune for lift tickets and ski rentals either. We had our own skis, and when we went out to use them we wore blue jeans and gaitors with long underwear underneath. Now it's become chic to go to Colorado and ski in Aspen and the rest. It's even more chic to live in Aspen or Vail or have your own vacation condo in Telluride. Go to Telluride these days and it's full of people wearing gold jewelry and $2,000 turquoise alligator skin boots. Well, whatever turns you on, but it turns me off. It's so artificial and full of conspicuous consumption. Calling it "consumption of place" is right on. I don't go to Telluride very often these days. I don't have any gold bracelets to show off and I couldn't care less if people think I hang with the "in crowd" or not.
The crowds and the high cost of living have driven me all the way out here to Cortez. Now even Cortez is not a haven. Energy giant Kinder Morgan has come to town and they've destroyed major areas of two near-by National Monuments with their fraking and pipeline building activities. Now they're going after the land of small farmers and ranchers, as well. We're fighting back out here, but we're a small community that the rest of Colorado and the world in general doesn't care about. I won't live in a place where's there's a good chance of an explosion at a pumpimg station, or breathing in air full of hydrogen sulfide and other noxious gases. I want to be somewhere that has clean water. After Kinder Morgan wins the battle out here, I see no reason to stay. If I were younger, I'd move to Montana. It's becoming too hard to find a town in Colorado where I can afford the cost of living and someone isn't dangling their gold bracelet in my face.
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