What Colorado city would best suit me? (Denver, Colorado Springs: ski resorts, apartments)

[taaybell]

I am planning to move out to colorado in a few years and after lots of research I'm curious as to what city would best suit me. I'm a pretty laid back liberal and spiritual girl who loves the outdoors. I love hiking, exploring new beautiful spots, parks, nature trails, TREES, and cute smallish towns with plenty of shops, etc. I'd like to live somewhere where I can see mountains from my window but downtown is not too far away from me either. I'm a vegetarian so any area where it is known to have many vegetarian/vegan restaurants/health food stores would be great!

I (hopefully) plan to start my career and go to grad school for psychology by the time I move out there so please take that into consideration! I consider myself to be a minimalist who loves little bohemian-style apartments or lofts or cozy cabin yet modern-styled homes, not to expensive cost of living as I will not raise a family here and it will more than likely just be my boyfriend and I. Sunny days with no humidity are also my favorite!

I'd love to know which city in colorado you think would best suit me and why also feel free to list what city you live in and why you like it!

[SkyDog77]

From the small towns close to downtown request, I'm going to guess you are from the east. Probably New England?

The west wasn't developed that way.

What you want is mostly in the city but some things you want are definitely not in the city going to have to pick what is more important.

The only place outside of Denver, Boulder, Ft Collins and Colorado Springs that would possibly fit is Durango. It's awesome, but isolated.

[Hschlick84]

Try Missoula Montana, Colorado is too crowded.

[NW Crow]

You said "I (hopefully) plan to start my career and go to grad school for psychology by the time I move out there so please take that into consideration!"

Did you mean you plan to be done with grad school before moving or that you want to start it in Colorado? I'm unclear.

What type of job are you aiming for or would you accept? That will affect likelihood that a small town is feasible in long run. In most small towns, I'd guess the main or only jobs for a psychologist new to the area would be with the schools, county social services, drug rehab companies or maybe a human resources office. I assume competition will be tough for these and especially for regional hospitals and private practice business and anything near the ski resorts. But it is not my field.

If you want to go to grad school in CO, then probably try to go to CU Boulder or CSU.

If you will already be past that, I'd guess you'd want to consider Durango, Woodland Park, Salida, Glenwood Springs and maybe Evergreen. That is if towns with 10-20,000 people in them and 1-2 times that outside them aren't too big.

For natural food stores and vegetarian or vegan restaurants here is a state list. To get more than 2 of these establishments (with the except of Grand Junction) you have to be on or near the front range or in or fairly near a ski resort. If 0-2 is not enough, you just eliminated many, many towns. http://www.happycow.net/north_america/usa/colorado/

[StealthRabbit]

Nederland (?)
Town of Nederland, Colorado

[NW Crow]

The downtown you want to be near... is that a smallish town downtown or the big city downtown?

[BornintheSprings]

Blanca Colorado

[lurtsman]

If you don't plan to raise a family, you can survive higher costs of living. Being child-free is an enormous weight off your neck. Boulder is an expensive option to fit your stated desires and Fort Collins is a "cheaper than Denver but still expensive compared to the Springs" option. Note that FC has quite a bit of traffic, but in your entire post you didn't mention any concerns about traffic so that may be a non-issue to you.

[TechMike]

The grad school bit is unclear... if you plan to start grad school after you move here, apply to the universities first and find a place near the one you go to. That should be your first priority.

[jim9251]

Ouray