Why Aren't More People Interested In The Grand Junction Area? (Denver: home, school)

[cowboyxjon]

+1 for jobs. I like GJ and would consider living there, but there aren't a lot of jobs in my field. My fear would be that I would find one of the scarce jobs in my field, move there, and then not have any options or alternatives in my field if I want to move to another company and/or move up in the org.

[motoracer51]

Originally Posted by cowboyxjon

+1 for jobs. I like GJ and would consider living there, but there aren't a lot of jobs in my field. My fear would be that I would find one of the scarce jobs in my field, move there, and then not have any options or alternatives in my field if I want to move to another company and/or move up in the org.

Probably something else I forgot.

Limited potential for professional career growth. Pretty small professional community here.

[Let's Go Here]

Originally Posted by motoracer51

Probably something else I forgot.

Limited potential for professional career growth. Pretty small professional community here.

This.

Jobs in rural areas don't always yield a lot of upward mobility. I also think larger companies have a difficult time recruiting and retaining talented employees in rural areas - they may offer a competitive salary and an attractive job title (been there myself), but it's hard to keep people in these areas for long periods of time. I'd much rather live in an area where there are things to do and opportunities for upward mobility.

[bartonizer]

I lived in Denver, then Glenwood Springs before moving to WA a year ago, and my brother just moved from Grand Junction back to Denver. I spent quite a bit of time in GJ as it was the closest place for a lot of things. It grew on me over time, though a lot of that had to do with my appreciation of the natural beauty nearby- Colorado NM/Glade Park, Grand Mesa, proximity to red rock country and Utah, and the obligatory stop at Palisade before heading heading home.

I always imagined GJ being the next Missoula-heck, I wanted it to be the next Missoula- after all, it's a in a scenic, rugged part of the country in a state known for being a cool place to live, it's approximately the same population, and relative to other places in the West the housing is dirt cheap, but realistically after spending time there I feel like there are several things that prevent it from being the next "it" adventure town.

One thing that no one has mentioned is the fairly conservative culture that dominates town. Not libertarian, as much of rural and Western CO feels to me, but conservative. It's fairly religious, with Mormons being the largest denomination in churches, which makes sense as it's so close to the border. The town isn't exactly hopping, and it really doesn't have much going on other than the usual retail suspects. It's pretty blue collar (not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's definitely not like the pretty people of Boulder or the crowd that people might imagine in Western CO). The little main street is kinda cool and has some potential, but it underperforms for its size, and there's really not much of an active scene or communal feeling. You're much more likely to get that cool little community feel in Palisade or Fruita. Overall, the GJ feeling is much more dirtbike/4-Wheeler than snowboard, heavier on country music than one would anticipate...

Also, I've got to say that the climate is pretty harsh. If you're in CO, you need to be at 6,000'-7,000' to have mostly pleasant summer days and cool nights. It's at 4,500' but it's definitely not a "mountain town" -it's exposed high desert, so it's frequently very hot on summer days and quite cold on winter days. Also, winter inversions can really keep the air quality really low in the valley, sometimes for long periods of time before they're scoured out by a front.

And, of course, jobs. Now obviously, the economy relies heavily on the boom and bust of the energy industry. But it's more than that. There are other cities of approximate size in the West that have more going on, because a lot of people really want to be there. Missoula, Flagstaff, and Bend all come to mind. All are geographically isolated from major cities, all have (give or take) the same amount of regional air connections (in fact, GJ actually has more options than those just mentioned, given proximity to Montrose and Vail/Eagle), and all have about the same number of people in the metro area. But....the other "outpost" cities mentioned seem to have more stabile and innovative economies and intangibles that bring people in from other places to invest and start interesting new businesses. Again, Junction underperforms in this category.

Now, I don't want anyone to think that I'm trashing the place- I grew to like it a tiny bit more each time I had to go down there and I appreciate it as a place to pick up things I couldn't purchase or eat in Glenwood. But as I mentioned, it goes a bit deeper than that. It's got a surprisingly harsh climate and it's a conservative, very spread out, and rather unappealing city.

And that's not to say that things won't improve over time. But believe me- despite GJ's distance from Denver, if some more people wanted to be there, they would. I work by remote, so it absolutely didn't matter where I was. It kind of bums me out-I love the other cities mentioned above in that population range, and would have loved for Grand Junction to be in that category, but it just wasn't, and probably won't be.

[Hschlick84]

GJ is more in common with Utah than with the front range.

[gassyyoungman]

Is now a bad time to buy in Grand Junction? How's the market? Wait a few yrs?

[LarsMac]

Originally Posted by Hschlick84

GJ is more in common with Utah than with the front range.

True. And right now it is almost easier to get there from Salt Lake City than from Denver, with Glenwood Canyon closed.

Western Colorado has always been a distant relative of Denver. It is a different world than the Front Range.
More related to Utah and New Mexico.

[LarsMac]

Originally Posted by gassyyoungman

Is now a bad time to buy in Grand Junction? How's the market? Wait a few yrs?

I've found that the best time to buy in an area is when the consensus is that it is a bad time to buy there.
But then some areas never get out of that slump.

[gassyyoungman]

Originally Posted by LarsMac

I've found that the best time to buy in an area is when the consensus is that it is a bad time to buy there.
But then some areas never get out of that slump.

Agree.

[Colorado Rambler]

Due to its reliance on the energy industry, Grand Junction has been a boom/bust town for as long as I can remember. No doubt Junction has a boom or two left in its future, but for all the reasons people cited above, I doubt that GJ is going to become another Colorado Mecca like Denver or even Durango. Not to say Grand Junction doesn't have its charms - it does - especially if you love the great out-of-doors. Housing in GJ tends to be affordable, and west of town there is a vast desert all the way to Salt Lake if you like that kind of thing. People often dismiss my own small town of Cortez as a "dusty little desert town" like a smaller version of Junction. Well, yes and no. For one thing, Cortez is at an altitude of 6,000 feet which means we get those cooler, Colorado type summers which Junction does not. With an elevation that doesn't even reach 5,000, it's HOT in the summers there. I have a little camping spot that I often stop at when traveling through the area in the summer. I pull in, set up my camp, and then go submerse myself in the Colorado River to escape the heat (proximity to the Colorado - one of my favorite rivers - is one of GJ's pluses). I can be up in the high San Juans in less than an hour from Cortez, less than an hour from Junction, you can be in Glenwood Springs. Why not save yourself the trouble and move to somewhere in the Glenwood area instead?