Pueblo - General Info (Denver: 2013, daycares, broker)

[wong21fr]

^That's nice and all, but I was alluding to the economic climate. Pueblo is only major MSA in Colorado to still have unemployment over 10% and all sectors are showing a decline. The city is stagnating, again, and it's leadership still isn't dealing with the underlying issues.

The Riverwalk is certainly nice enough for a city of Pueblo's size though. It's a good attraction that the upcoming expansion should build on.

[Josseppie]

^

Pueblo is, also, the only manufacturing center in the state so a better comparison is to cities like Gary Indiana (13.5%), and Youngstown Ohio (9.3%). Plus unlike Gary Indiana and Youngstown Ohio Pueblo is at its peak population.

[wong21fr]

^I still don't think that it's the best line of persuasion to explain away Pueblo's issues: "Pueblo, better than Gary, Indiana."

Just not a lot of substance.

[Josseppie]

I understand what you are saying however I was just looking at cities that were comparable to Pueblo. The two that came to mind were Youngstown and Gary. Another one would be Duluth Minnesota however its a big shipping city and Pueblo is obviously not. Overall I think those towns are a better comparison then Denver and Colorado Springs in terms of the economy.

[missyhar]

My husband and I just got back from Pueblo.
We had a great time checking the town out and the weather was wonderful and the trees were changing color and they were very beautiful.

We found the people there to be very friendly. The town was clean and I felt safe there. There are some run down areas of course. Some of the things I DIDN"T find that were mentioned here in this forum:

bums on every corner, and we stayed down town.
Loud music being played from every car. I heard one Sat night
The grocery store being completely empty, we went to every one, someone had said it was like shopping in Russia.
Trash blowing around.

We talked with several people about how they liked living there and all were very happy with the town. We found gas .20 cheaper than UT.

The one thing that concerns me is why people think it is cheap to live there other than the gas. We have found rent to be around $1000 per month for a house and all the groceries seemed to be the same price. Someone did say they rented a 2 bedroom apartment for $500, but we are not looking for that kind of housing.
What else makes it a cheap place to live?

We are eventually going to move there, we really want out of UT.

[Josseppie]

Originally Posted by missyhar

My husband and I just got back from Pueblo.
We had a great time checking the town out and the weather was wonderful and the trees were changing color and they were very beautiful.

We found the people there to be very friendly. The town was clean and I felt safe there. There are some run down areas of course.

I am glad you enjoyed Pueblo! This is my favorite time of the year.

Originally Posted by missyhar

Some of the things I DIDN"T find that were mentioned here in this forum:

bums on every corner, and we stayed down town.

Every corner? Now there is a soup kitchen in downtown and a church where the homeless attend but I work and play in downtown and I don't see the homeless on every corner and the ones I do see are nice and pleasant and have never given me any trouble.

Originally Posted by missyhar

Loud music being played from every car. I heard one Sat night

I do not know what your definition of loud music is and I might even qualify for that as I tend to like my music loud as I drive. Or at least I am told by my friends.

Originally Posted by missyhar

The grocery store being completely empty, we went to every one, someone had said it was like shopping in Russia.

This has to be a joke? Pueblo even has specialty stores that have been around for decades.

Originally Posted by missyhar

Trash blowing around.

This is always unfortunate but I see no more or less then I see in any large city.

Originally Posted by missyhar

We talked with several people about how they liked living there and all were very happy with the town. We found gas .20 cheaper than UT.

Puebloans do love their town!

Originally Posted by missyhar

The one thing that concerns me is why people think it is cheap to live there other than the gas. We have found rent to be around $1000 per month for a house and all the groceries seemed to be the same price. Someone did say they rented a 2 bedroom apartment for $500, but we are not looking for that kind of housing. What else makes it a cheap place to live?

Pueblo is always rated as one of the most affordable places to live in the nation. Here is a article I found about it from KOAA:

People who live in Pueblo may already know this---the steel city is one of the most affordable places to live in the U.S. According to the latest Kiplinger's report, Pueblo is number 2 on the list of cheap places to live. The reason? A low housing cost combined with a higher household income.


The link: Pueblo the second cheapest place to live in the U.S. | koaa.com | Colorado Springs | Pueblo |

Originally Posted by missyhar

We are eventually going to move there, we really want out of UT.

Pueblo is a great place to live. If you have any questions feel free to ask!

[yuccabrevifolia]

Josseppie,

Just wanted to drop a note thanking you for all of the wonderful information that you have posted in this forum. We will be moving to Pueblo next week, and your posts have been invaluable in helping me understand the area better.

It was particularly helpful when we bought a house week before last. Your posts (along with those of others) helped us define what part of Pueblo we wanted to live in, and what was available in the way of services where we wanted to live. We were able to target a few areas to look at and actually buy a house in the weekend that we were there. Turns out we ended up buying in Pueblo West.

Thanks again for the work that you have done on this.. Pueblo Chamber of Commerce should pay you some sort of percentage for what you're doing here. :-)

[Josseppie]

Thank you! I do my best to represent Pueblo...

[Josseppie]

I was at Red Lobster today for lunch and was talking to the general manager. She told me that Pueblo has the highest percentage of people who eat out then any other city in the state. Now at first that surprised me but after talking it over with her it makes sense. Pueblo is the hub city of 20 counties and that is about 400,000 people. Most of the people come to Pueblo and shop and eat out as they do not have the types of restaurants and retail stores we have. That makes Pueblo a sales tax net gainer and would make it look like the residents eat out more then the rest of the cities in the state because out of town folks bring that number up. When I asked her about that she said that she does have regulars from all over the region who come quite often.

Why do I bring that up here? That is just more good news for Pueblo and explains why restaurants and retail stores keep moving here even though our population is only 160,000 people.

[wong21fr]

Originally Posted by Josseppie

I was at Red Lobster today for lunch and was talking to the general manager. She told me that Pueblo has the highest percentage of people who eat out then any other city in the state. Now at first that surprised me but after talking it over with her it makes sense. Pueblo is the hub city of 20 counties and that is about 400,000 people. Most of the people come to Pueblo and shop and eat out as they do not have the types of restaurants and retail stores we have. That makes Pueblo a sales tax net gainer and would make it look like the residents eat out more then the rest of the cities in the state because out of town folks bring that number up. When I asked her about that she said that she does have regulars from all over the region who come quite often.

Why do I bring that up here? That is just more good news for Pueblo and explains why restaurants and retail stores keep moving here even though our population is only 160,000 people.

It also explain why Pueblo has the highest obesity rates in the state as well....