Affordable city/safe area (Denver, Colorado Springs: apartments, rentals, employment)

[patisserieluv]

Hi there!

Looking into CO and wanted to know a few things please:

1) Affordable yet safe areas? Young early 30's couple with small Bichpoo. I'm finishing up an accelerated 2nd bachelors, (then grad school) my husb is in grad school. Looking to pay preferably no more than $1,000/mo rent bug can go as high as $1680/month (incl utilities).

We'd like a pretty suburban, clean, safe area. We don t drink but I use mj for Anxiety and believe CO will be great so I can stop using my anti-anxiety meds (3) and mj is the only thing that helps me. Are dispensaries found throughout CO or only in certain areas? Are items expensive at dispensaries? Can anyone just purchase items from the dispensaries/are there any restrictions of any kind? Haven't been to one quite yet but would love to someday soon.

I'm part Japanese and love my asian food. I need to live around great sushi, pho/banh mi, thai and preferably Indian food. I could live without Indian food but than others mentioned are non-negotiable haha! so we'd preferably like to find a city close to (15 mins max) from these types of food! ❤

Thanks for all the help in advance!!

[Best_Coast]

Originally Posted by patisserieluv

Hi there!

Looking into CO and wanted to know a few things please:

1) Affordable yet safe areas? Young early 30's couple with small Bichpoo. I'm finishing up an accelerated 2nd bachelors, (then grad school) my husb is in grad school. Looking to pay preferably no more than $1,000/mo rent bug can go as high as $1680/month (incl utilities).

We'd like a pretty suburban, clean, safe area. We don t drink but I use mj for Anxiety and believe CO will be great so I can stop using my anti-anxiety meds (3) and mj is the only thing that helps me. Are dispensaries found throughout CO or only in certain areas? Are items expensive at dispensaries? Can anyone just purchase items from the dispensaries/are there any restrictions of any kind? Haven't been to one quite yet but would love to someday soon.

I'm part Japanese and love my asian food. I need to live around great sushi, pho/banh mi, thai and preferably Indian food. I could live without Indian food but than others mentioned are non-negotiable haha! so we'd preferably like to find a city close to (15 mins max) from these types of food! ❤

Thanks for all the help in advance!!

$1,680 (including utilities) will get you a 1 bedroom apartment in Denver. Might be best to explore outside the city if you're wanting more space. Dispensaries aren't found just in the city. They're all over.

[jessicarae1060]

I would suggest you take a look at Colorado Springs. Lots of dispensaries. It’s less expensive than Denver but rentals are still in hot demand. You should find what you are looking for in that budget.

[alloo66]

Look in Aurora!

[otowi]

Colorado Springs only has dispensaries for those with a medical card, fyi. Manitou Springs has a couple regular dispensaries. Pueblo has quite a bit and would be more affordable for you, but probably is not a great place for your food preferences. I think you might be priced out of a lot of places in Denver and Colorado Springs, but if you look carefully there should be a few but maybe not the size you're hoping for - quite a few more options towards the higher end of your budget; very, very few at the low end.

[brown_dog_us]

A good area with Asian food close by is in Westminster close to hwy 36 between hwy 287 and 92nd. I'd look at that area and then radiate out until you find the type of housing you are looking for.

btw, look for Asian grocery stores because they are located in the more Asian parts of town. For example, there is a H Mart and Pacific Ocean Marketplace in the area I described above.

[NorthDenverGirl]

Westminster, Arvada, Thornton, Broomfield could all be good options. You can find a 1 bedroom apartment for about $1400. Most apartments are pet friendly but if you are going to smoke you will want to ask on their policies because some are strict.

Most cities/not all allow pot shops but there would be plenty close by. Quick drive into downtown Denver (quick being relative as you will encounter traffic).

[TCHP]

Originally Posted by otowi

Colorado Springs only has dispensaries for those with a medical card, fyi. Manitou Springs has a couple regular dispensaries. Pueblo has quite a bit and would be more affordable for you, but probably is not a great place for your food preferences. I think you might be priced out of a lot of places in Denver and Colorado Springs, but if you look carefully there should be a few but maybe not the size you're hoping for - quite a few more options towards the higher end of your budget; very, very few at the low end.

Originally Posted by NorthDenverGirl

Most cities/not all allow pot shops but there would be plenty close by. Quick drive into downtown Denver (quick being relative as you will encounter traffic).

These are good points. The Denver metro is actually a dozen small cities that all run together. They could all have differing rules about medical vs recreational weed. If you have or can get a medical card, it should not be issue anywhere. Without it you are a recreational user and that could alter easy local availability, depending on where you end up at.

Colo Spgs has a fair number of Asian groceries and eateries as well as population due to the military influx. In gross numbers it is less than Denver metro, but as a percentage it is higher. Rents also will tend to be slightly less, but employment opportunities are also smaller. FWIW, Denver metro is 2.5 million people, Colo Spgs is only 500k.

[patisserieluv]

Originally Posted by Best_Coast

$1,680 (including utilities) will get you a 1 bedroom apartment in Denver. Might be best to explore outside the city if you're wanting more space. Dispensaries aren't found just in the city. They're all over.

Thanks Best_Coast! We are used to paying expensive prices for very little space, as I grew up in Honolulu (Hawaii) and a 1-BR is about $2,000/month with parking 3 blocks away for another $175/month. That's in Waikiki but then again, that's pretty standard for Hawaii and I'd like to Not pay crazy prices as much as possible lol (one of the reasons why we left :|

Any suggestions about cities outside of Denver? I'd be interested in doing more research on those cities.

[patisserieluv]

Originally Posted by jessicarae1060

I would suggest you take a look at Colorado Springs. Lots of dispensaries. It’s less expensive than Denver but rentals are still in hot demand. You should find what you are looking for in that budget.

Thanks Jessicarae! I'll be sure to check out Colorado Springs. I heard it's beautiful there!