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I've been a Colorado native my entire life, and was given the opportunity to transfer to Denver for my job in late 2014. I had family in the area who loved it, and after living in small towns for my entire life, I wanted to try the big city life.
The first 2-3 years were great. It was an easy transition, and I enjoyed having all of the big-city amenities within a stone's throw of where I lived. My commute was reasonable, and the added housing costs were worth it to me. Over the last year, however, my opinion has changed quite a bit.
The cost of housing in the metro area has gotten out of control. I'm making decent money, but when I'm having to pay close to $1400 for a one-bedroom apartment just to keep a roof over my head, I think it's time to move elsewhere. I live in Brighton, not LoDo - I know several people who live in the city and pay 30-40 percent more for a one bedroom.
This isn't New York, LA, or San Francisco. To me, Denver is a midwestern city with mountains in the background. I'm not a skier, so that doesn't add much value. I enjoy hiking in the foothills, but it's not worth the hassle to fight the traffic to drive into the mountains to do a weekend hike. It's a shame that so many transplants have descended on this city and put Colorado natives like myself in a position where we're looking elsewhere.
My awesome powers as Captain Hindsight tells me that if you'd bought a home in Brighton in 2014 you'd have missed most of the run up in prices while not being subjected to annual rent increases.
Where will you go if you leave?
I hear Pueblo is nice this time of year.....
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I've been a Colorado native my entire life, and was given the opportunity to transfer to Denver for my job in late 2014. I had family in the area who loved it, and after living in small towns for my entire life, I wanted to try the big city life.
The first 2-3 years were great. It was an easy transition, and I enjoyed having all of the big-city amenities within a stone's throw of where I lived. My commute was reasonable, and the added housing costs were worth it to me. Over the last year, however, my opinion has changed quite a bit.
The cost of housing in the metro area has gotten out of control. I'm making decent money, but when I'm having to pay close to $1400 for a one-bedroom apartment just to keep a roof over my head, I think it's time to move elsewhere. I live in Brighton, not LoDo - I know several people who live in the city and pay 30-40 percent more for a one bedroom.
This isn't New York, LA, or San Francisco. To me, Denver is a midwestern city with mountains in the background. I'm not a skier, so that doesn't add much value. I enjoy hiking in the foothills, but it's not worth the hassle to fight the traffic to drive into the mountains to do a weekend hike. It's a shame that so many transplants have descended on this city and put Colorado natives like myself in a position where we're looking elsewhere.
Anyone else feel the same sentiment?
It's a shame that so many transplants have descended on this city and put Denver natives like myself in a position where we're looking elsewhere.
I suppose a Denver native (which I am not) could feel that way then.
Last edited by WhatTheFox; 03-10-2019 at 10:25 PM..
Reason: Clarification
I've been a Colorado native my entire life, and was given the opportunity to transfer to Denver for my job in late 2014. I had family in the area who loved it, and after living in small towns for my entire life, I wanted to try the big city life.
The first 2-3 years were great. It was an easy transition, and I enjoyed having all of the big-city amenities within a stone's throw of where I lived. My commute was reasonable, and the added housing costs were worth it to me. Over the last year, however, my opinion has changed quite a bit.
The cost of housing in the metro area has gotten out of control. I'm making decent money, but when I'm having to pay close to $1400 for a one-bedroom apartment just to keep a roof over my head, I think it's time to move elsewhere. I live in Brighton, not LoDo - I know several people who live in the city and pay 30-40 percent more for a one bedroom.
This isn't New York, LA, or San Francisco. To me, Denver is a midwestern city with mountains in the background. I'm not a skier, so that doesn't add much value. I enjoy hiking in the foothills, but it's not worth the hassle to fight the traffic to drive into the mountains to do a weekend hike. It's a shame that so many transplants have descended on this city and put Colorado natives like myself in a position where we're looking elsewhere.
Anyone else feel the same sentiment?
I do agree with you entirely.. I am a native of the Pacific Northwest and was chased out of my home state as well. For many of the same reasons I have decided I will be leaving the area. Being a single male professional who works long hours and doesn't ski/snowboard, Denver really just doesn't offer much for the cost of living here. I can pay less and enjoy similar amenities living in many other places and have a better urban life. Denver seems to me like a bedroom community for the mountains and really doesn't have the pulse and life that many other similarly sized and even smaller cities I have lived and visited have. I am looking at relocating to Tennessee or maybe back to North Carolina. I kind of regret leaving North Carolina. Charlotte was not my favorite city, but I actually think it had more going on and was more scenic overall than Denver. There was certainly a lot more pretty ladies in Charlotte and they weren't all cold and mean like here. In Seattle and Portland the neighborhoods would be lively and there was people out and about. Denver, on the other hand, the neighborhoods seem almost deserted, especially the downtown which is utterly weird. People in the downtown are also really sketched out. I tried going up to people and asking for directions and they ignore me and just walk by me. Even in Seattle, people will at least be polite and say they cannot help and many times would stop to help you out. Sometimes they will ignore you too, but here it is like everyone is afraid you are trying to jack them.
I also grew up in a lush, green environment and the dryness and barren atmosphere bothers me. Others don't mind it and actually prefer brown and rugged rocky hills they have up at the higher elevations. They are nice, but I spend most of my time down in the Plains and I miss going to beautiful parks to take a nice stroll around the big trees, lakes (the lakes in Denver are just fake and ugly to me), rivers, streams.. I miss the beautiful hills and overlooks I had in Portland and Seattle. Even Charlotte had many beautiful greenways and places where you felt like you could be in the forest. In Denver you have to make a rigorous journey to go and enjoy scenery that is not really that any superior to what I saw in the Cascades or Appalachians.
It is also one of the harder cities I lived to make friends and socialize. People here tend to be mistrusting, insular and tend to cling their little groups. They claim it is some single mecca, but that is also utter hogwash. For a big city, a large number of the population is married. A lot of people come here married because it is so far away from other cities and the feeling of isolated makes people clingy and hunker down.
Rotse, you've only been in Denver a few months and you work 70 hours a week, so that limits your enjoyment of the city.
Maybe you should hang in there and stick it out a year or two, but if you do leave where will you go?
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Rotse, you've only been in Denver a few months and you work 70 hours a week, so that limits your enjoyment of the city.
Maybe you should hang in there and stick it out a year or two, but if you do leave where will you go?
Mike, I would like to stick it out, but it is taking me a bit longer to get my business ventures launched and I am spending long time studying new technologies that are going to probably be strung out over another year and half. After this year, my salary will be cut significantly, because I am basically parting ways with the business I have been with for 15+ years and helped build. So, if I stay in Denver I would have to immediately find a job because I paying a ton of money to live here. I live way out in the suburbs in outer Littleton area, but I am paying $1600/mo for a small 1000sq ft condo + $75 /mo for a storage unit. My insurance rates are through the roof as well. If I stick it out in Denver I would have to toss away my desires to have a business or telecommute and would immediately have to find work in the city and find a cheaper place to live. Considering that I just don't feel a connection with this city and have not had much fun here and find it tough place to make connections, I think I rather struggle to make it somewhere else. Living in Denver is a sacrifice and I kind of feel you really have to love this place to manage to survive here.
I am thinking about going back to the South, probably Tennessee or North Carolina. Raleigh/Durham, e.g. have same salaries as Denver and a booming tech market, yet is about 30% cheaper to live. Once you get settled in a place like Raleigh, e.g., getting a spectacular job offer in a place like Washington DC is also more a possibility and relocating there is more feasible. Not that I would necessarily want to live in DC, but once you are on the Eastern seaboard you have so many more options of places to live and relocating is not as much of a challenge as being in Denver, which is the most isolated city in the USA. I may also consider other places such as Midwest or maybe Florida even. I also have discovered I just hate cold weather more than I hate hot and humid weather. I don't like either, but I rather be hot than cold. If I move to a place like Knoxville or Winston-Salem I could spend another year and half doing the training and preparation I need. Also, places like Knoxville, Winston-Salem offer everything Denver has, in my opinion, but for a much lower price tag.
I do wish I had more free time to enjoy Denver, but staying in Denver for me means I will have to probably work many hours just to afford living here. So, when will I really get any time to enjoy myself? I am too old to have a roommate and having firearms pretty much makes finding a roommate impossible anyway. I also just don't like living with other people, to be honest.
If I leave, it won't be until the end of August, so I do have some time to ponder this issue.
My parents moved to Denver in the 50s when the population was under a million and they really liked it there. By the 90s or early 2000s they felt there was too much sprawl. They owned their house, so rent wasn't an issue. But they never moved.
Rotse, Thank you, seems you are juggling a lot of balls in the air right now....
__________________
- Please follow our TOS.
- Any Questions about City-Data? See the FAQ list.
- Want some detailed instructions on using the site? See The Guide for plain english explanation.
- Realtors are welcome here but do see our Realtor Advice to avoid infractions.
- Thank you and enjoy City-Data.
I've been a Colorado native my entire life, and was given the opportunity to transfer to Denver for my job in late 2014. I had family in the area who loved it, and after living in small towns for my entire life, I wanted to try the big city life.
The first 2-3 years were great. It was an easy transition, and I enjoyed having all of the big-city amenities within a stone's throw of where I lived. My commute was reasonable, and the added housing costs were worth it to me. Over the last year, however, my opinion has changed quite a bit.
The cost of housing in the metro area has gotten out of control. I'm making decent money, but when I'm having to pay close to $1400 for a one-bedroom apartment just to keep a roof over my head, I think it's time to move elsewhere. I live in Brighton, not LoDo - I know several people who live in the city and pay 30-40 percent more for a one bedroom.
This isn't New York, LA, or San Francisco. To me, Denver is a midwestern city with mountains in the background. I'm not a skier, so that doesn't add much value. I enjoy hiking in the foothills, but it's not worth the hassle to fight the traffic to drive into the mountains to do a weekend hike. It's a shame that so many transplants have descended on this city and put Colorado natives like myself in a position where we're looking elsewhere.
Anyone else feel the same sentiment?
I don’t, but I genuinely wish you well in your search for the right city.
It's a shame that so many transplants have descended on this city and put Denver natives like myself in a position where we're looking elsewhere.
I suppose a Denver native (which I am not) could feel that way then.
Neither a Denver native or a Colorado native, but the OP stated they moved to Denver in 2014. I've been in Denver since 1998. So can I gripe that the OP is the reason I've seen housing costs jack up in the 21 years I've been here?
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