Recently graduated, interested in Denver (Evans: lease, live, move)
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Thanks so much. Are there particular areas closer to downtown (skewing younger, as you mention) that jump out for you? I will check out your blog and am grateful for all the information you took the time to write.
All the trendy (but expensive) neighborhoods like Highlands, South Broadway, River North (RiNO), and Capitol Hill.
I’ve just graduated from Berklee in Boston and after researching various cities with my wish list in mind, Denver tops the list: access to nature, four seasons, a strong LGBTQ+ community, some music industry presence, walkability, a young person feel as opposed to a bedroom community. I’m from Atlanta and have also spent a lot of time in the North Carolina mountains. (Asheville is great, but I’m looking for something new.) I’d so appreciate recommendations on where to live (I’ll be renting and looking for a roommate), balancing safety with affordability (please don’t laugh at that one, I get that Denver is expensive). I’m willing to look outside the city. My work is remote. I’ll be visiting this fall with my parents—that’s right, I’ve never actually been to Colorado—and want to narrow down where to look. Be gentle with a new grad’s dreams. Many thanks.
First, in my opinion -- and I lived in metro Denver for over 30 years until I moved in 2020 -- metro Denver is NOT four seasons. The fall is very short and the spring is very short and winter is mostly brown (not white) with occasional snowfalls that usually melt in three days. If you want winter, the closest town to metro Denver of any size is Evergreen (about 45 minutes away from downtown Denver) which is much more natural and scenic than Denver and has a much better fall and winter, imo -- and it is very smal-towny and rustic in a GOOD way, with several festivals and a solid community "feel". (Evergreen was my favorite Colorado town, in fact.) However, it is definitely NOT urban, and I don't know what the LGBT presence is. You might also check out Golden.
However, I think the better overall choice for you would probably be Boulder (about an hour away from downtown Denver, I think) or Fort Collins in northern Colorado because they are university towns, and so they are very "young" cities, especially Boulder (if you can afford it) -- but again, neither one is truly four seasons, as far as what I consider to be four seasons, anyway!
Agreed with katharsis, Atlanta is solid 3 season, Boston is 4, Denver is 2 - winter and summer. I was floored when I moved to ATL and realized that spring and fall can legitimately be multiple month seasons instead of 2 week transitions like the Front Range has.
The thing that turned me off to Denver is that while it checks off a lot of boxes, it doesn't offer any of them very well. For nature, I got outside a lot more in Suwanee than central Denver cause Suwanee actually had good parks, Denver is a solid concrete jungle unless you drive 40 minutes (no traffic, longer with traffic) past the initial jogger laden foothills to the pretty fantastic trails. This meant it was always a weekend only activity. You can get closer to the nature in the western burbs, but then you lose any affordability and it's more bedroom community, older, and conservative.
Check it out, but I'd suggest only pulling the trigger if the vibe, culture, attitudes, and built environment of the city of Denver proper ring to what you want. Otherwise, you're paying primo rent prices being in a big economic hub - everyone else's salaries are bidding up your rent. Don't fall in love with I-70 and the mountains and just be in Denver cause it's ok. There's better spots for mountains.
I keep suggesting this, but I love small towns, so give those a whirl too while out west visiting. So many good ones in CO and NM. Here in Taos I have what many people wish they had for the Rocky Mountain experience, I'm headed off to the ski valley 20 minutes up the road after this post to go hiking above treeline and then hit a classical music concert there. There's 8-10 music shows every week here. Weather's better in that I don't have A/C and it's not annoying. It's Pride week right now. I'm paying $2100 for a new built 1800 sqft home with 60 mile views, way nicer than anything a big city will get you. I can actually see the milky way at night. It's way easier to meet people cause in a small town your friends will know your friends and social networks get built much faster. There's some definite annoyances with small towns, like roads in winter or for me it's a serious PITA to get to an airport, but the charm (like never experiencing traffic) is so worth giving up some convenience.
You're remote, don't limit the options, this is such a cool time for you to get out and explore something new!
Agreed with katharsis, Atlanta is solid 3 season, Boston is 4, Denver is 2 - winter and summer. I was floored when I moved to ATL and realized that spring and fall can legitimately be multiple month seasons instead of 2 week transitions like the Front Range has.
The thing that turned me off to Denver is that while it checks off a lot of boxes, it doesn't offer any of them very well. For nature, I got outside a lot more in Suwanee than central Denver cause Suwanee actually had good parks, Denver is a solid concrete jungle unless you drive 40 minutes (no traffic, longer with traffic) past the initial jogger laden foothills to the pretty fantastic trails. This meant it was always a weekend only activity. You can get closer to the nature in the western burbs, but then you lose any affordability and it's more bedroom community, older, and conservative.
Check it out, but I'd suggest only pulling the trigger if the vibe, culture, attitudes, and built environment of the city of Denver proper ring to what you want. Otherwise, you're paying primo rent prices being in a big economic hub - everyone else's salaries are bidding up your rent. Don't fall in love with I-70 and the mountains and just be in Denver cause it's ok. There's better spots for mountains.
I keep suggesting this, but I love small towns, so give those a whirl too while out west visiting. So many good ones in CO and NM. Here in Taos I have what many people wish they had for the Rocky Mountain experience, I'm headed off to the ski valley 20 minutes up the road after this post to go hiking above treeline and then hit a classical music concert there. There's 8-10 music shows every week here. Weather's better in that I don't have A/C and it's not annoying. It's Pride week right now. I'm paying $2100 for a new built 1800 sqft home with 60 mile views, way nicer than anything a big city will get you. I can actually see the milky way at night. It's way easier to meet people cause in a small town your friends will know your friends and social networks get built much faster. There's some definite annoyances with small towns, like roads in winter or for me it's a serious PITA to get to an airport, but the charm (like never experiencing traffic) is so worth giving up some convenience.
You're remote, don't limit the options, this is such a cool time for you to get out and explore something new!
Good points, fair assessment. What's making Denver so expensive now is that people, on average, get paid so much here. If you can work full-time remote try something in a less urban setting. A lot of the middle-aged folks around here, myself included, got lucky in a way that we settled our housing situation by buying when it was much cheaper and interest rates were low. And if you have a desire to eventually get on the housing ladder, we all here just have no idea how the "kids" are going to do it. Lot of my coworkers are encouraging their kids to move elsewhere for school and career. There just is too little lower-end housing to buy around due to overzealous laws which have pretty much stopped condo development.
It still is a great town and I think it would fit your desires quite a bit but its going to make your budget challenging. I think you can do a rent share @1000/mo but might be tough closer-in. Probably more of a suburb budget, maybe one of the more distant Denver neighborhoods. Some of my interns just wrapped up and they said it was more like 1300-1700 to share and live close to downtown but they were on a shorter term.
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
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Originally Posted by Phil P
Agreed with katharsis, (Boulder / Golden...) Atlanta is solid 3 season, Boston is 4, Denver is 2 - winter and summer. I was floored when I moved to ATL and realized that spring and fall can legitimately be multiple month seasons instead of 2 week transitions like the Front Range has.
The thing that turned me off to Denver is that while it checks off a lot of boxes, it doesn't offer any of them very well. ...
I keep suggesting this, but I love small towns, so give those a whirl too while out west visiting. So many good ones in CO and NM. Here in Taos I have what many people wish they had for the Rocky Mountain experience, I'm headed off to the ski valley 20 minutes up the road after this post to go hiking above treeline and then hit a classical music concert there. There's 8-10 music shows every week here. Weather's better in that I don't have A/C and it's not annoying. It's Pride week right now. I'm paying $2100 for a new built 1800 sqft home with 60 mile views, way nicer than anything a big city will get you. I can actually see the milky way at night. It's way easier to meet people cause in a small town your friends will know your friends and social networks get built much faster. There's some definite annoyances with small towns, like roads in winter or for me it's a serious PITA to get to an airport, but the charm (like never experiencing traffic) is so worth giving up some convenience.
Ashville is nice! and so are many medium sized cities / college towns that my have plenty of what you want, and a WHOLE lot more access to desireable recreation / nature / exploring, than BROWN (and huge sprawl) Denver.
Quote:
You're remote, don't limit the options, this is such a cool time for you to get out and explore something new!
This ^^^
Make a wieghted spreadsheet of what truly you are seeking, and see what area scores best in the mandatory and higly desired columns. NM, AZ, NEV, OR, WA, CA, ID, MT, and SD all have some really nice meduim sized college towns VERY close to excellent recreation. The places in CA away from major metros are not any more expensive than CO. Many places are a lot cheaper.
VT, NH, ME, NY... lots of frontiers to explore.
Enjoy the search and the journey.
While in CO, don't miss Ft Coliins, CO Springs, Manitou, Woodland Park as potential options
Location: We_tside PNW (Columbia Gorge) / CO / SA TX / Thailand
34,724 posts, read 58,067,115 times
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You're remote, don't limit the options, this is such a cool time for you to get out and explore something new!
BTW, don't wait TOO LONG to do somethng like an international Work Visa. ^^^ Several countires cap at age 30.
NZ and Australia are full of German, Austrian and Swiss young adults on Work Visas. (some jobs can be really good pay if you're already graduated and hold certs. My kid went as a Financial Analyst, so bigger bucks that I ever made). Often international travelers / worketrs they link up for LT international careers, businesses / relationships. Queenstown (NZ) area is quite like CO, as is much of Germany, Hungary, Czech Republic, and it can be very inexpensive to live there compared to USA. We just returned from a few months in UK, Airfares and housing and food was quite cheap. Off season is very good time to enjoy the recreation, and Germany is offering a 49 Euro Monthly countrywide train pass. All you need is a bike (and you can rent them at train stations.) Rents can be $400 - $700 for furnished apt with utilities and heat. Best to come with a WFH job, then you can get a Nomad worker visa, and even qualify for Citizenhip in some countries. (Ireland and Portugal are the easiest at the moment).
I don't recommend small town living for a recent college graduate. The amount and variety of experience that you can have in a city like Denver is many times greater than what you can get at Fort Collins or even Colorado Springs. After you have tried enough and know what your hobbies and priorities are then that's when you consider if a smaller, less hectic area is right for you. For someone so young there's also no need to worry about stuff like housing markets.
I don't recommend small town living for a recent college graduate. The amount and variety of experience that you can have in a city like Denver is many times greater than what you can get at Fort Collins or even Colorado Springs. After you have tried enough and know what your hobbies and priorities are then that's when you consider if a smaller, less hectic area is right for you. For someone so young there's also no need to worry about stuff like housing markets.
Yeah you do get more exposure in big cities, but the mass anonymity makes them difficult socially. I remember being 22 and moving to Denver with a $1000 rent budget in 2016. By and large the people out and about in Denver are 30s-50s. That's the age range I ran into sitting down at the bar, at the concerts, at the gym, even at the apartment complexes, I always felt like a kid. In a smaller place, these older people can introduce you to people your age as you get to know them, that never happened to me in Denver though. My saving grace was having coworkers who I could hang out with. Without them it would have been even harder. I'm not going to lie, 22 and 23 were some of the harder years of my life, I think they set me up for good things, but that rapid switch from college (which is like the easiest place in the world to meet people) to inner suburb Denver was jarring.
And my apartment was kinda crappy, you have to have a place that feels a little bit homey to recharge your energy to go out and about and adventure. Being remote myself, I would NOT want roommates. I can go to the coffeeshop for interaction, but I need my space during the office hours. You can get exposure anywhere, just be adventurous. Walk into churches and see different people in action for starters.
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