Young couple considering move to Denver area--advice??

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by alisonelaine

Thank you very much for all of this help!

Micktooth--you are right, my boyfriend and I still have until May to move, so we are working on narrowing down a long list. I have made a huge spreadsheet with every possible thing we might need on it. The things I have asked are mainly harder to find because they are less statistic related and hearing opinions is the best help!
But here is our current list:
1. Denver, CO
2. Vancouver, WA
3. Seattle, WA
4. Portland, OR
5. Charleston, SC
6. Atlanta, GA
7. Knoxville, TN

If anyone wants to comment on our list, please do! Thanks!

Cities 5-7 are hot humid southern cities. Atlanta has what you need, but 5 and 7 don't strike me as hotbeds of work for marketing or executives.

Denver has all you need, including the outdoor exercise, without the massive traffic and size of Atlanta.

Go west.

[History Rules]

I've been to about 45 states, lived in many and visitited many more. Other than it being fairly isolated by car, it is unsurpassed in climate, beauty, and outdoor recreation. I also find most of the people to be friendly and educated. 330 days of sunshine with low humidity. GO FOR IT, and never look back but when you up and move to a new place you have to give it time. Denver is incredible!!! Also, let me briefly go through your list.

1. Denver, CO--My number 1 as well.
2. Vancouver, WA--Washington is nice but prefer Denver's climate, six months of rain gets old.
3. Seattle, WA--See above
4. Portland, OR--I like Portland, wine country due south, can drive to Seattle, a few hours from the coast but Denver offers more.
5. Charleston, SC-Nice old Southern charm, but on the slow side and hot humid summers.
6. Atlanta, GA--Awful traffic, humid summers, rednecks in distant suburbs.
7. Knoxville, TN--Way too hickish and small town, not in any of the others league.


[SIZE=5][/SIZE]
ter we are done with our undergrad, but we have never been there and might not be able to visit, so we need advice!
1. We are both 22, so we want a place that has a young vibe, cheap downtown where we could live close-enough to the center not to have to take an expensive cab home every weekend night. What kinds of fun things are there to do?
2. Jobs! He works in marketing and executive business so there needs to be some good large companies in that realm... and I am going to go through an alternative certification process to become a middle/high school english language arts teacher, so there has to be a need for those teachers! Also, how is the school system?
3. We are extremely active--love running, so there needs to be lots of trails, 5ks, etc, and like biking to work and going to parks/swimming pools. We also would prefer to live really close to water. And--we need a professional baseball or basketball team that the city gets really into supporting!
4. What is the arts scene like (plays, etc)? Are there farmers markets, wineries, or health foods stores?

So pretty much, do you think that this city is a good fit for a really young, semi-conservative, artsy, active couple AND will we be able to find jobs here?
Thanks!

Also--how would these surrounding areas be for us: Castle Rock, Parker, Highlands, Longmont, Thornton, Westminster, Lakewood, and Aurora?[/quote]

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by alisonelaine

Thank you very much for all of this help!

Micktooth--you are right, my boyfriend and I still have until May to move, so we are working on narrowing down a long list. I have made a huge spreadsheet with every possible thing we might need on it. The things I have asked are mainly harder to find because they are less statistic related and hearing opinions is the best help!
But here is our current list:
1. Denver, CO
2. Vancouver, WA
3. Seattle, WA
4. Portland, OR
5. Charleston, SC
6. Atlanta, GA
7. Knoxville, TN

If anyone wants to comment on our list, please do! Thanks!

If you have until May of next year, I would suggest picking 2 or 3 at a time and visiting them. If you don't like them, go visit some more cities. This may sound expensive, but if you are going to make a deliberate move, you want to like the place. I saw in another one of your posts that you are a student at IU. Are you from Indiana? If so, Denver will be very different. Not necessarily better or worse, but certainly different. Ditto, actually, for most of the cities on your list. How did you choose these cities?

Also, do a little research on each place, and post some more specific questions. It is easy to find out information about MLB and NBA teams, school districts, and the like.

Good luck with your search.

[alisonelaine]

I only go to school in Bloomington, IN (not at all like the rest of Indiana) and I have been born and raised in Austin, TX.

We are trying to do most of this research before finding places to visit, because we may only be able to visit our TOP city...we are going to be college seniors this year and it seems like we have never had free weekends. Also since I want to be a teacher and he wants to work with marketing or corporate type stuff, we have to start the job hunt early and go hard at it, and I have to work on getting certified for that state.

We have already done a ton of research haha...we started with like 50 cities and have narrowed it down to these by using all the normal "data"...but we are just trying to get opinions from people that live there now.

Specifically, we want to know how the job markets are for what we are interested in, what people think of the weather, and how the 20-somethings scene is (costs, stuff to do, etc).