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Maybe in 3 years I would like to make a big move across the country to someplace new. Right now I'm just trying to do some research on different cities and areas that catch my attention. Here are some things I would like to ask about and I would hope to hear any opinions on which of these cities would be a better fit for me. First off, I love my job and I want to continue to doing what I do. I work in an oil refinery. Both of these cities have refineries in them. Denver has one and it is owned by Suncor, which seems like a decent company. SLC has 3 or maybe 4, all of which are kind of small when it comes to how much they refine daily. I would probably look at trying to get a job with either Chevron or Tesoro. How is the oil business in each state? Which one seems more promising long term? Which city would an oil worker feel like they fit in better? Second, I'm married and eventually we would like to start a family. Which of the two would be a better place to raise kids someday? I'm guessing they probably both have good schools depending on the neighborhood? We are not really religious so I'm wondering if a non-LDS family would feel out of place in SLC. I don't think my wife and I would mind it but just wondering if kids would feel like they wouldn't be able to make friends in school because of it. How about outdoor activities? I'm tired of sitting around playing video games all day and I'd like to get into the outdoors. Which one would be better? I'd really like to be someplace where I could use a bike to get around and have access to beautiful parks and hiking trails. Living someplace where I can wake up every morning and look outside my window and see mountains would be amazing. Aesthetically which city would you prefer? Playing around on Google Street View makes me think a lot of SLC would offer the best views and has better looking neighborhoods, while some of Denver looks nice, a lot of it looks flat, boring and dry. Housing. Being from Texas I'm used to seeing nice houses for low prices. Which place would I get the most bang for my buck when it comes to finding a house around the 200-250k range? This is just from looking around on trulia and google street view but it seems like SLC offers better housing for that price range. I'm sure I'll come up with a lot more questions but these are the main ones on the top of my head at the moment.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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Originally Posted by techreactor
Maybe in 3 years I would like to make a big move across the country to someplace new. Right now I'm just trying to do some research on different cities and areas that catch my attention. Here are some things I would like to ask about and I would hope to hear any opinions on which of these cities would be a better fit for me.
First off, I love my job and I want to continue to doing what I do. I work in an oil refinery. Both of these cities have refineries in them. Denver has one and it is owned by Suncor, which seems like a decent company. SLC has 3 or maybe 4, all of which are kind of small when it comes to how much they refine daily. I would probably look at trying to get a job with either Chevron or Tesoro. How is the oil business in each state? Which one seems more promising long term? Which city would an oil worker feel like they fit in better?
Second, I'm married and eventually we would like to start a family. Which of the two would be a better place to raise kids someday? I'm guessing they probably both have good schools depending on the neighborhood? We are not really religious so I'm wondering if a non-LDS family would feel out of place in SLC. I don't think my wife and I would mind it but just wondering if kids would feel like they wouldn't be able to make friends in school because of it.
How about outdoor activities? I'm tired of sitting around playing video games all day and I'd like to get into the outdoors. Which one would be better? I'd really like to be someplace where I could use a bike to get around and have access to beautiful parks and hiking trails. Living someplace where I can wake up every morning and look outside my window and see mountains would be amazing.
Aesthetically which city would you prefer? Playing around on Google Street View makes me think a lot of SLC would offer the best views and has better looking neighborhoods, while some of Denver looks nice, a lot of it looks flat, boring and dry.
Housing. Being from Texas I'm used to seeing nice houses for low prices. Which place would I get the most bang for my buck when it comes to finding a house around the 200-250k range? This is just from looking around on trulia and google street view but it seems like SLC offers better housing for that price range. I'm sure I'll come up with a lot more questions but these are the main ones on the top of my head at the moment.
I don't know anything about the oil part of the OP questions. As far as the view of the mountains from the residential areas of both SLC and Denver, you will find the better views of the mountains in SLC by far. In fact, it is hard to find a place in the SL valley where you can't see the mountains. In most places, you can see them both to the east and the west. SLC is also cheaper than Denver so you will get more bang for your buck there. Denver has plenty of advantages but in those two areas, SLC has the clear advantage.
As for your concerns about religion, you can visit the Utah forum to see thread after thread about this. In short, people may bring up the question of religion but no one will force it on you. You can just say you are not interested. Members of the LDS church tend to stay quite busy with church activities and callings. Some interpret this as no longer being interested in them after they say they aren't interested in their church. In reality, people are just busy and don't realize how others take it. Your children will not be shunned or any dramatic thing like that but when they get to dating age, there may be some problems. Members tend to date and marry other members so some may not be interesting in dating your children due to religious factors. Just be aware of that going in.
My cousin lived in SLC for a few years, then eventually moved back to Denver. He said that the Mormon community is so tight knit, that they would often refuse to do business with non-Mormons (he ran an air-duct cleaning service).
If you want great mountain views, and the ability to bike everywhere... it might be tough. The parts of Denver where you can bike everywhere are typically located in the center of the city (Wash Park, The Highlands, etc), but they will not have mountain views. Boulder, would be the most likely part of the Denver area that would combine both of those attributes, but you can forget about getting a great house for your money there. Boulder is VERY pricey, and $300k buys a run-down dump. To get a nice 2,500 ft home, your looking north of $700k in Boulder. Erie is a reasonably priced suburb with great views, but you have to drive everywhere if you live there.
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