Unicorn? Affordable, diverse, liberal-leaning Western mountain town? (high crime, home)

[kklove2001]

Title kind of says it all. After much too long spent in the South, I am ready to go back to the mountains.

Looking for what seems like a unicorn -- a mountain town with:
> liberal-leanings (or at least not completely conservative)
> affordable housing/land (want to build our own on $100K or less lot)
> at least some diversity -- not 98.6 White
> cold weather/skiing in winter
> ideally, water nearby (lake/river/ocean/giant pool)

Anyone out there have an idea?
I feel like I've been searching the entire mountain West online for months and coming up empty.

Thank you, everyone!
-K

[ckhthankgod]

To be honest, you are more likely to find this in the Northeast, but perhaps places like Ogden, Layton, Clearfield, etc. in UT north of Salt Lake City and around Hill AFB would meet much of the criteria.

[Pavlov's Dog]

Cle Elum, Washington is a pretty cool little town that most people have never heard of. Its east of the Snoqualmie Pass just off of I-90. You'd be on the dry side of the Cascades but only half an hour to quality skiing and a couple of hours to Seattle. Nearby are Roslyn (where the TV program Northern Exposure was filmed) and Ellensburg where there is a medium sized public university.

Wenatchee and Walla Walla are other underrated Washington towns with lots of amenities. None are all that liberal though.

In Oregon Bend and Hood River are perfect but not cheap unless you want to be a ways outside of town.

[Melanzana92]

I may be biased, but I think you're looking exactly for Leadville, Colorado.

> Leans liberal
> It's starting to get expensive, but it's still very affordable compared to nearby towns. I think a sub-$100K lot is really doable.
> Mostly white, but 36% population is Hispanic/Latino of any race. There isn't much beyond white & Hispanic though.
> If you like the cold, you'll love it. Highest city in North America, so winters are long and summers are perfect.
> We have two "large" bodies of water in Lake County: Turquoise Reservoir and Twin Lakes (which are natural lakes, but were enlarged with damming).

And I say it's cold, but it's not that cold. It's nothing like Minnesota or the Dakotas, and the Sun is often out and bright. If Leadville is too cold though, you can look down valley at Chaffee County. It's more purple-to-red politically down there, but Salida is a liberal town. It's much lower, so it will be hotter in summer and not as cold in winter. Property is more expensive but still not like Breck, Vail, Aspen, etc.

It's had some hard times, but I think 2010 was the turnaround point and 2020 is when it really takes off. It's a super cute town, and there's so much construction going on. I-70 is 25 minutes away so it's not isolated either.

[NW Crow]

What is the bottom end population size of town you'd move to? 2k, 5, 10 or bigger? What is the upper limit, if any?

"At least not completely conservative" could be defined as 30-40% voting Democratic for President. You might still not find it desirable. Or even less might be acceptable. Your answer matters for the choice list.

While waiting for this guidance, I'll throw out a few possibly not too conservative and hopefully big enough spots:

non-lakefront Whitefish MT
non-lakefront Chelan WA
White Salmon WA
Liberty Lake WA (east of Spokane)
La Grande OR
Florence to Stevensville MT
outside Livingston MT
East Helena MT (or east - southeast of there)
Red Lodge MT.
Moscow ID or real close to it.
Bayfield CO (or Forest Lakes area north of it). Or Mancos CO. Or Pagosa Springs CO.
Williams AZ.
Minden NV or outside.
Ruidoso NM or nearby.

In interior west, there are usually at least modest hispanic population and in some places it is 1/3rd to majority. Sometimes Native American, usually of modest size but big in a few places. You are not going to find much (hardly any) black or asian population outside big cities on west coast or in Denver and rarely in mountain towns. If diversity is important, look there (maybe outside Sacramento?). Or southern CO and NM. Sometimes people say they want diversity and later it comes out they want the full rainbow or mix that has to include a different group to be considered diverse and are not interested in just white-brown or white-brown-red (so to speak).

[Syringaloid]

Originally Posted by ckhthankgod

To be honest, you are more likely to find this in the Northeast, but perhaps places like Ogden, Layton, Clearfield, etc. in UT north of Salt Lake City and around Hill AFB would meet much of the criteria.

IDK, those places are rather conservative and suburban.

OP, most of the mountain towns in the west are going to be predominately white, and many expensive.
Are you interested in a tourist area or a non tourist area?

[bluescreen73]

Yeah, OP, you're definitely looking for a unicorn. None of the major cities in the Intermountain West are really all that diverse. Denver metro is your best bet there. Aurora is 16% black, 6% Asian, 10% Other with about 20% of the city's residents being foreign-born.

Denver's not all that affordable ($100k might get you a trailer home on a barren piece of prairie), and there isn't a lot of water here.

Colorado Springs is a bit cheaper than Denver, and it's modestly diverse, but it's very conservative overall.

As far as true Colorado mountain towns go, the resort areas tend to be very liberal, not diverse, and extremely expensive, and the non-resort areas are considerably less expensive, not diverse, and usually crimson red.

Salt Lake and Boise are also more affordable but they're both lily-white (86 and 89%, respectively). Both states are also considerably more conservative overall than Colorado.

In New Mexico, Albuquerque's diversity is almost exclusively Hispanic (and it's not really cold in the winter or all that close to skiing).

[NW Crow]

Taos is very diverse, in a 3 group sense. Pretty high crime rate, partly related to inter-group relations. Lot price will vary a lot by location and water situation.

[Phil P]

I second Leadville, if you can handle cold, as in snow / gropple in June. It's in a neat spot at essentially the top of the Rockies! The area had a big downturn after mining dried up and people had to figure out how to clean up the mining mess. Natures recovered pretty decently and there's new development as CO in general has seen a lot of outdoor tourism expansion. The town is not like a ski area, it's a bit more dilapidated and not posh, but that is also why it's affordable.

[kklove2001]

Thanks, friends! I know it’s going to be a hard find, and we’ve got time to explore, but you all have named some places I’ve not heard of at all, which is great!

I get that the diversity might be largely Hispanic/Native and that’s definitely Much better than all white!

I lived for years in South Lake Tahoe and our diversity there was definitely Hispanic. Am just becoming more culturally aware in my old age.

I’d love to be near a ski town and/or near a college town because they will bring/mean some sort of jobs other than working at Dollar General or something. I’m working on getting my freelance writing game on, so hopefully that’ll be on lock by the time we are ready to settle in 2022.

I want to be in a community as opposed to middle of nowhere, but as smaller community than Denver, etc.

Thanks, everyone! Keep the suggestions coming if you’ve got more!

I’m researching and will build out a big travel map plan for when we pack up our van and go search for the next thing!