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Old 07-23-2013, 09:50 AM
 
59 posts, read 111,143 times
Reputation: 144

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Yup! Denver is awesome, lived there a couple years back. You should come before it gets full! Two weeks ago, met someone on the Denver reddit subforum doing the same thing I'm doing (GTFOing from HR).

I already have two kids, and just couldn't imagine them growing up here. Its not a liberal/conservative thing (I'm actually kinda conservative!) its a backwards thing (hate, racism, misogyny, suburban sprawl, etc.) this place is stuck in the worst parts of the 80s and will likely for the next 20-30 years.

But anyway, good luck! Look up the Brookings Institution (or Pew, I forget) reports on relocation and cities, they have great breakdowns on where to relocate to. If work/family is no consideration Denver/Boulder should make it on most people's top 10 list.

My advice, think long and hard, but if you mess up just try again! I can't tell you how much money this is costing me (I'm a professional and am gonna make about half of what I make now, the old lady is gonna have to go back to work and we are likely to go from 3500 sq. ft house to 1500 sq. ft.) but this has been one of the best decisions of my life.

Cheers and thanks!
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Old 07-23-2013, 10:25 AM
 
120 posts, read 209,662 times
Reputation: 83
This thread pretty much sums up the way I feel about HR in general. I feel that the vast majority of people who enjoy living here are either from here or have significant ties to the area (family, friends, etc). Myself, I moved here because of a job and haven't particularly enjoyed my time so far. I'm so thankful to have a new job and also will be moving out to either Chicago or NYC here in the coming months. I've met a lot of nice people in this area and made a few life-long friendships, but the overall small-town vibe and lack of cultural diversity has influenced me to look to other cities. As a previous poster mentioned, there is no point in spending my youth here unhappy if I have the ability to live elsewhere.
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Old 07-23-2013, 10:48 AM
 
59 posts, read 111,143 times
Reputation: 144
Quote:
Originally Posted by thesolution View Post
This thread pretty much sums up the way I feel about HR in general. I feel that the vast majority of people who enjoy living here are either from here or have significant ties to the area (family, friends, etc). Myself, I moved here because of a job and haven't particularly enjoyed my time so far. I'm so thankful to have a new job and also will be moving out to either Chicago or NYC here in the coming months. I've met a lot of nice people in this area and made a few life-long friendships, but the overall small-town vibe and lack of cultural diversity has influenced me to look to other cities. As a previous poster mentioned, there is no point in spending my youth here unhappy if I have the ability to live elsewhere.
Yup.

You're making the correct choice. I hope this thread is found by others who are in a similar life situation.

I'm actually very sympathetic to the area, because people here are either "stuck" by family or simply don't know how amazing the rest of America is. I'm sure locals (and folks at my office!) think I'm being a jerk, but the first step to fixing any problem is recognizing you have one. I come from a poor/small place that is now on a HUGE upswing because people stopped letting the naysayers win every argument and finally (after 20 years) admitted they have a problem. So I hope that in my small way I'm helping this community, because like you, I've met some wonderful people here.

The one niggling point is that I really don't think its a young/old thing. I'm not young. People have told me that this is a good place to retire and that the "young" people move out of HR. I would firmly disagree. HR is PARTICULARLY bad for older people too AND middle aged people (because this is no place to raise children, especially daughters).

There are MANY better places to retire. I feel like the only plus side to HR in general is low local taxes (because there are no amenities here), but folks, if you truly want to live in a dumpy community and not pay taxes, let me let you in on a secret: there are MANY places in the USA that have lower taxes! Google it!

Cheers "thesolution" Chicago and NYC are both awesome places being young in! Hang out there for a couple years, pop out some kids and meet me in Denver for a nice cold microbrew!
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Old 07-23-2013, 11:04 AM
 
120 posts, read 209,662 times
Reputation: 83
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geork View Post
Yup.

You're making the correct choice. I hope this thread is found by others who are in a similar life situation.

I'm actually very sympathetic to the area, because people here are either "stuck" by family or simply don't know how amazing the rest of America is. I'm sure locals (and folks at my office!) think I'm being a jerk, but the first step to fixing any problem is recognizing you have one. I come from a poor/small place that is now on a HUGE upswing because people stopped letting the naysayers win every argument and finally (after 20 years) admitted they have a problem. So I hope that in my small way I'm helping this community, because like you, I've met some wonderful people here.

The one niggling point is that I really don't think its a young/old thing. I'm not young. People have told me that this is a good place to retire and that the "young" people move out of HR. I would firmly disagree. HR is PARTICULARLY bad for older people too AND middle aged people (because this is no place to raise children, especially daughters).

There are MANY better places to retire. I feel like the only plus side to HR in general is low local taxes (because there are no amenities here), but folks, if you truly want to live in a dumpy community and not pay taxes, let me let you in on a secret: there are MANY places in the USA that have lower taxes! Google it!

Cheers "thesolution" Chicago and NYC are both awesome places being young in! Hang out there for a couple years, pop out some kids and meet me in Denver for a nice cold microbrew!
As you previously mentioned, there are many structural barriers that would need to be removed for this place to truly grow. When I first moved to the area, I immediately took note that the whole 7 cities approach was counter intuitive, especially considering how small some of the cities are (Portsmouth). Each city is working to benefit their own, without thinking about it from a systematic standpoint. I don't see a solution to this without consolidation of the cities, which won't happen in my lifetime. Progressive is not the first word that comes to mind in describing HR.

I don't plan on staying too many years in Chicago or NYC (or any urban setting for that matter), and I do love snowboarding, so I'm sure at some point we'll be having beers in Denver!
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Old 07-23-2013, 07:53 PM
 
1,356 posts, read 1,938,552 times
Reputation: 1056
Quote:
Originally Posted by Geork View Post
Yup! Denver is awesome, lived there a couple years back. You should come before it gets full! Two weeks ago, met someone on the Denver reddit subforum doing the same thing I'm doing (GTFOing from HR).

I already have two kids, and just couldn't imagine them growing up here. Its not a liberal/conservative thing (I'm actually kinda conservative!) its a backwards thing (hate, racism, misogyny, suburban sprawl, etc.) this place is stuck in the worst parts of the 80s and will likely for the next 20-30 years.

But anyway, good luck! Look up the Brookings Institution (or Pew, I forget) reports on relocation and cities, they have great breakdowns on where to relocate to. If work/family is no consideration Denver/Boulder should make it on most people's top 10 list.

My advice, think long and hard, but if you mess up just try again! I can't tell you how much money this is costing me (I'm a professional and am gonna make about half of what I make now, the old lady is gonna have to go back to work and we are likely to go from 3500 sq. ft house to 1500 sq. ft.) but this has been one of the best decisions of my life.

Cheers and thanks!
Nice. I'm currently living in Richmond which I enjoy way more than Hampton Roads and my next stop is DC when I finish school to work for a few years. If I don't even up liking it there then I may try and check out some of the up and coming cities such as Austin, Atlanta, and Denver. Do you mind linking me to that study?

And I agree that a lot of people are stuck here. A lot of my friends take pride in the 7 cities thing and don't really leave the area much or if they do, they can't leave because they get a job here that prevents them from relocating.
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Old 07-23-2013, 08:17 PM
 
Location: Los Angeles, CA
134 posts, read 347,751 times
Reputation: 104
I'm from VB born and raised and lived here all the way up until mid 2012 but finally left, all my family and a great circle of friends were there but ultimately it still couldn't keep me back, I guess I had a late 20's crisis lol because ultimately I left, my first stop was Miami and while it was a total change from VB and HR it wasn't really that wonderful either so next month I'm now going to try Los Angeles, not saying the grass is always greener because it's definitely not but its good to try new places if you can, I think my main mistake in moving to Miami is it wasn't really all that far and still very much east coast, so now comes the real big move for me roughly 2500 miles away from home.

I will say though that HR especially VB is great for families I grew up in the redmill area of VB and I used to play outside with friends until the sun went down and never felt unsafe, neighbors looked after us and we could walk to the park or anywhere and nothing bad ever happened.

I'm not bashing VB and I didn't become one of those guys that moves away from his hometown and constantly bashes it, its just after 25+ years there I knew there was more to see out there so I left right or wrong I took a chance and move #1 didn't work out and who knows what LA will hold but its worth a try.

VB has some great things that I've really learned since I left and they are..

*after moving to a much bigger city we really do have it easy in terms of traffic in VB even during rush hour traffic actually moves

*being able to go to restaurants and other venues on the weekend and actually get in quickly

*the drivers were definitely alot better and so were the insurance rates

In closing VB and most of HR is great if your totally settled down and want to just raise a family without alot of the BS that comes with being in a major city, its still very much suburbia where kids aren't exposed to alot of bad things...but if your young and like to have fun and know that the whole settling down thing isn't for you then its probably best to try somewhere else

Good luck OP
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Old 07-24-2013, 04:56 AM
 
Location: Roanoke, VA
1,812 posts, read 4,204,346 times
Reputation: 1177
Good luck to the OP on his move to Colo.

Octo, I don't know which study Geork referred to, but this site has many lists re where to live:

Moderator cut: link removed, competitor site

Denver-Aurora CO is at #9 on the list of best cities to relocate to.

Last edited by Yac; 09-07-2018 at 04:21 AM..
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Old 07-24-2013, 07:20 AM
 
59 posts, read 111,143 times
Reputation: 144
Quote:
Originally Posted by Octa View Post
Nice. I'm currently living in Richmond which I enjoy way more than Hampton Roads and my next stop is DC when I finish school to work for a few years. If I don't even up liking it there then I may try and check out some of the up and coming cities such as Austin, Atlanta, and Denver. Do you mind linking me to that study?

And I agree that a lot of people are stuck here. A lot of my friends take pride in the 7 cities thing and don't really leave the area much or if they do, they can't leave because they get a job here that prevents them from relocating.
So, I've been accused of thinking a bit too much about this stuff (pluses/minuses of various areas), but like I said I have tended to relocate a great deal in the past.

I've found many "surveys" and "best places to live" type posts, but little actual research. The best objective studies I've found have been by the Pew Research Center and the Bookings Institution. Now your mileage will vary, I'm not trying to represent myself as an expert on such matters, but I looked long and this is the best demographic summaries I could find (that were available free and full text).

Brookings identified 23 "living cities" that while not necessarily the biggest in the US (and not strictly cities, I think they used MSAs for some analyses) they thought were the most dynamic and published a factbook on each one based on the 2000 census data set.

Here is the general link:

Living Cities Census Series — Sponsored by Living Cities | Brookings Institution

Denver PDFs:
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Res...ver/denver.PDF
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Res...er/denver2.PDF

Pew did a more generalized demographic overview with surveys conducted in late 2000s. More of an apples to apples comparison

link (PDF):
http://pewsocialtrends.org/files/201...ED-updated.pdf

I found both of those very helpful in making an informed decision.

Good luck mate, don't get stuck!
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Old 07-24-2013, 08:42 AM
 
120 posts, read 209,662 times
Reputation: 83
Wow! Thanks for posting all that information Geork, especially the last PEW study. I'm sort of a data-junkie so this kind of stuff excites me
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Old 07-24-2013, 05:38 PM
 
1,356 posts, read 1,938,552 times
Reputation: 1056
Thanks man!
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