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I would be confused when cooking at high altitudes.
I vote Pittsburgh.
Oh, you get used to it. Water boils at 202, not 212, so your coffee doesn't get as hot, lol. Cookies spread more on the pan; you have to adjust the recipe, less baking soda, etc. For most other things, it doesn't much matter.
Oh, you get used to it. Water boils at 202, not 212, so your coffee doesn't get as hot, lol. Cookies spread more on the pan; you have to adjust the recipe, less baking soda, etc. For most other things, it doesn't much matter.
Cooking bread you use less yeast too (lesson learned the hard way)! I think it takes longer for things to cook in the oven!
Regarding auto and home owners, without a doubt I'm paying considerably less here than I did in PA (and I use Esurance, I utilized the internet for the best deal). For auto insurance I pay $ 200 less every 6 months and added coverage to my policy! For my home policy I pay $ 100 less a year, and again, have more coverage (I use a local agent here).
I like the weather here more but it is very comparable to Pittsburgh. The difference is I don't find the cold to feel as cold. Also I feel the sun more here. I don't notice it more, I just feel it more. I love seeing the mountains daily. I can't explain it, but I love it. I enjoy the desert prairie so the brown doesn't bother me. It's nice to not go up and down a hill every two seconds, yet there is enough change to the landscape to not make me feel like I'm staring for miles and miles of flat land. Though I think Pittsburgh is probably prettier to look at I feel a desire to be outside more here.
I'm also not in the Denver area, I'm an hour North of it. But this brings up another difference I notice. In Pittsburgh I knew plenty of people who traveled an hour or more to get to work, here not as much. Most people here would not travel to Denver (or Cheyenne) on a regular basis and both are about an hour from here. I've heard the reason is that the roads getting to either city can be brutal in the winter and that is part of the reason. I think the suburbs are built up enough that that for some suburbs there are just enough options locally to forgo the drive.
I've found cost of living comparable (outside of buying a home). Buying a house costs more. Renting is comparable. Utilities are a wash (some more, some less, gas being the biggest difference). Food is more here (I shopped Aldi's). Beer is more here, wine is less, liquor is a bit less (at least what we buy). In PA you'll pay yearly inspection/emissions, here you'll pay yearly registration (which can be brutal) and in some counties emissions.
Cooking bread you use less yeast too (lesson learned the hard way)!
I think it takes longer for things to cook in the oven!
Regarding auto and home owners, without a doubt I'm paying considerably less here than I did in PA (and I use Esurance, I utilized the internet for the best deal). For auto insurance I pay $ 200 less every 6 months and added coverage to my policy! For my home policy I pay $ 100 less a year, and again, have more coverage (I use a local agent here).
I like the weather here more but it is very comparable to Pittsburgh. The difference is I don't find the cold to feel as cold. Also I feel the sun more here. I don't notice it more, I just feel it more. I love seeing the mountains daily. I can't explain it, but I love it.
I've found cost of living comparable (outside of buying a home). Buying a house costs more. Re$nting is comparable. Utilities are a wash (some more, some less). Food is more (I shopped Aldi's). Beer is more, wine is less, liquor is a bit less (at least what we buy). In PA you'll pay yearly inspection/emissions, here you'll pay yearly registration (which can be brutal) and in some counties emissions.
Yeah, the yeast issue is complicated. Try the CSU extension website for some high-altitude cooking/baking tips.
Yearly car regisitration here in CO drops as the value of your car drops. One of ours was ~ $25 this year.
I agree that rents are comparable. I did a little googling on the subject yesterday. Pgh's average rent is lower, but there is a big overlap in rents in the two cities. For comparable properties, you'll pay comparable rent, e.g. an apt. in Oakland will rent for about the same as an apt. near the U of Denver. An apt. in Shadyside will rent for similar as an apt. in Washington Park, an apt. in a complex in Moon will rent for similar as an apt. in suburban Westminster.
Yeah, the yeast issue is complicated. Try the CSU extension website for some high-altitude cooking/baking tips.
Yearly car regisitration here in CO drops as the value of your car drops. One of ours was ~ $25 this year.
I agree that rents are comparable. I did a little googling on the subject yesterday. Pgh's average rent is lower, but there is a big overlap in rents in the two cities. For comparable properties, you'll pay comparable rent, e.g. an apt. in Oakland will rent for about the same as an apt. near the U of Denver. An apt. in Shadyside will rent for similar as an apt. in Washington Park, an apt. in a complex in Moon will rent for similar as an apt. in suburban Westminster.
Thanks, I will! (CSU site) I actually live a couple miles from their campus here (I'm in Fort Collins).
Everyone kept warning me about how brutal the cost of living difference would be, but there were tons of rental options here within my price range. The other difference is there were a lot of mobile home communities here so there is that added option (and you can rent one for 700'ish). The quality of life boost I got for slightly more is worth it, for me. For those in Pittsburgh the best I can compare it is to say I feel like I live in a big version of Oakmont with Pitt University as the central point, and for it I pay less than I paid in Penn Hills (I'm in a mobile home community). If I had rented I would have paid comparable to where I was living. Only if I had bought a house here would I have paid more. So I agree it depends where you're looking and I'll add what type of housing you're looking for.
There are tons of stores here. Everywhere. It's like a never ending line of stores and food eateries more-so than where I lived in PA. It's like the Monroeville strip never ending. I can't figure out how they can have so many stores for what I consider a small sized town (less than 200K). My husband said it reminds him of California in that way and I can't, for the life of me, figure out how with all these food places people aren't 500lbs! Instead I see a lot less overweight people here in spite of it. I'm not sure if I find all these stores a positive or negative thing yet...
Yes, this true about the cost to register lowering over time, but if you come here with a new or newer car from PA you're gonna have a big surprise when you register your car here! I own a mobile home and that is registered through the DMV as well. This year it was part of my closing cost but I'm bracing myself as to if this works the same way and what I'll pay next year!
I added a bit more to my original post (about weather and commuting btw).
DenverGirl, what brought you guys out here? I'm always curious to hear of more Pittsburgh / Denver connection stories.
All of my friends here have managed to make Denver a second home almost...we have a ton of good friends out there that we met through being involved in electronic music. They're part of our family now and people travel almost monthly between the two. It's an amazing city full of great people.
Glad you're liking Pittsburgh so far! It's a huge contrast to Denver. I'm always amazed at how different the two cities are, yet they still share some similarities.
DenverGirl, what brought you guys out here? I'm always curious to hear of more Pittsburgh / Denver connection stories.
All of my friends here have managed to make Denver a second home almost...we have a ton of good friends out there that we met through being involved in electronic music. They're part of our family now and people travel almost monthly between the two. It's an amazing city full of great people.
Glad you're liking Pittsburgh so far! It's a huge contrast to Denver. I'm always amazed at how different the two cities are, yet they still share some similarities.
When we moved to Denver in 1980, I noticed a lot of similarities.
1. Sports mania. At the time, Denver only had major league football and basketball teams. The "Broncomania" is similar to Pittsburgh's Steeler stuff, but a little more toned down.
2. People like to go hunting, fishing, camping, and the like in both cities.
3. Business families that are both public benefactors and politicians, e.g. Coors, Heinz. (The Coors family has been fairly quiet lately, however.)
4. Lots of neat neighborhoods.
That's just a few off the top of my head. Of course, there are dfferences, too. This is definitely NOT a union town and there is very little support for unions here. A grocery workers strike ended a few years ago due to lack of public support, among other reasons. The economy is different. We're not "eds and meds" though we have some first class examples of both. Here it's more IT and telecom.
When we moved to Denver in 1980, I noticed a lot of similarities.
1. Sports mania. At the time, Denver only had major league football and basketball teams. The "Broncomania" is similar to Pittsburgh's Steeler stuff, but a little more toned down.
2. People like to go hunting, fishing, camping, and the like in both cities.
3. Business families that are both public benefactors and politicians, e.g. Coors, Heinz. (The Coors family has been fairly quiet lately, however.)
4. Lots of neat neighborhoods.
That's just a few off the top of my head. Of course, there are dfferences, too. This is definitely NOT a union town and there is very little support for unions here. A grocery workers strike ended a few years ago due to lack of public support, among other reasons. The economy is different. We're not "eds and meds" though we have some first class examples of both. Here it's more IT and telecom.
So much for "compare and contrast", LOL.
Yep! I've noticed the same things! I'd also add the arts scenes to the list. Both PGH and Denver have some pretty cutting edge stuff going on lately. Another thing that I think they have in common is that they are both still shaking off old perceptions. Denver with it's "cow town" perception, and Pittsburgh with it's smoky rust city perception. Denver has sort of become a release valve for the west coast cities – people who want to escape the high costs of living. I think Pittsburgh is starting to head down that same path with the eastern cities – although I'd say it's a little further behind in that dept. Both cities have a large amount of people living there who really want to make them the best cities they can be.
The one thing Pittsburgh could learn from Denver is the open-mindedness and the "anything goes" attitude. The one thing that Denver could learn from Pittsburgh is the down-to-earth qualities people have here.
I've spent far too much time comparing and contrasting the two in my head over the past few years. I guess that's what happens when you're in a long distance relationship for years and are always debating where both people should end up at. haha.
Yep! I've noticed the same things! I'd also add the arts scenes to the list. Both PGH and Denver have some pretty cutting edge stuff going on lately. Another thing that I think they have in common is that they are both still shaking off old perceptions. Denver with it's "cow town" perception, and Pittsburgh with it's smoky rust city perception. Denver has sort of become a release valve for the west coast cities – people who want to escape the high costs of living. I think Pittsburgh is starting to head down that same path with the eastern cities – although I'd say it's a little further behind in that dept. Both cities have a large amount of people living there who really want to make them the best cities they can be.
The one thing Pittsburgh could learn from Denver is the open-mindedness and the "anything goes" attitude. The one thing that Denver could learn from Pittsburgh is the down-to-earth qualities people have here.
I've spent far too much time comparing and contrasting the two in my head over the past few years. I guess that's what happens when you're in a long distance relationship for years and are always debating where both people should end up at. haha.
Yep! I've noticed the same things! I'd also add the arts scenes to the list. Both PGH and Denver have some pretty cutting edge stuff going on lately. Another thing that I think they have in common is that they are both still shaking off old perceptions. Denver with it's "cow town" perception, and Pittsburgh with it's smoky rust city perception. Denver has sort of become a release valve for the west coast cities – people who want to escape the high costs of living. I think Pittsburgh is starting to head down that same path with the eastern cities – although I'd say it's a little further behind in that dept. Both cities have a large amount of people living there who really want to make them the best cities they can be.
The one thing Pittsburgh could learn from Denver is the open-mindedness and the "anything goes" attitude. The one thing that Denver could learn from Pittsburgh is the down-to-earth qualities people have here.
I've spent far too much time comparing and contrasting the two in my head over the past few years. I guess that's what happens when you're in a long distance relationship for years and are always debating where both people should end up at. haha.
I have just accepted that Denver will always be a "cow town". They march the cattle down the streets of downtown Denver at the beginning of the National Western Stock Show every year. The stock show rodeo is a popular event. Now someone on "General US" asked, "Is that anything to be proud of?" and I said, "Yes. Eat much?".
They march the cattle down the streets of downtown Denver at the beginning of the National Western Stock Show every year.
I wouldn't want to be on the clean-up crew for that event...
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I think it takes longer for things to cook in the oven!
