Planning Move: Denver, Co or SW illinois suburb? (Kansas City, St. Louis: condo, homes)

[butwells]

I am planning to visit these two areas for places to move with family. My wife and I have a 3 year old son. Areas I like in colorado are smaller NW Denver suburbs (bloomfied, Louisville) and Fort Collins. They're small, but close to big city. Like weather in Colorado, too. In SW Illinois, I like affordability of homes, closeness to st. louis and chicago, small towns like O'Fallon, Edwardsville, etc, with good schools, yet humid in summer.
ANyone lived in both areas and can give me some thoughts....Planning to visit and move in next year or two...

[aragx6]

Fort Collins is such a nice area, but I was surprised at how high prices are there. A friend of mine in Kansas City just got married and her hubby has family out there and wants to move back, and she told him "Sure, I'm willing to consider that, but you need to right me up a plan of how we're going to afford it."

The weather and all-around outdoor activities are better in Colorado, I think that would be hard to argue, but Southern Illinois is a very pretty area, it's well priced and in my opinion, St. Louis is a better cultural hub and an all-around more entertaining city. Denver is a nice town, but I find it so sleepy.

[Dr_Pepper]

I live in south-central Colorado but go to Denver a lot. I've also spent some time in Saint Louis and even if I'm not stopping for a visit, I'm often driving through.

Quite frankly, and I'm going to stupendously overgeneralize here, Denver is full of stuck up white liberals. Despite being a liberal (and white, no less) myself, this annoys the HELL out of me whenever I have to pass through. If you're not a vegan with an organic garden and a Prius, expect to be talked about. And looked down on.

The fact that you've already considered the weather you're looking for is imporatant. Be sure to investigate home prices, diversity, political leanings, and other factors that are important to you that you might have overlooked.

Re: weather, make sure you visit STL in the summer.

[chrissy720]

I live in Chicago and it is disgusting in the summer and it just seems to get worse every year. The humidity is unbearable and it rains all the time. This past summer has been one down pour after another for months. I can't say much for S.IL tho I've only really past through. From what I've been told the winters are much more mild down south. Chicago winters are also absolutely frigid. The snow falls and then freezes and stays around all winter long. It's only pretty like the first day.

On that note I've actually been doing research about moving to Denver myself and plan to next spring. I've read that Denver gets nearly 300 days of sunshine a year where Chicago only gets on average like 160-180. Bring on the sun!

One other thing to worry about in IL are the taxes. I don't know how it is in the rest of the state as much but in Chicago the property taxes on my condo have practically trippled since 2006 and the city is still broke. My first installment was around $600 back in 2006 and my first installment this year was $1,450.00. Thanks Cook County but no thanks I will be leaving as soon as possible.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by chrissy720

I live in Chicago and it is disgusting in the summer and it just seems to get worse every year. The humidity is unbearable and it rains all the time. This past summer has been one down pour after another for months. I can't say much for S.IL tho I've only really past through.

If you cannot handle the summers in Chicago, don't even think about St. Louis. In general, the hot weather is more intense and lasts a lot longer.

[ms122r]

I would go with Illinois.