Can anyone tell me the best cities in Colorado to live?

Question

My husband and I are currently living in Kansas, but looking to move to Colorado. We are looking at possibly Denver, Boulder, Ft. Collins, Colorado Springs, or Broomfield. Can anyone tell me what the best cities are as far as school districts, crime stats, real estate, and so forth?

Answer 1

My parents just moved to Loveland 3 years ago and love it (no pun intended!). It is a rapidly growing city, not too far from Ft. Collins and right on I-25. Since they're retirement age, they don't know personally about the schools, but everyone they talk to seems to think schools there are great. Since it's rapidly growing, real estate prices are reasonable, compared to Denver, but are growing fast so would be a good investment.

Denver is very expensive for housing. My brother bought a 100-year old 3 bedroom house there about 2 years ago and paid over $300K. We grew up in Southeast Denver, and the house next door to ours, which is 4 bedroom, 50 years old is going for $600K.

Boulder is also very expensive, but good schools. Colorado Springs is nice, and also growing fast, but also fairly pricey. My brother-in-law just moved to Durango and are finding it difficult to find a house there, as it's not growing much at all. It's also pretty high cost-of-living.

Do NOT go to Pueblo. It's the armpit of the state.

Check out zillow.com for real estate prices.

Answer 2

You will LOVE Colorado. Any of the choices you have there are great places to live.

Denver and vicinity is BIG city with typical big city problems. Colorado Springs, where I have lived for 35+ years is great, but is experiencing growth problems, especially traffic! But it is beautiful. I think the Denver area would offer a much better opportunity for jobs. CS is more challenging, less options but depending on your interests and experience, could be a viable option.

I went to college in Greeley, just east of Ft. Collins. Ft. Collins is awesome...very appealing place to live and raise a family. Definitely worth the look into this area.

On a side, Colorado Springs was this years Money Magazines pick for BEST place in the nation to live!

AS far a s school go, any of your picks will have good schools and here are this year's CSAP results for Colorado:

http://www.cde.state.co.us/index_assess.htm

This will tell you what schools are not making the grade, so to speak.

Real estate is HIGH..especially in Boulder and parts of Denver and Colorado Springs.

Good luck in your search.

Phil

My websites dedicated to living in Colorado Springs for a long time!
http://pikes-peak-cafe.com
http://scenic-colorado-springs.com

Answer 3

ok well boulder is extremely overpriced (if you choose there expect to spend atleast 500k for a very small house. but the schools are good and it has a good laid back atmosphere) if you like boulder but cant afford it look into broomfield and and longmont they are close by and worth looking into. denver is very nice but also expensive (although i personally would rather live in denver than boulder) you should consider a loft, if that would fit your lifestyle, because there are alot of those and not so many houses. a very nice subdivision of denver is Cherry Creek. a VERY nice area although the realestate is equal to boulder. Ft. collins is a college town but also good to raise a family but it is atleast an hour away from denver. the real estate will be good you can find an easy range of decent houses from 200k-a million (i must note that Greeley is comparable to ft collins but greeley has many cattle farms and some days the ENTIRE town will smell of manure. im not joking. it is bad. only move to greeley or near greeley if you have no sense of smell) colorado springs is a smallish town but it has pretty much everything you would need. if you are looking for a cheaper house try northglenn or westminister (both are about 30 minutes north of denver) realestate is reasonable, most schools are good and the crime rate is good in most areas however it kind varies neighborhood to neighborhood so look into it carefully. my vote for best family place is Littleton (its 30 minutes south of denver) the schools are great, there are parks and a cute main street, and it is very safe (its columbine reputation is extremely misleading) and houses average between 300k-500k. i hope some of this is helpful you can contact me if necassary.

Answer 4

Evergreen is an awsome town just 20 minutes west of Denver, very clean, quiet and beautiful, in the foothills. Good sense of community. Great places to hike and close enough to Denver to enjoy all Denver has to offer. I'm not sure as far as schools, crime stats are way lower than Denver, some of the area homes can get pretty expensive just look around, but also look in the Kittridge or Indian Hill area, they are very close by and probably less expensive. Check out the website below. I also like the Boulder area too but don't know too much about it.

Answer 5

I would skip the big cities and go to the San Juan Mountains. Durango is a reasonable size and even has a college. I talked to a guy in Ouray at an art store and told him I'd move to Ouray if I could find a job there. He said "I'm an ob-gyn guy and I found a job". Sometimes you have to be creative to keep the quality of life. From the choices you gave, I would pick the Springs. To me, it has less hustle bustle of the northern cities. Of the ones north, I liked Ft. Collins because it is a university town. Besides it is close to Wyoming. But then the Springs are close to New Mexico. I hopes it works out for you.

Answer 6

i'm a fifth era Colorado close by. and that i stay interior the Denver Metro section (even if the subsequent community over is interior Denver city limits.) I genuinely love residing right here! at present I spend the afternoon kayaking. observing the sand pipers alongside the seashores, and ducks and ducks out on the water, with wild flora and sparkling mountain refections! The park's only minutes from my abode. What more beneficial might want to you ask for? Lodo (decrease Downtown Denver) is impressive to loiter round in, with shops & paintings galleries and restaraunts & golf equipment. in spite of you opt for. And throughout Denver there are great tiny neighborhoods you may want to spend the day in. it truly is the staggering city interior the international, and that i could not imagine residing everywhere else!

Answer 7

Greenwood Village is a great community. It is a suburb of Denver, and is only about 20 minutes from the LoDo (Lower Downtown) of Denver. Pueblo, Colorado also has some great schools from what I've heard, you might look in to that, as rent is fairly reasonable, and you can get a house fairly cheap. You might also want to check out Pueblo West, Colorado - a lot of people live there, and it's a "suburb" of Pueblo.

Answer 8

Boulder is a nice college town. It is very friendly, out-doorsy, and scenic. Just outside town are some beautiful drives and nice ghost towns to the west.

I like to visit the town of Leadville. Incredible camping just outside of town and views all around. Bring a Jeep or Quad and many miles of trails are friendly. Go to the top of Mosquito Pass! The elevation of Leadville is 12,152 feet. It is the highest Incorporated city in the US. Have fun, and enjoy the state!

Answer 9

Colorado Springs in Very Nice, they have Pike's Peak, Manitou Incline rail ride (that's worth it alone). But all the Things you need to live, including a new Airport. Close enough to mountains to get away on bicycle. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is close, as is Fort Carson Army Base.

Answer 10

Castle Rock. 30min south of Denver, 45 min north of the springs.
great place to live, still have the small town feeling, . reasonable housing. 100s up to the millions. just had the us open here at Castle Pines,. 2 hrs to the mtns. lots of sunshine all year, but not much snow. douglas county has great schools too. castle rock is the county seat, low crime www.douglas.co.us
check us out.....been here 15 years from n.j.