So in two months I will be relocating to Boulder to take a new job. As yet, we have not decided where we are going to live within (or around) the city. Does anyone here have experience with Boulder and know what to try/avoid?
I’ve heard the public transportation there is surprisingly good, and that I may be able to live farther afield and still maintain my no-car-owning ways.
I’ve never been there, but I can tell you that Boulder is the most liberal city in Colorado, with all that that entails.
In other parts of the state, people sometimes refer to it as “The People’s Republic of Boulder.”
It would be nearly impossible to live in Colorado without a car. The front range is a sprawling array of suburbs (roughly) along the North to South strip of I-25, with Ft. Collins on the North end, Denver in the middle and Colorado Springs on the South. Boulder exists in a bubble to the Northwest of Denver.
Colorado housing is expensive and it moves fast, and that’s always been especially true for Boulder, so if you’re buying, be prepared to put in an offer quickly and don’t be shocked if you’re outbid. The areas around Boulder (Longmont and Superior especially) have benefited from their proximity, with all that entails.
Public transportation has improved greatly, but it’s still nowhere near what it needs to be to allow car-free living. Maybe if you lived and worked in the heart of Boulder or Denver, but otherwise you’d have a rough go.
That said, Boulder is beautiful and quirky, and if you’ve got the money, a great place to live.
Boulder was ahead of the hippie slash hipster movement, and this song still captures the esscence of the town. 
Alfalfa’s - Leftover Salmon
Rest assure that my wife and I will have a car. Emphasis on a car. I understand that anything outside of Boulder will need it, but I’m more thinking day-to-day, can I get from home to work on public transit. That’s how we do it now – she has the car all day, and I take the train into Manhattan for work.
Basically I’ve heard stories of that make it sound like that is relatively easy to have the same kind of lifestyle there, but with busses, or cycling or walking instead of trains, and am hoping those stories are true enough to be actionable.
That’s very dependent upon where you end up and how much time you’re willing to invest in a commute. I realize you probably don’t want to post where you’ll be working, but that’ll inform any kind of real advice you can get. If it’s in Boulder and you live in Boulder, you can manage with one car relatively easily. Public transportation is nothing like NYC, though.
Boulder is, above all else, a college town and the public transportation reflects that. The farther you get away from campus and the college haunts, the less comprehensive the public transportation will be.
Housing is mega expensive and hard to get. Everything said about houses going quickly and in a bidding war is absolutely accurate. Coming from the NYC area, you probably won’t feel the sticker shock nearly as much as someone coming to Boulder from, say, Omaha, but it is noticeably high for this part of the world.
Boulder is beautiful, the climate is largely favorable, the people are friendly, and the atmosphere is as laid back as one would expect.
Foodie culture is growing by leaps and bounds. There is much more fine dining than one might expect. Probably not NYC standards, but I think what you find here in CO will be better than expected.
The exception is delis. There are no delis in Colorado to approach New York standards. NY style pizza is readily available, however.
This will be very different from what you are accustomed to, but I think you will like it here. Almost everyone does.
Welcome to colorful Colorado.
Well before I lived in NY (well actually CT, but that little nub of CT that thinks it is NY) I lived in Santa Fe, NM, so I’m hoping for kind of a happy medium between the two experiences. 
There was definitely sticker shock on housing going from NM to NY – more than twice as much for a half-size apartment. My wife’s research indicates that we may come down some in rent, but not a lot.
If you liked Santa Fe, Boulder should feel comfortable to you. It isn’t as artsy nor nearly as Southwestern, but the western states mentality and slower pace should seem familiar.
It’s where Mork lived.
I moved from Boulder to NYC, but that was back in 1989. I lived in Gold Hill (up in the foothills), 4 mile canyon (also up in the foothills), a small farm near Niwot (on the plains), and various places on The Hill (by the University).
I really enjoyed the places in town on the Hill, where I could walk either to the University, downtown for drinking and entertainment and Pearl Street Mall browsing or up to Chautauqua Park for some close-in hiking. Lots of students of course, less as you go further west of the University.
The places I lived out of town were naturally spectacular of course. I especially remember watching the constellations rise from the plains out in Niwot although I thinks there are a lot more houses and light pollution out there now. The constellations are much bigger closer to the horizon so it was really impressive, to a NJ guy anyway. I spent a summer delivering pizza in Longmont and enjoyed watching thunderstorms form over the foothills and come through. From that perspective you can see the whole system and all of it’s drama.
The mountain places were nice, quiet, and cool but they were all up dirt roads which wore on my cars. Dirt/mining road mountain biking was right outside my door so it was hard to beat that. There have been some recent big fires and floods, so there’s that to consider I suppose. The winters were harsher than in town as you might imagine. I thought I’d like it more than I actually did, ultimately liking to be around people more.
The public transportation can be good or not so good in Boulder. There are some underserved areas, mostly as you get away from the university and the center of town. Generally good, but not like NYC. If you’ve got a bicycle you’ll do great, and the weather is conducive to bike commuting most years, most of the time. In some neighborhoods a car is just a hassle (as in Santa Fe and NYC).