Where should I move?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m at a point in my life where I’d like to explore my options. I’ve lived in Texas my whole life and I’d like to try something new. Some of the things that are important to me are:

  1. Decent weather. I’d like to see a little snow in the winter and have relatively nice summers.
  2. Good jobs in the computer industry. Obviously important since I still want to make a living programming.
  3. Sense of community. This is hard to define but I’d like to live somewhere other than suburbia, maybe a more established neighborhood where there’s a sense of caring for your neighbor.

So far, I’ve considered Colorado (either Denver or Colorado Springs–where’s techchick for advice?) or Virginia (maybe Richmond area).

Anyone want to plug their city? What do you think would be some great areas to look at?

2

Since you’re asking for advice and not facts, this belongs in IMHO, not GQ. I’ll move it.

bibliophage
moderator GQ

3

This site might be very helpful for you. I found it a wile back and crammed it in my ‘Favorites.’ It is darned good.

http://homeadvisor.msn.com/PickAPlace/CompareCities.asp

4

Thanks, bib. I wasn’t sure on the best place for this.

5

wiz,

I got your email but I will post here and leave the email for mostly questions…I am a late sleeper so I got your email too early in my day to respond, now I am somewhat awake.

Denver is primarily a telecomm area but there are computer types jobs to be had. Most of the good computer jobs are up north near Boulder, Longmont etc. It is a great place to live, I lived there for almost 3 years.

I suggest running through The Denver Post classifieds and see what types of jobs they are offering. There are also several head hunters in the area for management type jobs. Depending on what kind of income you are used to, it is higher there than it is in Colorado Springs but housing can be difficult.

Denver is a very spread out city, I lived in the south end of the area in Littleton, only I wasn’t in Littleton proper it was my address. I was three blocks from Greenwood Village which has a lot of high tech companies in.

Since I already had a job and knew where I would be working that’s when I contacted International Apartment Hunters and found a place. Back in 1998 when I moved back to C Springs, it was $845 for a two bedroom townhouse but that was through a private owner so it was cheaper.

Nice thing about Denver (except the damn traffic) is the amount of stuff to do. There are trails all over the city, once you get to know the area you live in, shopping is easy, and of course the Broadway plays, the musical headliners and the average stuff an average person can do is great. The cost of living though, is higher than that of C Springs and you’ll learn why in a sec.

Colorado Springs is nice little sleepy city, compared to Denver. We have a very conservative climate except on the west end of town near Old Colorado City and up towards Manitou Springs. Since it’s close to Denver (45-60 minute drive) it is a nice place to live though.

While the Denver Metro area has about 2 million people, about half the state’s population, here in Metro C Springs, we have about 500,000. But we still have minor league hockey, some Broadway shows come through and even Sting is coming through our city in December.

Our trail systems for hiking and walking are lacking but since we are smaller (people that live out in Aurora in the Denver area have to travel further to the mountains) we are close to the Rampart Range area, have the Garden of the Gods, Palmer Park and the falls up Cheyenne Canyon for hiking.

C Springs only has two major malls but we have tons of shopping centers. Traffic here is similar to Denver so there’s not a lot of comparison except that we have fewer people on smaller roads.

The defense contractors are big here. Now with the war going on, those contracts seem to be doing well. Intel and Compaq along with MCI (some of our major employers) are in cutbacks though. The smaller companies seem to be the ones doing the best here.

Part of the reason we have lower wages here is because we live in a huge military based town. I think it’s ranked third among military versus civilian. With that a lot of military people retire here because of the climate and our city. Since they retire here, they also can make lower wages with their retirement on the side. They still have access to the base for food and services so civilians have to “compete” with that in a job.

The housing here in C Springs is relative to the pay. Right now it’s a renter’s market. I rent a three bedroom house from a friend for only the cost of his mortgage so I am not the norm. He probably could squeeze another $50-75 out of me.

Over all, the Front Range of Colorado is a nice place to live. I would prefer to live back on the Western Slope but that’s not in the finances right now.

Hope this helps you, any questions? Shoot away.

6

Thanks, techchick. All very good info.

Anyone else want to brag about how great their city is?

7

Another Denverite.

Most of Colorado is pretty damn cool. But to be honest I don’t like Colorado Springs much. It’s kind of the center of Fundamentalism and can have an oppressive vibe. I also don’t like Boulder, As liberal as CS is conservative and every bit as closed minded.

Northwest Denver is favorite, and where I live. Easy access to downtown or the mountains, cheaper rent, and crime so much lower than any other big city I have experience with. Capital Hill(right next to downtown) is great place where people are totally open minded and lots of fun for the single partting type, but probably less of a family area. Crime is higher there though. University of Denver area is good as well, but the rent is higher than the Northwest. The biggest thing though is where you are going to work. With T-Rex, commuting in Denver is going to be hell for the next 7 years, and unless you want to spend 3 hours a day in traffic try to live close to where you work. And, like Techchick said,unfortuately most of the jobs are in Boulder or the Techcenter which are surrounded by suburban purgatory. But there are computer jobs in any area of town including Downtown, just involves a little more selectivity.

For smaller towns look at Fort Collins. Its about 180,000 people and 60 miles north of Denver for when you need more things to do. It’s a college town right on the mountains but doesn’t have the yuppie Suburban feel than the closer areas have. Good tech industry there too

If you are looking for specfic details let me know what you want to know.

8

I’m a new Denverite, as of September.

I’ve spent most of my time in Montgomery, Alabama, but have lived in Anchorage, AK; Ft. Walton Beach, FL; and Oulu, Finland. Next to Finland, Denver is quickly proving to be my favorite place to live (that I’ve actually experienced).

The wife and I live north of Denver proper in a city called Thornton (tons of history as it was founded in 1956) :slight_smile: - it’s pretty much suburbia up here with all our basic needs met within a 5 minute drive. Denver is about 12 miles south, so downtown isn’t too far away - and I can be at a good mall like Flat Iron Crossing in 15 minutes (to the West of Thornton). Denver traffic sucks during the rush hours, but I have found that if I am up early enough, I can be into the office (in the heart of downtown) in about 25 minutes. If I miss my pre- or post-rush hour drive time, I take Federal instead of I25, which while taking pretty much the same amount of time as the Interstate, keeps me in almost constant motion with less traffic and beautiful views of the Front Range. So, traffic can be managed.

The weather has been great - two days with snow so far, the rest have been generally sunny and mild. No complaints from me yet. Having seen the depths of a Finnish winter and the oppressive heat of Alabama summers, I think I can handle anything Denver throws my way.

My wife is an IT manager techie type and there doesn’t seem to be a huge surplus of those jobs in town at the moment, but maybe we’re looking in the wrong places. I imagine as the economy picks up, that will change.

If you want any other first impressions of specific aspects, just let me know.

9

Another vote for the Denver area (I live in Aurora). You can find just about anything you want in this area. I ditto the above regarding Colorado Springs and Boulder. I’m not recommending Aurora, but it isn’t a bad place to live.

You didn’t ask, but in case you are interested, ALL of the gay bars are in Denver (except for one in Boulder). The center of gay life in Denver is the Capitol Hill area but it’s very expensive.

Bob

10

Hey we even have one here in C Springs and I am pretty sure at least one in Manitou Springs.

C Springs is loosing it’s conservative edge, meaning a lot of the Christian fundies that moved in about 10 years ago are seeking elsewhere because the economy boomed here and property taxes skyrocketed. They liked the idea of conservative nature of the military here but are slowly moving out, except of course Focus On the Family which we probably couldn’t nuke to get out of town. Don’t nuke em, I am only a five minute drive.

It’s not that bad but anyone that is used to a large city may want to look to Denver for more diversity both in social climate and in things to do. If you don’t mind a sleepy large city, C Springs is for you. We do have a lot of stuff in downtown, Old Colorado City, Manitou Springs and mostly I recommend to stay away from most nightclubs that are on Academy Blvd unless you want to party with a bunch of military boys (hey I am 33) with a bunch of scantily clad young women that if they took their makeup off you’d wonder if they were the bride of Frankenstein with all that crap on their faces. :wink:

Oh one thing to mention about any of the major cities in Colorado, you must have a car and you must learn to drive in snow. If you don’t have a car, living in any of our cities sucks bad. Our public transportation sucks. We have serious suburban sprawl and the system can’t keep up. Yes T-Rex is coming but it’s a weak excuse for good transportation with little change for the future.

11

I’ll jump in with a Richmond vote. :smiley: It’s simply beautiful out here. Richmond is a lovely little city with just about everything, and if it doesn’t have what you’re looking for somewhere nearby does – there’s Norfolk an hour or so away, and D.C. two hours to the north. Winters are mild – it didn’t start getting cold here until about yesterday, after a lovely week of Indian summer – and summers are glorious. Richmond has a great amount of history of which it is very proud (some might say TOO proud) and while it’s somewhat resistant to progress it’s hardly some backwater town. “Real” Southerners claim that Richmond isn’t the South, but I definitely beg to differ. The only problem with Richmond is that… well, there’s sort of an ego problem with old families around here. They like to complain a LOT about their conservative values being screwed with, and the Times-Dispatch always has at least one letter to the editor every day bemoaning the loss of good Christian values in the town. If you’re not at least a little conservatively minded, you’ll find it very difficult to live here. This poor Yankee has had some adjusting to do, but it’s been very rewarding. :slight_smile: Oh, one more thing – traffic can be VERY frustrating here. Richmonders LOVE running red lights and rush hour is pure hell. It’s an old city, and a lot of the roads, particularly in the West End, are nothing but horse paths that have now been paved and weren’t really meant for modern traffic. Traffic patterns can get VERY frustrating, so learn the backroads quickly. if you get out here!