Imagine basking in the gorgeous sunshine 300 days a year; hiking, skiing, snowboarding, camping, boating, fishing, kayaking and paragliding year-round; enjoying amazing food and drinks, and being immersed in the arts, at the Denver Performing Arts Complex, Aspen Art Museum, Denver Art Museum and Vail International Dance Festival.
The Centennial State has you covered, whether you are starting a new career, growing an existing one, or looking to launch your own company. Not only do a number of industries, including health care, military, aerospace, biotech, agriculture, culinary, tourism and logistics, have a heavy presence here, but the resources available for entrepreneurs are vast.
And to top everything off, this state celebrates some pretty fun traditions that date back to the Wild West – think everything from grape stomping at the Colorado Mountain Winefest to chowing down on a juicy steak at The Buckhorn Exchange, a restaurant that started serving hungry Coloradans in 1893.
We used to live in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, while Seth’s parents lived in Lakewood, which is basically Denver. We had a nice sight of the rocky mountains. We lived in a really small duplex. There were a lot of things to do in Denver. We went to the Denver zoo one time, and got to feed some rays, that was totally awesome ! We didn’t stay in Denver very long. It was hot in the summer and there was a lot of smog, over the city. That is because the smog, has nowhere to go over the tall rocky mountains, and stay stuck over the city. There are a lot of gorgeous places to visit in Colorado, we really loved Estes Park. You can see a lot of elk there. The movie The shinning, was filmed in Colorado, in Estes Park, at the Stanley Hotel.
Denver has hosted exhibits from Egypt several times. There are also a few abandoned mines, ghost towns, if you are into that, to visit, but you need a 4×4 vehicle to go to them.
Denver is a large city, the greater Metro Area. The Denver Metro Area offers quite a selection of ethnic cuisine and shopping opportunities. Asian supermarkets are in all quarters around the central core, and the South Federal Boulevard corridor, is regarded as Little Saigon, with many good eateries and Asian shops. North Federal, a short drive away is heavily Hispanic.
People from all around the world are attracted to Colorado, making the food in this state as diverse as the people that live there. With all the local wildlife, game meats are very popular as items as Bison burgers and elk sausage tend to sneak onto the menu on regular basis in this state. Colorado also has some of the best Mexican food in the country, especially the green chili. Something that’s often featured as a condiment rather than a soup, green chili gets put on everything here, whether it’s being ladled over a massive breakfast burrito or engulfing the famous Colorado “slopper” burger. Every recipe for this spicy sauce is a little different, but they’re all as addictively delicious. Plus, you can’t forget to try the “rocky mountain oysters,” mostly a novelty in this day and age, but still something that’s worth sampling. Here’s a hint though, they don’t have much to do with seafood.
Denver has some great neighborhoods. There are the yuppy urban renewal areas downtown where brand new apartments style themselves as lofts. Downtown has some of the good old real lofts, too, and historic hotels, the arts complex, the 16th Street Mall, museums, parks, and a grand library. Denver and all the Metro Area, is loaded with parks, some large and highly groomed, some large and more natural, and many many small neighborhood parks. You’ll notice kids’ sports complexes dominate; there’s even a miniature Coors Field in Lakewood. You notice as you move out from Denver’s heart, the neighborhoods tell the story of the city and its neighbors. Closely-built brick late 1800s neighborhoods give way to 1920s Craftsman tracts, which give way to saltbox tracts and mid-century modern brick tracts, each type with the remnants of commerce popular at the time.
With a mix of ski town bar streets that go crazy during the winter and a growing Denver nightlife scene that gets even better by the year, it’s hard to go wrong when it comes to finding some nighttime entertainment in Colorado. The people in this state love being social and they love drinking local beer, meaning there are always plenty of people out and about regardless of where you’re at. If you want more of a big city experience, Denver is really your best option with neighborhoods like the Highlands leading the charge, filled with tons of modern restaurants and watering holes. However, if you’re looking for something a little more low key, you’re never far from a great brewery in Colorado
Areas that are now engulfed in the sprawl, were once distinctly separate towns, mostly for farming support, but some supported factories such as the Coors Brewery, Rocky Flats Chemical or Butterball. Others were mining towns. There’s a great deal of Industrial Revolution and Post-IR to be seen on a daily, casual basis and more if you really make an effort.
Fort Collins, the northern edge, is very close to Wyoming and in many ways, the long timers there are more It’s a college town, but it’s an agricultural school still and so, the crowds are more earthy. Between Fort Collins and the northern limit of Denver, are a number of small towns. Corn fields are mostly shopping malls now, but there are pockets of beautiful rolling countryside, especially if you take any route besides the interstate.
From Denver on south you roll through posh cities such as Greenwood Village, Lone Tree, Castle Pines to very middle class areas such as Castle Rock and Parker. Further along, past some deceiving wooded hills that are actually highly populated, is Colorado Springs, in all its right-leaning raving glory. It’s a beautiful city in places, an overblown suburban mess in others, and challenged by the presence of quite a bit of military, and all that large numbers of young men, away from home brings.
South even further, you finally break away into some vast, wide open space. The edge of the plains can be seen rolling up to rugged mountains that seem to rise suddenly. A nice former steel town, and a commercial center for a large interstate region around it, is in a wide bowl of the Arkansas Valley. This is a town that begs for photography in both its buildings and its people. Here is where Hispanic, Irish, German, Italians, Lebanese and Tribals combined to create some of the greatest faces you’ll see anywhere. Pueblo is truly a center for southern Colorado, northern New Mexico, western Kansas and part of the Texas and Oklahoma PanHandles and as a result is booming.
South even further, you’ll find another fine old city, Trinidad, rich in color and spice, at the mouth of a number of canyons full of quaint towns sprung from family plazas or mining settlements. It’s becoming an arts enclave after a few decades of desolation from coal mine closings. The gas industry has moved in and revived things a bit. Living here is great because on any given day, you can travel from rugged alpine beauty, to cities, to farmland, to desert, all in Colorado. We have some large reservoirs, and some stunningly beautiful natural lakes. Rivers that roar and ones that whisper.
Denver is just another big city with big city problems: crime, overcrowding, and high cost of living. Traffic is terrible, even late at night and weekends.
Colorado is roughly divided into three parts. Eastern Colorado (the plains) which consists of dry dirt ranches and small, isolated towns which are gradually fading away. Then there’s the Front Range. That’s from Fort Collins to Colorado Springs north to south, and from the foothills to 35 miles or so east. By far the greatest proportion of the state’s population lives there. Then there’s the part most people think of when they think of Colorado, the “Mountains”. That’s everything from the Front Range west to Utah.
Most of the Front Range gets its water from reservoirs which are fed almost entirely by snowmelt from the mountains west of the front range. Without that water most of Colorado is a literal desert. Some years there is a large snowpack and water is relatively plentiful. Other years it hardly snows at all and water is scarce. Either way there is only so much water to go around and yet the growth goes on and on. Local politicians just can’t say no to the developers. Even in fairly wet years there are watering restrictions. I can’t imagine how the growth will go on without water.
Colorado is a beautiful state. I miss waking up at the foothills and mountains. You get a little bit of all the other cultures throughout the United States. It’s becoming even more diverse as residents from other states have begun to flock there. The epicenter of where all the action takes place is the Denver Metropolitan Area. The area consists of Denver, Jefferson…well really too many large counties to remember. To the west of Denver, the suburbs climb the foothills of the Rockies until you hit Evergreen where they grow. When you hit Idaho Springs, 15–20 minutes from downtown you are officially in Sasquatch country.
There are an endless amount of activities to do in Colorado. We have the healthiest residents in the United States thanks to the breathtaking environment and government recreational activities offered. If you aren’t into hiking, rock climbing or similar types of activities, taking your dog for a walk will have you greeted with many people stopping, smiling and petting. Colorado is very friendly to dogs.
With tons of sunshine and a vibrant tourism industry, the state of Colorado is constantly throwing some sort of party. From the long list of world-class concerts hosted at the famous Red Rocks Amphitheater to the many Oktoberfest celebrations spread throughout the tiny picturesque mountain towns around the state, there’s always something to do. Two of the most unique events include the Winter Carnival in Steamboat Springs with ski jumping, chariot racing, and a crazy fireworks display, as well as the Pikes Peak Marathon, a foot race in which runners race to an elevation of more than 14,000 feet on the summit of Pikes Peak and then back down to Manitou Springs.
Weather
Colorado is usually bearable, sometimes very dangerous and often just down right heaven. There are all four seasons in Colorado. In the metro area, spring starts later every year it seems. It snowed yesterday, it was 70 degrees the day before and who knows what it will be like tomorrow. The weather changes at the drop of a hat. Yesterday it started raining as a downpour, for the first time this year, built up to thunderstorms as a cold front moved in.. Word of caution when transporting yourself through the mountains. Watch out for deadly road conditions in the form of rock slides, flash floods and treacherous road conditions while snowing. It is the new Colorado residents that cause the majority of accidents during foul weather. So practice before you move there.
It’s hard to complain about the weather in Colorado, especially if you enjoy participating in snow sports. With warm, dry summers, filled with some of the sunniest days in the country, there’s no excuse not to grab a few tan lines before the long winter hits. However, despite what you might think, even the winters here aren’t too bad. First snowfall brings a whole new variety of outdoor options to life as skiing and snowboarding take over the state. Most places in Colorado tend to experience a decent amount of snowfall, but warm temperatures during the day often melt away problems on the roads and the time-tested snow readiness infrastructure typically takes care of the leftovers. The average temperature in Denver during the summer months tends to hang around 70 degrees, while winter months drop down to a still very tolerable average of 34, with cities in the mountains being quite a bit colder. With enough snow for skiing and enough sunshine for a little warmth, Colorado winters are actually the best of both worlds.
Education
is a large priority. However as with every where else in the world, there’s quite a difference between schools in different districts and even schools that are in the same city. College is also a high priority. Colorado University in Boulder is one of the top party schools in the nation in one of the most well known party towns in the USA. CSU is another quality university located a few minutes from Boulder. In the metro area you have the private school, Denver University which offers the best education in Colorado if you can afford it. In Aurora there’s the Anshultz medical campus which is part of CU Denver. On Auraria campus in the heart of downtown, with the Pepsi center and eliches next door, there is Metropolitan State University, CU Denver and Denver Community College.
Rent
I can’t imagine being able to afford even a studio apartment if I was making minimum or near minimum wage. I’d have to live in Aurora which is just not an option. Ever since recreational marijuana has become legal rent has climbed an average of $400–500 from the apartment I have rented. Overpriced housing market: particularly true for the mountain town resort areas. It got so bad after Covid because of remote working it’s really unsustainable. Mayors of towns are begging locals to house teachers to staff their schools. I don’t know how long they can support these communities where none of the workers can afford to live there. I’m not sure affordable housing in a top school district exists in this state. But I do not have children so don’t quote me.
Despite the huge number of people moving to Colorado, prices have stayed relatively low, especially outside of Denver. On the same cost of living scale that scores average America at an even 100, Colorado gets a 106, likely inflated due to Denver’s score of 107, mostly due to the recent housing market boom. However, smaller cities around the state have managed to stay affordable, with places like Colorado Springs, a city with close to 700,000 residents in the metro area, scoring a 99. Places like Greeley and Pueblo are even cheaper, scoring a 97 and 81, respectively. There are obviously exceptions to this low cost of living, as certain places like Boulder and Vail are more expensive, but most places around this state won’t break your bank.
Traffic
Traffic is becoming a total nightmare, the influx of so many expatriates from other states is creating an alarming rise in bumper to bumper traffic. Even as spectacularly managed roadworks programs like Trex program to extend I-25 throughout the tech center and Central Denver, construction cannot keep up and there is no more room to expand the highways and roads. The light rail system is stunning, but that too is still under construction in many key areas such as Arvada/Denver. The light rail also has too small of an area to cover the metro area successfully. They have finally finished the line to DIA which is nice but useless to me 360 days of the year. Especially when there’s a special RTD bus (public transportation system) that goes directly to DIE anyway….It’s not only congestion, the drivers that are not used to snow cannot drive in it at all.
Colorado is filled with friendly people more interested in climbing mountains and drinking craft beer than focusing on the typical stresses of life. This laid back culture has made the state very appealing in recent years, as younger crowds from all over the country have flocked to rapidly growing Colorado cities like Denver in pursuit of a life that’s simply more fun. If you’re looking for a state that’s got a growing economy, plenty of outdoor sports, and some of the most spectacular natural attractions in the country, Colorado might be calling your name.
If you have a 9-5 and live on the front range, doing anything mountain related on the weekends can be brutal with traffic and overall congestion. You have to get permits to do a lot of hikes, backpacking, or camping that can sell out very quickly up to a year in advance. You have to be out of the house by 5am to make it to the ski resort from Denver if you want to go for the day during peak season.
Keep in mind that if you live on the front range, the mountains will be 1.5-2 hours away on I-70 without any traffic. I-70 is essentially a 2 lane highway that was not built for the rapid population influx CO has seen over the past 10 years. If there’s an avalanche or if someone decided to cut off a semi, you’ll be parked there for hours. Maybe the night.
Colorado boasts a crime rate that’s actually under the national average, at 2,967 reported criminal acts per 100,000 people. Even the crime rate found in Colorado’s largest city, Denver, tends to hang around 4,275 reported acts per 100,000 residents, slightly higher than the national average, but low for a big city and decreasing at an annual rate. There are cities that are a little more dangerous, like Pueblo. Overall, you don’t have too much to worry about when it comes to staying safe in Colorado.
Getting around in Colorado is pretty easy, as even long distances travelled through the mountains are made quicker by high speed limits of 75 miles per hour. Places in the Denver area tend to have an average commute time of around 25 minutes, typical for a big city, while mid-sized places like Colorado Springs and Pueblo have commute times closer to 20 minutes. Most of the larger cities also offer some sort of public transportation, whether it’s a bus system or the ever-growing light rail system in Denver, a service that’s been expanding over recent years to include even more of the many local suburbs. Most places in Colorado have a great walking and biking infrastructure, with many greenway paths that make alternative means of transportation an option for the more active residents all around the state.
Sport
Snow sports aren’t the only thing that have people cheering in this state, Colorado is also home to a large range of professional and collegiate sports that the locals are constantly showing love for. Denver is home to the big 5 professional sports, with the Broncos on the gridiron, the Nuggets shooting hoops, the Rockies taking to the baseball diamond, the Avalanche slapping pucks around the ice, and the Rapids kicking goals in the nearby Commerce City. Schools teams like the CU-Boulder Buffaloes and the Air Force Academy Falcons in Colorado Springs also make for a great afternoon at the big game. There’s always someone to root for in the Centennial State.
Nature
The state greeting “Welcome to Colorful Colorado” couldn’t ring more true, with beautiful natural attractions stretching to nearly every corner of this state. Home to 53 mountain peaks over 14,000 feet tall, over 25 ski hills, 42 state parks, and places like the Rocky Mountain National Park, there’s always something to do outside in Colorado. Even just driving through the state can be jaw-dropping, as beautiful mountain roads like Loveland Pass making high altitude scenes visible for anyone with a car, while the Pikes Peak Highway takes visitors to the summit of one of America’s most famous mountains. This is one state where you’ll have no problem constantly getting some fresh air.
Pros
- Skiing, mountains are wonderful
- Dog amenities – Cherry Creek State dog park, Chatfield State dog park, Longmont and Boulder have places for dogs to swim, breweries allow dogs and everyone brings them everywhere
- Low taxes
- International airport
- Shopping- You can buy everything used/recycled, has the best marketplace for kayaks, outdoor clothing, camping
- Sports, if you’re into that. We’ve got all of the major sports teams and their stadiums are pretty centrally located if you’re in Denver
- Weather Our climate is pretty manageable overall unless you’re in the eastern plains or you’re high up in the mountains
- This varies between cities, but lots of spots on the Front Range are really good for bicycling. Boulder and Fort Collins lead here, but Denver and Longmont are getting better
- Laid back, friendly people. There are some salty locals out there, of course, but most people I meet in Colorado are pretty friendly and all the transplants are looking to make friends
- Lots of jobs depending on where you are. The economy in the Front Range has been strong for a while and we’ve got a really educated population that makes employers want to open offices here
- Plenty of people in the Front Range are trying to build art and music scenes right now
Cons
- I-70 randomly gets closed for snow in the winter so you can get stuck in Breckenridge or ski towns for hours or overnight
- Driving and traffic is horrible
- Crowded trailheads cost money now or run out of parking, RMNP sells out of all campsites for summer in March, disc golf parks have a line now, campgrounds are either crowded (dispersed) or sold out
- Growth has slowed some recently, but the Colorado Front Range is pretty expensive overall, to the point where it’s driving a lot of locals out
- Outside of city centers, most of Colorado is very car-dependent.
- Air quality, especially during fire season. The mountains trap pollution from all of the cars around here. If there are fires, the air quality can get bad enough that it’s actually less healthy to go out on a run then it is to stay inside.
- Food isn’t great, although it’s getting better. trendy restaurants are really hit or miss, although Denver has a lot of really wonderful ethnic food options at reasonable prices
- We tend to tear things down instead of preserving them.
All in all, Colorado is a beautiful state, with a lot to do and explore !