Pros: Mountains! Nature access—it's a 90m drive to Rocky Mountain National Park, and plenty of world-class skiing, hiking, climbing, fishing, etc. within an hour or three. Culture is laid-back, friendly, and outdoorsy. It's a progressive oasis—if you're from Utah, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, and you feel constrained by the culture you're living in, Denver's probably your closest escape. A fair number of neighborhoods (especially immediately east and northwest of downtown) are walkable enough to live without a car, though you'll want one to get out of the city. It's cheaper than California or the Northeast, with a huge, busy airport with international flights to most anywhere. We have all four seasons and they're all nice—more sunny days than Florida. I still laugh when I see six inches of dry snow on my car's windshield, walk up to it and _blow it off_ instead of spending an hour shoveling. Food and drink scene is good and getting rapidly better. I genuinely love living here, and it's got better over the years—when I arrived a bit over a decade ago, had planned on sticking it out for twoish years and then either bouncing out to a coast or leaving the states again. But here I still am, and glad of it!
Cons: it's a progressive _oasis_; once you leave the Front Range, it's your choice of Utah, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming...definitely different from a coastal megalopolis, it's far to other population centers. Denver's the biggest city around, but if you're used to NYC/LAX/Chicago it'll feel cozy-small. Middle of the country means international flights to the rest of the global north are basically over the pole (and looooong). It's actually pretty expensive; it'll look cheap compared to SF or NYC but our housing market's been on a run. No ocean (though flights are cheap). Drivers are _atrocious_; rare is the unblown red light. Our produce is improving, but still nowhere near as fresh as you'll get further south. Startup scene is okay? Denver Startup Week is solid & Boulder has tons of startups per capita, but we don't have the same level of VC access as more well-known hubs. And the tech jobs here are plentiful, but don't pay as well as on a coast—remote working is definitely the way to go.
... for a really big "around". If you go west, the nearest city the size of Denver is the Bay Area. (If you consider that multiple cities, then Tokyo.) North, you have to go over the pole. Southwest, LA is bigger. Phoenix is in the same ballpark as Denver. Going east, probably Chicago or St. Louis. Southeast, Dallas. All of those are a really long way from Denver - at least a full day's drive, or a medium-to-long plane ride.
Pros: If you find pleasure in both mountains and farmland, you don't have to pick...
People forget how vast and sparse the interior American West is; the New York City metro area has a larger population than the whole Mountain timezone.
If you're hopping on an airplane, it's easy to forget how far _west_ Denver is--I say it's the middle of the country, but it's really not. LAX and surrounding airports are less than a three-hour flight and roundtrips can frequently be had for under $200.
I think of the country in thirds - east coast to Chicago, Chicago to Denver, and Denver to the west coast. I think that's roughly accurate thirds (if you take the "east coast" to be Maine rather than Georgia).
Very true. I currently live in Boulder County. I've lived in a lot of different places in the USA and Colorado by far has the absolute most absent-minded selfish drivers.
People straight up driving the wrong way down one-way roads unapologetically, going 65 in a residential 25, expired tags, no license plates, and blinkers are rarely used.
It is, and has been for a couple years! Currently weekends only, alas--but great, especially if you've got a place to stay up there.
If you're in the Denver area & looking to get to the slopes without having to drive yourself, there's a number of organizations and clubs around that charter busses; I had a good three or four year streak of working while riding a bus to and from Winter Park/Copper Mountain on Tuesdays and getting some turns in midday when my life still fit well around that sort of thing. (I've small kids in daycare now, so am on hiatus from that arrangement.)
(Too late to edit, but append New Mexico to the list of states -- And New Mexico is cool! But if you're looking for density starting from Denver, it's unlikely to scratch that particular itch.)
visited your city a few months ago during summer, had a lot of fun one weekend where you guys close up few streets in the core city and everyone zooms around on the electric scooters and bikes. Lack of food options were my only complaints. Incredibly beautiful though!
Yeah, central downtown's restaurant scene got really hollowed out by Covid and hasn't recovered. Heading immediately north from the west end of downtown into the River North district will get you more options if you visit again :)
In terms of sheer beauty in cities, Boulder rivals San Diego for being striking.
Pros: Mountains! Nature access—it's a 90m drive to Rocky Mountain National Park, and plenty of world-class skiing, hiking, climbing, fishing, etc. within an hour or three. Culture is laid-back, friendly, and outdoorsy. It's a progressive oasis—if you're from Utah, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming, and you feel constrained by the culture you're living in, Denver's probably your closest escape. A fair number of neighborhoods (especially immediately east and northwest of downtown) are walkable enough to live without a car, though you'll want one to get out of the city. It's cheaper than California or the Northeast, with a huge, busy airport with international flights to most anywhere. We have all four seasons and they're all nice—more sunny days than Florida. I still laugh when I see six inches of dry snow on my car's windshield, walk up to it and _blow it off_ instead of spending an hour shoveling. Food and drink scene is good and getting rapidly better. I genuinely love living here, and it's got better over the years—when I arrived a bit over a decade ago, had planned on sticking it out for twoish years and then either bouncing out to a coast or leaving the states again. But here I still am, and glad of it!
Cons: it's a progressive _oasis_; once you leave the Front Range, it's your choice of Utah, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Wyoming...definitely different from a coastal megalopolis, it's far to other population centers. Denver's the biggest city around, but if you're used to NYC/LAX/Chicago it'll feel cozy-small. Middle of the country means international flights to the rest of the global north are basically over the pole (and looooong). It's actually pretty expensive; it'll look cheap compared to SF or NYC but our housing market's been on a run. No ocean (though flights are cheap). Drivers are _atrocious_; rare is the unblown red light. Our produce is improving, but still nowhere near as fresh as you'll get further south. Startup scene is okay? Denver Startup Week is solid & Boulder has tons of startups per capita, but we don't have the same level of VC access as more well-known hubs. And the tech jobs here are plentiful, but don't pay as well as on a coast—remote working is definitely the way to go.