Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Tell me about living in Colorado...

Wife and I both were born and raised in Florida, too many city folks coming and staying in the country has sapped our desire to live there anymore. I'm a Steel Construction Supervisor and we already travel so work won't be a problem anywhere we go. Our boys are home schooled so that also will not be a problem. Colorado keeps coming up in our research, how crowded is it? How are land prices? Any input is appreciated....

Well, interesting. I live in Minnesota and seriously looking at colo. went there three weeks ago and looked at homes. Going back in several weeks to look again. We are looking at small acerage 5-20 acres with home. What I can tell you-

State income tax is half of Mn, about 4.5%
Real estate tax “. “. “
Housing costs, hard to say, but less than Mn
Crowded, it depends, we saw Denver burb houses packed together but saw south and sw of there developments
with large lots, 5 plus acres. Overall Denver seemed crowded and growing fast, colo springs, less so.
Climate is drier than Mn and warmer, though not Fla warm
There is no estate tax, Mn has a high estate tax
Traffic in Denver is terrible!

We looked at colo springs and a bit north of there. Other parts of the state may differ, especially climate. We looked a bit west of Denver in the mountains. It was more remote than we wanted, and colder and snowier.

Based in the Colorado people moving to MT you couldnt pay me to live there.

It’s crowded and expensive with a lot of traffic. Fort Collins was our fallback if we could not have made it all the way to Wyoming. On the front range, I would not move south of Colorado Springs, and I doubt that I could handle Boulder (not that I could afford it). Just about anyplace in Colorado beats where I came from, Louisiana.

I know there is more to Colorado than the Fort Carson and Denver area. Having said that, doing so several times a year, the drive from Fort Carson through Denver and up to the Wyoming border convinces me that I would rather stick a fork in my eye than to make that drive any more regularly than my current 2 to 3 times a year. Jeez, to think that people actually choose to live in this type of congestion.

I lived in the Denver area, mostly in the mountain communities to the west, but also for a couple of years in Lakewood. If I ever decided to move back to Colorado (and I have considered it several times), it would not be to the Front Range. I like several areas on the west slope well enough that I try to visit them once or twice a year for extended stays. If you travel by air, though, there are only a couple of west slope communities with good commercial air service.

Wyoming weather takes some getting used to, even for a guy that spent several years living on the Nebraska/South Dakota border. I can't imagine what it would be like coming from one of the southern states, especially from the southeast.

I've already mentally ruled out the Denver area, we're thinking of further south and east. For reference, I was born and raised within 45 minutes of Disney World and watched the small country towns I grew up in get swallowed by city people and their subdivisions. Five acres or so and a little ranch house fit our bill perfectly.

I have lived "high and dry" for some years. One thing you will learn fast, is, if you slide out of your vehicle on a cold, dry day, then reach for your car door to shut it, you might get the shock of your life from static.
Always grab your door and hold on before you slip out, then you are good to go.

Next door guy does steel. He is always being sent somewhere, except for right now because his wife is in hospice. Traffic sucks all along the front range. Don't discount some of the plains, and all that south of Peublo toward the New Mexico line. Denver housing is way high and hard to find. I can't see how it can keep up and expect the bubble to pop.

Colorado is turning California though.

State income tax, state sales tax, legal weed. Greenies,
Crowds of Refugees from Commiefornia, Mexico, etc,

Really??

Utah......

this is the place !!!!!!!!!!!!

Colorado Springs or Ft Collins would be my suggestion.

No doubt based on your awesome pictures...I can have my bags and rifles packed in about a week. A small 2 bedroom ranch house on your property will work out just perfect...See you in a couple weeks 😉

What exactly is considered the front range?

Eastern slope of the Rockies

and they think Wyoming is windy...........

Colorado is just east of the Henry's..........

My experience as a resident only goes back 40 years so take it for what it's worth. I grew up in Colo Spgs, lived in Durango, Littleton, Denver, and finally am back in Colo Spgs. As a very active outdoor person, CO was a phenomenal place to grow up, go to college, work, raise a family, and live. However, the state is changing; quickly. It is excessively overcrowded on the I-25 and I-70 corridors and it's virtually impossible to get away from people, even in the mountains and wilderness areas. The Colorado Parks and Wildlife, local politics, state politics, federal agencies are all overwhelmed and looking for any means to get funding which pinches residents and makes living and enjoying what CO was more complicated. CO has always been a place people came to so it's no surprise that it's feel would change over time. Politically, it is significantly shifted to the left in the last 15 years; irreversible in my opinion. The comments that CO is the next CA are spot on. Huge urban areas carry the majority of the voting population and like all huge urban areas, often conflict with rural values and sense of freedom.
It literally kills me to say/think this but when I am able to retire, I will be looking/considering a state that is less crowded. I wish John Denver would have wrote songs about some other state and left CO alone! The beautiful and free CO of my youth simply doesn't exist anymore.

You asked...

Centennial, I'm worried that what you're saying is true everywhere. Also I believe the sprawl we're exposed to down here is similar but ours is likely worse due to the comfortable climate.... I just want somewhere to raise my son's where they can be boys without some damn old Yankees calling the law on them.

I live in Elbert county and work in Denver. Great areas around Elizabeth and we love it here. Traffic is bad but income for what I do is good. Construction is going nuts. If a guy wants to make good money in construction he can. We have 5 acres and they are still building on 5 acre lots where we are.