Hello Denver people! I am thinking of possibly relocating to Denver with a job prospect. I have a few questions I was hoping you could answer.

What is the city and surrounding areas like?

I know all big cities have traffic issues, but how is it getting around?

What is the climate like?

Which areas would you recommend to stay away from when relocating?

Other opinions and comments?

 

The city and surrounding cities are nice. Although... Stay away from Aurora, Montbello, Green Valley Ranch. Lots of thug elements there.

Traffic will be getting better here with hwy construction wrapping up this fall. There is also a rail system that's pretty good.

Climate is a 4 season thing here. True fall, winter, spring and summer. Winter lows can be dip below 0, but rare. Summers are nice.

I'm a transplant from Los Angeles and I love it here. Been here 11 years and have no plans on going back.

 

We lived in Denver (Westminster) for about 5 years and loved it. We ended up moving back to Tucson for family reasons, but I think we'll be back in the Denver area once the kids are out of school. Great city and great climate. You'll get the occasional snow storm, but it melts, goes away and it's beautiful again. Spring and summers were my favorites. I would look to the west side of the metro area, but that's because I want to be as close to the Rockies as possible (depending on where you work)...makes fly fishing that much quicker. I haven't lived there for quite a while, so I can't comment on traffic.

 

What areas would you recommend when looking for an apartment? Strip mall areas are fine with me since I don't like having to travel far to get things.

 

My wife and I moved there for a couple years (08-10), but moved back to san diego because of family. We absolutely loved it there. We lived on the southside of the city..Littleton/Parker areas are nice. I would stay away from the north and east side of the city.

 

lakewood/golden areas....closest to the mountains, never traffic, close to DT. no reason to live north/south/east of the city, just suburbia there....unless you work in DTC in which case you might want to live close, traffic sucks commuting there.

 

I just moved to Denver in Early August and love it. I live in Capitol Hill (just east of downtown) and it's a pretty cool area where you can pretty much walk anywhere.

In terms of traffic, I personally think it's nothing. I moved from the DC area where traffic was just named the worst in the country, so for me there really is no traffic out here. Also, keep in mind I only have a 3.5 mile commute from home to work and school so it's a short drive even with traffic so I can't honestly say commuting from out of the city to in would be an easy drive as I really don't know.

The climate here is unbelievable though. I've lived in Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama and Virginia and all are 80% + humidity in the summer so you immediately lose a gallon of water weight just walking outside. Here it seems to average 20-30% in the summer and while it does get hot, it still feels amazing. I can't wait to experience a winter that actually has good snow in it and isn't just brutally cold and overcast all the time with no pay off(snow).

I say go for it. Denver is an awesome place to live and after only being here for right at 2 months I can already say I never want to leave unless it's to somewhere else in CO.

 

There are lots of great places to live around / in Denver. What kind of activities do you do? Your age? That'll help narrow down places to start looking. I've lived here since I was 9 and absolutely love it.

 

26yo single with no kids. I like the outdoors and anything automotive. I'm more of a suburb person. Don't like to drive far to get everyday things.

 

You could start looking around the DU/Wash Park area. Good homes with a yard, close to a big park and easy access to downtown via LightRail (Denver's rail transit system). If you feel like looking further to the suburbs, could check out the SW (Littleton) or SE (Tech Center) side of town but that's rather suburb and not super appealing to a younger guy.