Ft. Collins or Colorado Springs for 50yo single professional and adult kid (Denver: transplants)

[charbroil215]

I figured it would be good to give some context to explain who I am and why I'm looking to move:

50yo, educated professional, single, gay, have my own business and can work from anywhere. That being said, I get tired sitting in front of a computer all day and want to have a brick & mortar office wherever we go. My son is 24yo, went to vocational school for carpentry. He's not into partying, etc. Pretty simple guy, unlike his father.

I'm from the Philadelphia suburbs, lived there most of my life. We have been living in an NJ beach town for almost 4 years and it's time to go. The area where we live has a small year-round population, is very "blue collar" and rather conservative for NJ. I cannot have a brick & mortar office here as my client demographic tends to be educated professionals, and there's not enough here. I enjoy living a block from the beach, it's nice being an hour from Philadelphia (which I don't care for, because I'm from there) but those are the only redeeming qualities of being here.

I have never been to CO yet. Burlington, Vermont was my first thought in terms of a relocation however the weather there is damp, cold, New England weather and it's a little too small for me. We are visiting a diverse array of places in this "search process": Tucson, Phoenix, Orlando and now Ft. Collins or CS.

I have read a lot of the posts here which have been helpful. I know the places under consideration seem very random, and I need to have diversity in where we're exploring in order to make an informed decision. Arizona does appeal to me, particularly Tucson but I don't know anyone there and the job opportunities for my son are only slightly better than they are ere. Phoenix would be good opportunities for both my son and I and I know a few people there, but didn't like most of the area. I have a family member in Ft. Collins, but that's it.

Some initial thoughts of what is important to me:
-Be somewhere with access to excellent medical care (never know what can happen in life)
-A sizeable educated population
-Beautiful scenery would be great but not a requirement.
-Some semblance of progressive thought
-A small gay community (there is none here and most gay men in this area are closeted because of how conservative it is)

Initial impressions I have:
-Denver is out of the question. Housing prices and growing too quickly make it unappealing.
-Boulder seems too "San Francisco transplants into virtue signaling how woke they are", and real estate is out of control there. (Seems like a much bigger Burlington, VT in that sense, which I would have tolerated in Burlington because of how beautiful it is.)
-Boulder is completely my busines demographic but again, I can't deal with that California vegan, new age, mentality.
-The size of Ft. Collins appeals to me.
-Ft. Collins doesn't seem to have much in the way of a small gay community, whereas CS does.
-CS reminds me of Tucson (which I loved) in terms of the size and beautiful scenery.
-I worry that as an "East Coast intellectual type" I'd feel out of place and wouldn't find my people in CS.
-Everything I read points to Ft. Collins having a more progressive, educated population, but my concern is that it's not big enough to support my business (unless I can attract clients from Boulder).
-Being somewhere that it would be easy for my son to find a group of friends is priority. Where we live now, people tend to never leave here, very small town mentality and it's not been easy for him to meet people. He has a few guys he hangs out with who he works with but they're not close friends. I want to be somewhere that people his age (24) will be welcoming.

Thanks so much for reading this far, look forward to hearing from you.

[mkwensky]

CoS is much closer to Denver and sounds like you'll need to stay somewhat close for professional reasons.
I think it might be hard to make friends in Colorado. People tend to be kind of insular here. There might be a lot of young transplants there but many of them would be with the military if that's appealing to your son.

[otowi]

For your first list -
1. both would meet your criteria
2. both would meet your criteria. Fort Collins is moreso a college town so academics may be more in vibe, but there are lots of highly educated people in the Springs as well. There is significantly more upper crust military in the Springs (and military in general).
3. I give Springs the win on this one, but both are nice.
4. Fort Collins might win a little here due to the college age demographics. The Springs is often considered more conservative, but everywhere surrounding Fort Collins is even more so, except the bigger urban areas. The Springs is really a pretty good mix of D, R, and Independent folks but R usually wins out in local elections because they are the bigger of the 3 by a little bit.
5.both would meet your criteria I am guessing - I know there is a bit of a community in the Springs at least

As for your second list:
1. Housing prices are growing quickly in the Springs and Fort Collins as well.
2. Boulder is indeed very expensive.

3. Ft. Collins is a bit smaller, but the entire Northern Front Range sometimes starts to feel like one big metro these days.
4. Colorado Springs metro is big - El Paso County is the most populous county in the state, but that population is more spread out than in Denver. The downtown does not have a big city feel - no huge skyscrapers, for example.
5. There are lots of people in the Springs from back East, and there are intellectuals, too - if you pursue activities and work that attracts that kind of person you will find them. But if you go to dive bars to find people, then maybe not.

6. I wonder if your son would have trouble making friends in the college town if he's not part of the college scene, or if that would help him out because there might be more of a concentration of people around in his age demographic. I think in general at his age it does take some effort to find your people - no longer the automatic cliques of K12 and many people his age struggle with that adjustment. I would encourage him to be active - getting involved in his interests - to meet people, wherever he goes.

Having family in the Fort Collins area might give it a boost in the ranking, but really probably the better place is wherever you can find the work you want and the housing you can afford.

[Vision67]

OP: I'd choose Ft. Collins; more intellectuals and fewer gay bashing religious nuts and "Conservatives" than CS.

[Thoreau424]

Originally Posted by charbroil215

... We are visiting a diverse array of places in this "search process": Tucson, Phoenix, Orlando and now Ft. Collins or CS.

... I need to have diversity in where we're exploring in order to make an informed decision.

-The size of Ft. Collins appeals to me.
-Ft. Collins doesn't seem to have much in the way of a small gay community, whereas CS does.

Fort Collins is by no means diverse. It's still a smallish town of very conservative people, despite the college population of course. Very old-fashioned, very traditional. Even many of the young families who move there are well, families, and also largely traditional. The college population comes and goes, so they're mostly transitional. If you're from the east / NE, you will feel a strange, Stepford Wives sort of feel to that town. It won't be picked up during random visits. It's picked up after being there for awhile. Natives pride themselves on thinking they're so open-minded, but actions speak louder than the thoughts. And there really isn't much to do there, and not much scenic-wise either.

Your best choice in the state would be the Denver area.

[orngkat]

Maybe some place like Longmont if you want to be in CO? Springs has pockets of progressive folk but you have to look for them and they are usually west.

[TCHP]

Wow, something I agree with Thoreau424 on. Ft Collins is a highly educated, liberal core surrounded by a county of conservative, multi-generational native families that lean conservative and view outsiders with suspicion.

Colo Spgs has a similar liberal core and west side that gets increasingly more conservative as you move away from the city center but is a highly mobile and transplanted population that tends to be more welcoming.

However, I'd also point out that conservative/liberal has several aspects - political, fiscal, social. Colo Spgs is politically conservative, fiscal conservative, and socially liberal. It has more mixed race population by percentage than Denver. The military bases means the average population tends to average younger, turn over more frequently, and tend to be much more welcoming. Nearly everyone you will meet is from somewhere else and that tends to create a much more receptive atmosphere to newcomers than Larimer County.

At one time, the tech industry in Cos tended to attract highly skilled employees from both MA and CA to support the manufacturing here. It has changed a bit from those days, but there is still a small slice of that around. Retired military, business owners, and technical professionals are still plentiful for businesses that support their needs.

Cos does have a small but active gay scene. Certainly nothing like a major city, but compared to its conservative face, much more robust than many give it credit for. Once a haven for artists and poets that were attracted in greater numbers than Sante Fe, it has been a recreation destination for over 150 years. You can find plenty of activities within the city and certainly a short drive away.

Some things for you to look into further:

City government site - a good overview of a variety of factors, issues, and concerns you can browse. https://coloradosprings.gov/

Visit Colo Spgs - a preview of things to do around the area, along with some high level business demographic info. https://www.visitcos.com/

2020 election map broken down by districts to see political leanings of almost anywhere in the US. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...ction-map.html