Looking for info on Pueblo, CO (Canon City, Penrose: real estate, new home, pros and cons)

[CelticLady1]

Can anyone tell me something about Pueblo? I've been on some of the websites concerning the town and county, but, I would like some input from anyone who has spent a reasonable amount of time there, or who lives there presently. I've been checking out some smaller areas, but, I figured it couldn't hurt to check out a few larger places (but not huge!), for better comparison. Employment, weather, people, realestate, etc. Pros and cons, good and bad; I'm interested in it all. Thanks!

[WWS]

If you want to live close to Pueblo but in a smaller less busy town you should try colorado city. It's about 25 miles from pueblo and has a small town feel.

It also has a new grocery store being built and it should be done by the start of next year. You can get some good deals on homes in this area too. I've lived here for a long time so if you have any questions I'll answer the best I can.

[bashep]

So, what are you looking for a in City? What are you hobbies? What kinda job are you looking for? Then we can give you some idea. Honestly, I don't know much about Pueblo. BASHEP

[winglady]

We lived just outside Pueblo from 1999 - 2005.

The real estate is relatively inexpensive to downright cheap (there are a lot of very small, old homes on the market that fall into the "downright cheap" category, all the way up to very nice, large, new homes that are reasonably priced).

Employment: very limited unless you are looking for something that pays under $10/hr. I'm a retired software designer/programmer. Just out of curiousity, I checked the Pueblo paper frequently during our 5+ years there to see what sort of programming-related jobs were advertised (anything related to computers/IT). Number of jobs l saw listed in 5+ years: 0. When companies move to Pueblo, they often announce that they'll be offering "Pueblo-scale" wages. Translation: we can get away with paying people a lot less here than we usually do.

Weather: fairly mild winters (not much snow, lots of sunshine), and very hot summers (low 100s are quite common). Very dry.

People: very friendly and warm. Pueblo often has a small-town feel to it, even though it has a population of over 130,000. About 40% Hispanic -- with many people having ancestors who came to the region hundreds of years ago. Great southwestern cultural feel to the place!

Traffic: seldom congested by "city" standards.

[jlvs2run]

I'd love to hear more about the Pueblo area too, Penrose, Canon City etc.

How many days a year over 100 in Pueblo?

What kind of grocery is going to be in Colorado City?

[winglady]

Here's a site that gives a lot of historical weather stats for any location (I think the link will take you directly to Pueblo stats):

http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/w...=046427&refer=

I remember one exceptionally hot July in Pueblo where we had temps over 100 on all but 2 or 3 days. I'd guess, though, that a normal summer might see 100+ temps on about 10 - 15 days.

Grocery stores:
Right now, Colorado City has a small grocery store, but WWS mentions that a new, larger one is being built
Canon City has a City Market (supermarket - part of the Kroger chain of stores)
I don't recall seeing a grocery store in Penrose.
Pueblo has 2 King Soopers stores (also Kroger chain), 1 (or is it 2?) Safeways, 1 Albertsons, 1 Albertsons "Discount" store, 2 Super Wal-Marts, plus several health food stores

[jlvs2run]

Thanks much.

Originally Posted by winglady

I remember one exceptionally hot July in Pueblo where we had temps over 100 on all but 2 or 3 days. I'd guess, though, that a normal summer might see 100+ temps on about 10 - 15 days.

Do you need a/c for that or is it a dry heat?

[winglady]

Originally Posted by johnlvs2run

Do you need a/c for that or is it a dry heat?

It's very dry heat. A/C is great, but many people also use evaporative coolers (a.k.a. "swamp coolers") in Pueblo and similar climates here in Colorado. Much less expensive to install, much less cost to operate, and they work well in the very low humidity. We find that the humidity added to the air inside our home using the swamp cooler actually makes it more comfortable than the extreme dryness of using A/C.

(We had A/C in our place near Pueblo; swamp cooler in our place on the Western Slope)

[McGowdog]

Hmmm. This little thread here predates me by a few months.

Please check out my photo tours of the area if you get bored. They're buried in here somewhere. I've got one of Easter Colorado too; Bent and Prowers county and a little bit of LaJunta. I'd love to get one of the Pinion Canyon area sometime too.

The job situation in Pueblo is still horrible for my field, but Vestas Wind Systems will be out here soon manufacturing wind turbine towers; supposedly the biggest plant in the world. This could bring about 500 jobs. That is something to look forward to for sure.

Oh, we have some goof Mexican and Italian food here too.