Planning to Move to Colorado from Pennsylvania (Denver, Colorado Springs: ski resort, rentals)

[Ncm10pitt]

I have been planning to move to colorado for roughly a year now. I am a 27 yr old male living about an hour and a half east of pittsburgh at the moment. I have a college degree in business management and about 8k saved to go. What I am unsure of is where to live, I can't quite pinpoint where is right for me. I have searched in the mountains and all along I-25. I want to move to Colorado because its so 420 friendly, healthier lifestyle, and cool jam band music scene. I like to ski but I'm not a ski junkie. I enjoy baseball and basketball so I wouldn't want to be too far from Denver so I could check out some Nuggets and Rockies games. I also want to get more into biking. I do like to drink weekly and see a lot of live music. I would like to pay between $400-700 in rent a month. I have tried to way out pros and cons for cities/towns on my own but I would like to hear from some people that have some experience. So what sounds like the city for me and why? Denver, Boulder, Ft. Collins, Manitou Springs, Steamboat, Gunnison, Buena Vista, Dillon/Silverthorne, or any other location I haven't thought of

[lurtsman]

For that rent in Denver, you need a room mate. 400/month in most places gets you shot. At 700/month you might be able to get a decent studio. I voted for legalization, but I can assure you that it shouldn't be the driving force behind moving.

[Suzatlarge]

^That's the truth.

Most of the cities/towns you named aren't known for low rents. Quite the contrary. What kind of work will you be looking for? Usually the job, as much as anything, determines where you live.

You said you've "searched in the mountains and all along I-25." Was this in person or online? If you haven't been here in person, you should plan to tour the state in person. You can research the heck out of a place (and I highly recommend that!) and then when you finally get there, it just doesn't feel as right as you thought it would. And, such is life, a couple of hours down the road from your now-discarded dream town, you pull in for gas and wander around and realize you like that town better. Stuff happens. It's what makes life so interesting.

Good luck!

[Ncm10pitt]

I have been to Denver and visited Golden. I have driven across the entire state on 70. I am accustom to mountain life having grown up in the applachians all my life. Marijuana isn't my sole purpose but it is a driving force because I have 2 marijuana blemishes on my record and don't want a 3rd in PA. I don't live life reckless. I don't use hard drugs and I work 50-75 hours a week so I'm not a lazy pothead.

I really don't know what kind of work I want. I have been working with autistic children for 4 years and I am burnt out on that. I have been working at ski resort doing banquets and I enjoy that but its not very lucrative. I really just want something stress free that pays the bills. I not really into the rat race trying to get the biggest chunk of cheese I can. I like life simple.

[Mike from back east]

Hey Pitt, you're gonna love Colorado.

Most of the ski season is over, or will be by the time you get here. That means you go to Denver metro area to find whatever work you may and use your downtime to search the area for what really appeals to you. It is where you'll find work plus all 5 pro sports. Search padmapper.com for rentals but beware scammers on craigslist. Sounds like a roomie is in order, or a room in a private home.

Meanwhile, read our threads on the ski bum life as there's a whole world of info you need to know if you have dreams of living in the high country. Some ski towns are insanely expensive, some other towns are known as places where support workers live, and some resort areas provide "housing" to workers, etc.

Go to our Index of Key Threads and cursor down to SKI topics, then read up.

[Littlekw]

I see you have Manitou Springs as an idea. Check into that some more, Manitou is a great little town. Also look into the west side of Colorado Springs, particularly Old Colorado City. For your rent range you can find decent places in both areas. It's a laid back area, funky vibes (although very touristy in the summer) and you can find decent employment opportunities in Colorado Springs since it's essentially one continuous city. Manitou is it's own town, but basically a suburb of Colorado Springs only with a totally different personality. It's very 420 friendly in Manitou and skiing is only a couple hours away. For a better music and sports scene, Denver is just an hour or so away. But there is a decent and growing music scene in Colorado Springs and you can always check out a minor league baseball game with the Sky Sox being here.

Manitou Springs and Colorado Springs are centrally located to everything this great state has to offer but considerably cheaper than living in the Denver area. Whatever your decision, I hope you get to give Colorado a try. It's a pretty awesome place!

[jazzlover]

Well, here is another feckless dreamer thinking he can get easily get a job in Colorado and be able to smoke MJ to his heart's content. Well, here's some hard facts that the dope-smoking retirees posting here who don't have to work in Colorado conveniently omit: many, if not most, Colorado employers have a zero-tolerance policy for drug use, including MJ. Now, there may be some minimum-wage paying hippie coffee houses or sleazy motels that don't care if their employees serving latte or changing bedsheets are using drugs, but most better-paying and higher tier employers don't want to hire drug users. If anything, MJ "legalization" in Colorado has made those employers strengthen their zero-tolerance and drug-testing policies. One Colorado contract drug-testing company that I know about has seen their customer base and testing business triple in the last year.

In the last 20 years, I've had three different great jobs in the Rocky Mountain region--jobs that paid better than typical for the communities in which they were located and all were jobs considered "plum" jobs by most. All three employers had a zero-tolerance policy for drug use (including MJ). I wouldn't have had those jobs had I been an MJ user. The truth is that the current flood of people wanting to be in Colorado so they can use MJ is just making it easier for people who don't use MJ to compete for the relatively modest number of jobs that are available. It's great when, as a non-drug using friend of mine did, a guy/gal goes to apply for job at a company job fair in Colorado with 200 other applicants and 2/3 of them leave the room when the employer informs them that if they have used MJ or any other illicit drug in the last 30 days, they will fail the mandatory drug test required as a condition of their application.

Oh, and driving across Colorado once makes one knowledgeable about Colorado about as much as watching one episode of "House" on TV makes one qualified to be a doctor. As far as "stress free," living on a subsistence income in a relatively high living cost state like Colorado is hardly "stress free." That scenario is likely one of several reasons that Colorado has one of the higher suicide rates per capita in the US.

Read the posts from your fellow Pennsylvanian wanneroo, who has lived in Colorado and now lives in Pennsylvania--it'll be enlightening.

[Ncm10pitt]

I've learned that some people are always going to try to bring you down. If i wanted to here all the bad I would have asked for it. I've read enough to know it's not candyland. Don't you think they drug test for jobs in PA? Of course they do, I have to deal with that issue everywhere I go. So what if you had a plum job, I have as strong back I don't mind doing work thats beneath me so I can live the way I want. I was just asking for advice on a nice place to live that fits my personality. I wasn't asking for an old guy to tell me I should work some 9-5 cubical job for my whole life to be deemed "a successful person" by standards set regarding monetary value.


As for everyone else, thanks for the responses thus far.

[Littlekw]

Originally Posted by Ncm10pitt

I've learned that some people are always going to try to bring you down. If i wanted to here all the bad I would have asked for it. I've read enough to know it's not candyland. Don't you think they drug test for jobs in PA? Of course they do, I have to deal with that issue everywhere I go. So what if you had a plum job, I have as strong back I don't mind doing work thats beneath me so I can live the way I want. I was just asking for advice on a nice place to live that fits my personality. I wasn't asking for an old guy to tell me I should work some 9-5 cubical job for my whole life to be deemed "a successful person" by standards set regarding monetary value.


As for everyone else, thanks for the responses thus far.

You did ask for pros and cons. jazzlover pointed out some legimate cons, so just think of it as a voice of reason.

"Feckless" dreams aren't always bad ones to follow. I've done it in moving to other places, loved it, but I always end up back in Colorado. But there is an old adage in Colorado that you take half your pay in scenery. There is some serious truth to that but for me it's worth it. The lifestyle Colorado offers to me can't be found anywhere else. It's not the cheapest place to live, nor the most expensive, but if it's the lifestyle you're looking for that's a moot point anyway.

Some people move here and high-tail it home pretty quick. Others never leave. Either it works for you or it doesn't. Only way to find out is try!

By the way, check out Pueblo, too. It gets overlooked a lot but is another great city, incredibly affordable and has easy access to a lot of recreational opportunities. Also 420 friendly but it is two hours from Denver.

[Ncm10pitt]

Thanks littlekw,

I feel as though I need a spiritual journey. I have found myself wasting too many days in southwestern pa. Maybe after a year I will hightail it back home or try somewhere but Colorado feels right right now. I heard Pueblo is very dry, lots of nose bleeds and that its alot more like the eastern plains.