From KY to Colorado, seeking advice (Denver, Littleton: affordable apartments, to rent, low crime)

[gel212]

Hello everyone!

I'm a hoosier girl in my mid-twenties looking to move to Denver next year with my husband (we're getting married this June). We currently work in Louisville, KY, and we're ready for a major change, expecially after I visited Denver last Christmas (we're also visiting Colorado as part of our honeymoon).

Louisville, while it's a nice place to raise a family, does not offer many options for those seeking a more active lifestyle. Most people here seem to never leave their houses (or they just go to the mall), nor seem to have any desire to. I belong to a young professionals group, and I suggested rather than meeting at a bar, that we take a ski trip or go white water rafting...the group looked at me like I was insane. In fact, people here actually "cruise" through one of our major city parks, rather than walk, run or bike. This could be why Kentucky has been ranked one of the most unhealthiest states. Ok, enough with my rant.

Anyways, my fiance and I love the outdoors...we love to hike, camp, ski, go rafting...you name it, we do it (or at least we'd try). But we also like to be near the city to enjoy the arts, shopping, restaurants....and good jobs.

We're more of the quiet suburban types, and I wondered if anyone could give us some advice on nice suburbs (clean, low crime, affordable apartments in the $500-$800 range, nice parks) that aren't very far from Denver (maybe 20-45 mins. or less). Also, could you tell me what parts of town have high crime and are best to stay away from. I found myself in some sketchy parts last time thanks to MapQuest.

And how is the job market out there? He's in the IT industry and I'm a Marketing Director. So we'd also be looking for jobs in those fields. I might head back to the Non-profit world, so if anyone has any tips on finding a good non-profit marketing/communication job...I'm all ears.

Thanks again for all of your help.

[Mike from back east]

You're gonna love Colorado. Tons here to choose from. Whole area is growing, lots of jobs. Lots to do.

CO has the nation's healthiest population....not too many "all you can eat" places here (like back east where we're from) full of obese people going for plateful after plateful of so-so food .... and a plateful of desserts.

I'm hoping you've read most of the threads here. Lots of info in them, prefer that people do that first, keeps us from answering the same questions over and over....everyone wants nice area, good schools, low crime.... If you do that first, you're questions will be much more focused on what matters most to you, and gets you the answers you need quicker.

I know there's info here on young and/or single lifestyles, downtown living or close-in areas, short light-rail rides to/from that sort of thing, etc. Use the Search this Forum tool at top....the Search function is very specific....if you put in schools it will find every case of schools, but it will NOT find the singular version school. It won't find word segments either, you can put in camp, and it will find camp, but it won't find the word camping.

Try the search engine with keywords like hike, hiking, camp, camping, skiing, snow, sports, museums, arts, food, restaurants, cuisine, winter, marketing, jobs, rail, train, pizza, chinese, italian, dogs, pets, commute, commuting, school, schools, education, teaching, Douglas, Arapahoe, and the names of specific towns or areas.... etc....

Even after doing this, most people are still well-advised to rent here for a year, scout the area hard, often and well, then after a year go ahead and make the huge financial decision of where to invest your money in a home and yourselves in a job....

[gel212]

That's so funny that you mentioned the "all you can eat buffets." They are everywhere here!

Thanks for the advice, I'll check out those searches. Seems like everyone keeps saying, Littleton, CO. I'll have to check into it.

Thanks!