Reply to Where can I move that is warmer, slightly cheaper, somewhat liberal with good schools?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Revisiting this thread after being away. I just saw it in recent topics and thought "that's basically Colorado."

Colorado may or may not be warmer than DC, I'm not sure of average temps. But Colorado is actually one of the sunnier states in the country and has a much more temperate climate than people think. It's also gotten hotter in recent years (leading to dry forests and fires, which is bad, but still warmer). Colorado has much better weather than DC -- not as wet, pleasant falls and springs, way less humid in the summer, and the winters come with snow but can also include plenty of 50 degree days.

Some parts of Colorado have gotten quite pricy in recent years, but even in those areas, your money will go farther than it does in this area, buying more square footage and often more updated homes. And if you are willing to branch out from Denver or Boulder, it gets much more affordable. If you are looking for "somewhat liberal" the key is to just steer clear of the military (Colorado Spring and environs) and look for a town with a college or university. Fort Collins is very progressive. Greeley is more rural and conservative, but the university counterbalances that quite a bit. You could also look into areas in the south if you are willing to be in a more remote area. Grand Junction is very libertarian to conservative, but Pagosa is more liberal.

Schools vary and if you venture outside the Denver/Boulder area you have to adjust your expectations because rural schools never have the same opportunities or resources as urban schools. But you can find solid school districts with good academics and strong extra-curriculars. Again, you have to change your perspective -- people in the DMV are obsessive about education and expect a TON of extras that are not part of the core offerings in most school districts. You will get a much more stripped down version in a rural area, but there are good things about that too if you also teach your kids to be independent and encourage interests (and provide necessary supervision so they don't just get bored and have sex and do drugs, which is very common in more rural areas)

Anyway, Colorado seems like a good fit because it's very middle-ground while also being in an economic upswing. I think Oregon could be good too but has weather more similar to DC and also pockets of scarier conservatism you have to be more careful of. Colorado conservatives tend to be less scary, in my experience.[/quote]
I could never deal with the fire risk. Some suburbs of Boulder just caught fire this December and people were evacuating from Target. No thanks.[/quote]

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