5 ms·

I'm here. It's not that awesome.

adpirz 10y ago
Mind if I ask why? I've visited a few times recently to see friends there and each time I go, I feel more and more drawn to the area. Love the accessible and amazing hiking, etc, and tech scene seems decent enough. Would love to hear a counterpoint though.
smashingx 10y ago
I live in Boulder too, and I would rate Boulder 8 out of 10. There is good vibe, nice people, lots of bike paths and lots of places to go during the spring and summer time, but for some reason the ladies here are kind of stuck up, and to work in Boulder you need to be a superhero or close to that.
avenoir 10y ago
I moved to Denver about a year ago. It's all subjective of course, but I really struggle to understand the benefits of living in Boulder outside of a more vibrant tech scene and being a nice cozy town. The rent is ~$300-$400 more expensive. The trails are absolutely packed with people. There is beer pong and loud parties on every corner in the summer. Yes, it's a little closer to skiing resorts, but we're talking extra 20 minutes. Yet, whenever I talk to folks there they seem to enjoy it while I can't help but feel out of place surrounded by college kids everywhere.
- saryant 10y ago
  If you aren't on the hill or a in a tiny handful of bars on Pearl, you never run into the college kids. They mostly stay south of the creek, with the exception of the dive bars on Pearl (and Absinthe House, but that place is a dump anyways). I've lived here for three years, go out every weekend and never once have I seen anyone playing beer pong.
  - avenoir 10y ago
    Yeah, like I thought, it's a little subjective. I'm just hanging out at the wrong places with folks there :)
- shostack 10y ago
  I've heard home prices are Bay Area level without similar salaries there, is that accurate? And how does that stack up against Denver? The job market seems relatively weak in both areas compared to the Bay Area... Would you agree with that?
  - avenoir 10y ago
    I don't think anything in Denver or Boulder stacks up to astronomical prices of the Bay Area. You can easily get a nice house 20 minutes from Denver for $300K. If you're looking in Denver proper, you're looking at $500K-$1M+ (Cherry Creek or similar). But you get much much more bang for your buck (we're talking a nice house). A $1M property in SF is like, what, some land with a dilapidated property? Boulder's housing market is going to be significantly more expensive. I'm only familiar with rent prices there. Maybe somebody else can comment on the housing market. But again, I don't think it's anywhere close to the Bay Area prices. At least not in terms of what you get for the same money. Boulder has more tech jobs. There are big guys like Twitter, Google and a gazillion of startups like VictorOps and SendGrid. Denver's lacking but I don't think it's too far behind. The fun stuff is pretty much all in Boulder though. Maybe the current construction boom will change that a bit. I can't comment on salaries. I work remotely for a company that isn't in Denver, but I can just say you can live lavishly here if you make $120K+. And if you have some money to burn, it's a perfect time to invest in some property. The entire Denver area is under construction right now.
- smashingx 10y ago
  I don't agree with this comment at all, "the trails are packed?" WTF, "beer pong and loud parties on every corner"? And no, is not closer to skiing resorts, there are way too many other towns closer to skiing resorts. I don't even know what city is this dude talking about, maybe some place in new york or california. I've lived in Boulder for about 10 years, and I've never seen anything like that.

Mind if I ask why? I've visited a few times recently to see friends there and each time I go, I feel more and more drawn to the area. Love the accessible and amazing hiking, etc, and tech scene seems decent enough. Would love to hear a counterpoint though.

smashingx 10y ago

I live in Boulder too, and I would rate Boulder 8 out of 10. There is good vibe, nice people, lots of bike paths and lots of places to go during the spring and summer time, but for some reason the ladies here are kind of stuck up, and to work in Boulder you need to be a superhero or close to that.

avenoir 10y ago

I moved to Denver about a year ago. It's all subjective of course, but I really struggle to understand the benefits of living in Boulder outside of a more vibrant tech scene and being a nice cozy town. The rent is ~$300-$400 more expensive. The trails are absolutely packed with people. There is beer pong and loud parties on every corner in the summer. Yes, it's a little closer to skiing resorts, but we're talking extra 20 minutes. Yet, whenever I talk to folks there they seem to enjoy it while I can't help but feel out of place surrounded by college kids everywhere.

saryant 10y ago
If you aren't on the hill or a in a tiny handful of bars on Pearl, you never run into the college kids. They mostly stay south of the creek, with the exception of the dive bars on Pearl (and Absinthe House, but that place is a dump anyways). I've lived here for three years, go out every weekend and never once have I seen anyone playing beer pong.
- avenoir 10y ago
  Yeah, like I thought, it's a little subjective. I'm just hanging out at the wrong places with folks there :)
shostack 10y ago
I've heard home prices are Bay Area level without similar salaries there, is that accurate? And how does that stack up against Denver? The job market seems relatively weak in both areas compared to the Bay Area... Would you agree with that?
- avenoir 10y ago
  I don't think anything in Denver or Boulder stacks up to astronomical prices of the Bay Area. You can easily get a nice house 20 minutes from Denver for $300K. If you're looking in Denver proper, you're looking at $500K-$1M+ (Cherry Creek or similar). But you get much much more bang for your buck (we're talking a nice house). A $1M property in SF is like, what, some land with a dilapidated property? Boulder's housing market is going to be significantly more expensive. I'm only familiar with rent prices there. Maybe somebody else can comment on the housing market. But again, I don't think it's anywhere close to the Bay Area prices. At least not in terms of what you get for the same money. Boulder has more tech jobs. There are big guys like Twitter, Google and a gazillion of startups like VictorOps and SendGrid. Denver's lacking but I don't think it's too far behind. The fun stuff is pretty much all in Boulder though. Maybe the current construction boom will change that a bit. I can't comment on salaries. I work remotely for a company that isn't in Denver, but I can just say you can live lavishly here if you make $120K+. And if you have some money to burn, it's a perfect time to invest in some property. The entire Denver area is under construction right now.
smashingx 10y ago
I don't agree with this comment at all, "the trails are packed?" WTF, "beer pong and loud parties on every corner"? And no, is not closer to skiing resorts, there are way too many other towns closer to skiing resorts. I don't even know what city is this dude talking about, maybe some place in new york or california. I've lived in Boulder for about 10 years, and I've never seen anything like that.