My family and I are considering relocating due to my job. I’m coming from the mitten state and trying to make my driving commute shorter to work. I work at an airline and could change bases to Denver. We don’t have a desire to move closer to an airport in the Midwest and would prefer to stay put or make a move out west. Ideally, I’d like to be 1:15 or less to DIA.

I do understand this means I’m moving to a blue state, or at least a blue area that controls the rest of the state…how does that look in smaller mountain towns outside of Denver though? Such as Bailey, Conifer, Lyons, Nederland, places like that?

How are the schools in the smaller towns? That’s a main concern, right now we have our kids in a small private school and would consider that in CO as well but cost of living overall will be higher than our current area.

If you do live in the mountains, or maybe I should call them foothills, how do you like it? What are the pros and cons you see?

As a family we love being outdoors camping, off-roading, fly fishing and hiking and I hunt. So there is a lot of draw to a state like CO. My main concern is raising kids, politics and overall community which kind of encapsulates all the above to some extent.

If we decide to move forward with it plan would put us out there next spring. We would rent for a year or so to narrow down where we’d like to live. Then buy a house in one of the mountain towns.

Thanks for any feedback and experience you are willing to share.

I don't think you're gonna be an hour out from or to DIA from Lyons or that area. It may say that on Gmaps, but rush hour traffic is going to screw that number way, way up. Especially if you have to drive anywhere near Denver on a major highway or interstate around 6-8am or 4-6pm.

I live in a tiny town in the mountains. The culture is pretty good, you get the occasional liberal hippy or nutjob but for the most part, people respect privacy and your way of life.

I've done a lot of work in Lyons. I wouldn't want to live in the actual town, but that area is nice. Too close to Boulder (in my opinion), and if you want to be a member at a gun range, good luck. The closest is Boulder Rifle Club and I think their waitlist is over 8 years out at this point.

The politics suck. Period. Nothing more to say about that. Bad gun legislation in the pipe. Taxes are disgraceful. Cost of living is through the roof.

Also, cost of a house in CO is beyond insane at this point. I'm not going to assume your budget, but a 1400sqft manufactured house with a 2 car garage and basement on 1 acre, that is an hour from the nearest city or Walmart, is going for around 300-400k (8 years ago, it sold for 180k). Add more sqft or acreage, and your cost is gonna skyrocket. Undeveloped land parcels with no utilities is going for $15-20 a square foot. 37 acres @ $720,000.

I cant speak to school quality. My daughter is 2, and there's a small mountain school where I live that she will be attending. I can tell you from word of mouth that most districts are VERY liberal and are fully onboard with DEI and Wokeism.

Best of luck, and if you do pull the trigger, welcome to Colorado. There's still a bunch of alright people here.

Lots of pilots live in Evergreen/Conifer/Genessee.

We are in the foothills W. of Denver, and if you can unplug from the stupid politics, it's a great place to live.  My 3 kids somehow finished public school indoctrination and are conservative.  Cost of living is high.  Traffic to the airport is rarely >45 minutes from the Western suburbs.  But, you will be stuck in stop and go traffic for 10+ minutes if you take I70.  Add 20 minutes for Evergreen.

I wouldn't like Nederland.  Too "out there".  Pot heads, gypsies, etc.  

I'd narrow it to Golden, Ken Caryl, Evergreen, Conifer, Genesee.

Now, if I could live near any airport and make a living, I'd pick Durango, CO or Bozeman, MT.  Possibly Carbondale, CO (Aspen airport).  Maybe even Boise, ID.

Boulder here.    It takes me about an hour to get to DIA, and E470 stays in good shape in bad weather and never really gets congested, but it's a toll road now.

Yes, the waiting list for the Boulder Rifle Club is insane, and nearing 20 years.  They are capped at 500 members, and when a spot opens up preference is given to 18-year-olds graduating from its junior shooting teams.  They have a lot of land for expanding their facilities, and have tried again and again -- even offering to build a public range --  but the Boulder County Commissioners make their life hell and the club has given up for now as it seems financially infeasible.  Here's a thread I posted a while ago.

I like your approach about finding a smaller mountain town.  Problem is going to be either politics or the drive.  

There's nothing I can do about the politics here.  I'm here for the outdoors, and I make small talk with my neighbors -- family, weekend plans, chores, work, but no politics.  It's a trade-off, and it is what it is.  Unincorporated Boulder County has a good number of conservatives, but far outnumbered by the city.

Bailey is probably too far out 285, and traffic/road in bad weather is going to make you late or MIA at work.
Conifer, dunno.  But out 285 has some nice places, for sure.
Lyons, the town itself has become a hipster coffee/artsy place that sucks especially during RMNP season.  Outside town it's pretty nice.
Nederland -- if you think Boulder is left, well, you haven't seen Nederland.  As with Lyons, outside the city there are different kinds of folks living.  Probably true with all the towns.
Gilpin County has some fine land and people.

Up and down 25, north of Longmont is building out really fast and the traffic as you near the Denver area is stop-and-go at commute times.  If you are looking at commuting to DIA from mountain towns, you are going to need a fast road down and out to 25, and then hop on E470 if you're coming from the north and I don't know about from the south.  It's all slowly getting congested.  A reasonable commute now might be unbearable in 10 years.

TL;DR:  if you're a daily commuter to DIA, the mountain towns might be a grind.  If you're flight crew and only need to drive up/down occasionally, I know a retired captain for United who lives in Evergreen and he managed just fine.

Thank you and I appreciate all the feedback and drive time reports. While I am basing mainly drive time on what google maps says, I didn’t realize there’s a potential fir such discrepancy as I’ve been out here a few times and haven’t seen the slowdowns as much. Obviously, I’m not always hitting it at rush hour though.

Expenses are for sure a factor and I do understand it’s gotten more and more pricey and will have to just be something we are ok with or just not move.

On the gun legislation, that’s a huge downer but not the end all be all for us.

Thanks again.

Great reply, thanks for the help.

I don’t have a huge desire to join that specific club so I’m not too concerned there but that may mean others are harder to get in to.

Weird, I read Nederland was conservative overall. Sounds like Lyons and that are potentially out before we start.

As far as your last paragraph, I’m part of the latter so it’s not a daily commute and why I’m considering 1.25 hours not bad. Currently I drive over 3 hours to start work.

Thanks again.

I appreciate your post, and good to know that with consistent, intentional parenting, and assuming you were mostly just present in their lives, it can be done to raise a child in public school there without worrying they’ll come home with blue hair. Well done.

Unfortunately I’m limited to which airport I live by, or else I wouldn’t probably consider Denver anyway.

Again thank you.

Golden area here, so I'm a but further east than you're looking, so take this with a grain of salt.

I've heard parents complain about Jefferson County Public Schools standardized test scores getting worse during the school closures and not rebounding after. It probably won't be a concern to you (different county and IIRC the mountain communities didn't keep schools closed as long), but worth mentioning.

If you're really looking as far out as Bailey, Idaho Springs might work for you. In my experience, 70 seems to be plowed more frequently than 285 or 74 and you can ride 70 all the way to the airport from there. That said, it can get really bad during rush hour (closer into Denver) and ski season.

If you're renting out here before you find a home/area, I would avoid renting on or near Colfax Avenue. I would avoid Colfax entirely. They're gentrifying part of it, so there are some cheap, new apartments there, but the area is still sketchy. Probably closer into Denver than you're looking, but worth mentioning anyway. I know some college kids who made that mistake to save a few bucks and are now missing their car windows, car contents, and even one dude's car. I came out of the Harbor Freight there once and had a guy underneath my car, probably looking to score some platinum.

My vote would be for Morrison, if you can stomach putting your kids in Jeffco School District.

You can get something like this for around $800-900k and be off the 470W loop right up near the foothills:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/4896-S-Coors-Ln-Morrison-CO-80465/119084750_zpid/

That particular house had a Zestimate of over $1MM a couple years ago, and when rates drop its going back there IMHO.

Based on the school reports, the local elementary school and middle school absolute suck, but the highschool looks OK. Thats jeffco for you.

If you're OK being a little further from the mountains, you should look into Highlands Ranch (where I live) or maybe down south of the Chatfield Reservoir. I looked at the latter, but my wife commutes to Denver West a few days a week and we have a toddler, so the schools in HR looked much better for his prospects. YMMV

Bailey should be out due to drive time.  Anything past Foxton / Richmond hill rd is a pita due to two lane rd with a stop light in Pine.

I mean, if you are looking for Tier 1, this is where you need to live:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/6729-Bear-Point-Trl-Golden-CO-80403/130389060_zpid/

If you need to cut back the budget a bit:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/18716-W-56th-Dr-Golden-CO-80403/82591427_zpid/

Not sure if it meets your criteria, but Larkspur/Palmer Lake/Monument may be a decent middle ground.  Not "in" the mountains but right against them, more conservative school districts/county (El Paso, specifically), and access within your time limit to DIA.

First, yes the politics here have gone from unpleasant to shittacular in only a few years.

Second, the taxes are not burdensome. I'm not really sure what that post was all about. Income tax is a flat 4.40%. Property tax is about 0.55% of market value. That's the third lowest rate in the US according to Rocket Mortgage.

Housing costs are very high. As high as expensive coastal cities.

Insurance costs are very high. We have one of the most challenging markets for P&C insurance in the country.

I lived in Evergreen and recently moved back to Denver.
Pros of Evergreen: gorgeous, 30 minutes+ closer to skiing, etc., wildlife, small town vibe, cooler summer weather, shoot on your own property, etc.
Cons of Evergreen: If you want to do something in Denver (football game, concert, etc.) you are driving, period. There is no Uber. Finding skilled trades to work on your house is challenging. Customer service, especially restaurants, sucks due to labor shortage. Not many good restaurants. People in Denver, who think nothing of driving 40 minutes across town, think a 20 minute drive to Evergreen is "too far."

Biggest con of Evergreen (or any Foothills or open space adjacent property): home insurance availability. Basically, pucker up for super expensive premiums at low coverages with astronomical deductibles - IF you can even get coverage. When we decided to sell we had been through the following: Dropped by our carrier due to fire risk. Declined by 23 carriers. Finally found a negotiated policy with Allstate's non-admitted line. State Farm would also write but only laughably inadequate coverage. I had a 5% loss deductible with Allstate. The premiums were higher than my property tax bills. We did a comprehensive forest study from a professional forester who was head of the USFS fire plan. We implemented said plan - including cutting down 400 or so trees from 6.5 acres!! We were AGAIN declined by 23 carriers. We sold. New buyers had State Farm. Who just dropped them this past year. Allstate no longer writing policies in that area. They now have an uninsurable (unsellable) home.

So we're back in Denver with a normal insurance policy. The savings paid for several very nice vacations for my family. And I don't need the evacuation plan I drew up for my family in case of a catastrophic wildfire. I sleep better at night not waking up when I hear the sirens from the wildfire trucks. I actually don't worry about pretty much jack shit anymore.

On the downside I don't get to see elk herds, bear families, bobcats, etc. from my living room, I can no longer fish at the side of my property or hike in the woods on my own property, etc.

Good luck!

Bailey here,

I travel for work so frequent trips to the airport are the norm for me.  I take 285 to 470, use the express lanes and into the airport.  The worst I’ve had traffic is the short 2 lane area of 285 and the area of 470 that doesn’t have an express lane but it hasn’t been much of an issue, I’ve been doing this for 4 yrs.  Has never taken me more than 1.5hrs to get to DIA.  Weather can be a factor though, but that’ll be the same no matter where you go.  285 can be a dangerous ride in good weather, just pay attention, lots WTF on that road.  I70 is a shit show most all the time and I25...yeah, I try to avoid that SOB unless I have to go to CO Springs.  Even then I take the back roads home.

I can tell you I love the area we live in, very much that small town feel, going to the post office, the Cut Throat Cafe, places where “everybody knows your name” is nice and Conifer, Aspen Park and Evergreen have basically all the day to day shopping you might need, a trip to “town” isn’t a big deal.  

Something most people aren’t prepared for though is living in a place like this can feel fairly isolated.  You don’t have that suburbia neighborhood thing (a plus to me) can add to that feeling.  My wife is a native of San Diego and it was quite an adjustment for her.  Fortunately my brother and his wife are about 3 minutes down the road from us, his kids and grandkids are in Burland Ranchettes across 285 from us so that helps a bunch.  Finally, IF you come to this area, be prepared for the weekend “Bailey RV and Boat Show.   On Fridays traffic up from Denver is nuts, RV’s Boats in the summer, Leaf Peepers in the fall, Skiers in the winter...blah blah blah.  Makes 285 a parking lot in some places but it does move so there’s that.  Same on Sunday afternoon/evenings, so we just adjust when and which direction we go on weekends.  

Hope this helps!

You can live in Black Forest, be 30 minutes from the COS airport, and live in a conservative county.

Only downside is the houses are like 800k+

Re: schools, you can also look into charter schools. Tax dollars follow your kid so they're "free" - though they tend not to have bus service. There's obviously a lot of variation, so you'll have to vet any particular school you're interested in, but there are a few that look good in my area at least.

It's typically an hour from Ft Collins to Denver during commute times. Although one DWHUA (driving while head up ass) incident can set that back a bit.  

Dont mean to hijack..

Anyone have a connection to an Insurance Agent in Larimer County? Looking at a few homes in the Drake/Estes area and need to get some quotes to see if it is even possible.

Ed Bowen, State Farm. My mom used to work there, dude is awesome treats his employees great. And yes we were clients for a long time.

Much appreciated, lets see what he says.

After reading the above comments, I am worried some of the houses on our list will not be insurable. I hope that is not the case.

As expected....

Unfortunately, for this home the risk does not meet wildfire underwriting guidelines and is ineligible to be insured by State Farm.

Is this some play to steal land from the people?

Haha point taken.

Thank you for the insight on the property insurance. That’s baffling that it’s so uninsurable out there. There are lots of houses in Evergreen, is this just for houses in the mountains or do the houses in the “neighborhoods” also have this issue?

Thank you, we checked out Bailey and Conifer on the way to some fishing the last time we were there and definitely liked it there!

Yellow is bad. Orange is really bad ("Extreme Wildfire Area"). We were in yellow. One underwriter told me "you could cut down every tree and pave your entire property and we still could not write you a policy." Map below.

Here is a link to another fire mapping tool. You can see that the foothills are F'd from both a risk and intensity perspective (https://co-pub.coloradoforestatlas.org/#/)

Interesting. So are there just a ton of people out there that just live uninsured? It’s not like there are no houses around so I’m just trying to understand. I had no clue this was a thing coming from Michigan so I really do thank you for bringing this up.

People generally have either State Farm, Farmers, NorthLight (Allstate's non-admitted carrier), or Scottsdale (another non-admitted carrier). These are people who have lived there a while or got "lucky" and got policies 2-3 years ago before the shit hit the fan with insurance. State Farm, Farmers, Allstate are all dropping tons of people up there and not writing ANY new policies. I don't know anyone who had Scottsdale so I can't speak to that. TONS of people we know and read about on nextdoor are finding out there is zero insurance available once they get dropped. So some people probably go without insurance or end up with forced placed insurance from their mortgage company (astronomically expensive and will ONLY cover the amount remaining on your mortgage). People up there thought I was crazy two years ago when I was talking about this problem. These people are now wondering why they didn't listen to me. How easy do you think it is to sell a home that is uninsurable?

ETA: "non-admitted" means that you'll have a policy that doesn't abide by Colorado insurance rules. Mine was really expensive, had a $10k deductible for "normal" losses, a 2% deductible for wind and hail, and a 3% deductible for fire, lightning or smoke. Also, rates can increase without approval from the CO insurance commissioner (they can go up a LOT in one year). The Scottsdale policy I was quoted had a $5k deductible PLUS 20% of the loss amount!!

Wow, good to know. Thanks again. I’ll be sure to keep checking on this if we continue talks about moving out there.

I keep calling around and no one will provide a quote. Wild...

Edit: 3/20, Im over 3 dozen attempts. All denied.

Duh. At this point, even if YOU could secure insurance, do you think the person you'd be selling to would be able to secure insurance?

Coming soon to Colorado:
https://youtu.be/keGEJoBapeo?si=PRBfkHl0SjD8-3br

In places where the insurred event is likely to happen, insurance doesn't really work. The insurance companies have probably come to the conclusion that a wildfire will inevitably rip through pretty much any area in the mountains, and in that scenario insuring homes is a sure loss to them. I know a little about this sort of thing from flood insurance - generally if you really need it you can't get it, except from the federal government.

If private insurance companies weren't willing to insure a place I wanted to live, I'd probably nope right out of there. Too much risk for my blood.

We've had a place up in Summit County, city of Silverthorne, since 2017.  It's still insurable (policy just renewed) because we are in a "low intensity" area, and, also has a fire hydrant within 200 feet of our house.  Our coverage is through Chubb and our agent is Arrow Insurance Management out of Frisco, CO.  Jessica Castleberry is our rep and her contact phone is 970-668-3500.  And yes, our rate just went up again from $4,800 / yr to $6,800 / yr even though we've had no big fire events in the area since 2018 or claims of any kind.

It's an hour drive from our place to Denver in normal traffic.  Could be double that in bad weather or a ski-weekend.  Good luck with your decision.