Mesa County pros & cons
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9/14/2021
I moved to Fruita from Denver about 2 years ago just to get away from the huge population growth, expensive cost of living & traffic in Denver & the surrounding suburbs. It’s true that Mesa County is very conservative for the most part….lots of big trucks, trump signs & confederate flags & way more Republicans than Democrats (for now). It has a weird mix of old retirees, young families, college students & good ol boys. Seems to have a couple pockets of more liberal folks in Fruita, Redlands & Palisade which are more expensive areas (naturally) therefore require a higher education & better paying job in order to afford a house there. Main Street Fruita & Grand Junction River Walk are both fun, funky places with lots of independent restaurants & shops. It’s kind of a shame because it’s a really beautiful area, tons of outdoor activities all around here from the colorado national monument to grand mesa, (mainly hiking, mountain biking, camping along with ATV trails & River/Water activities.) The weather is a lot milder than denver (doesn’t get snow like Denver or the mountains) but powderhorn & glenwood springs are both close if you do like skiing & winter snow activities you can be there in less than an hour! In the summer it’s hot, but a DRY hot & it cools down at night which makes it much more tolerable than Las Vegas. Plus you can always escape the heat by going up into the mountains which are generally 10-20*F degrees cooler. Southern Utah is also very close which has some of the most spectacular national parks & state parks in the country including Arches, Canyonlands, National Reef, Goblin Valley etc. Seems like more people are moving to the area which is good, hopefully it will tip the scales from red to blue in a few years.??There’s no traffic & a better quality of life compared to Denver or other parts of CO. The downside is very limited (if any) cultural activities or Ethnic food & no diversity it’s probably 85-90% caucasian, the schools aren’t great & there is a lot of meth/drugs & homelessness for such an unpopulated area. The people are generally very nice (and simple) but I could definitely see my neighbors burning a cross in your yard if they find out your a democrat or liberal who voted for Biden….so as long as you keep your political opinions to yourself (and off the bumper stickers on your car & signs in your yard) I think the pros outweigh the cons, especially if your an active outdoors type of person but if your more into cultural arts, diverse people, ethnic food & intellectually stimulating conversation this is definitely not the place for you. ??
Kit | Fruita, CO