Reviews & Comments
Pueblo, CO
Not as bad as everyone says -
1/13/2022I have lived in AZ and CO my entire life. Pueblo has always been the worst reputation area in CO along with Fountain. This stigma has never been shook off.
Cheap (relatively), good nature. Pueblo's climate is very familiar to me but others may dislike it. I make 80k here so there are good jobs, but they are nowhere near as plentiful as the Springs. You can also easily work here and commute to the extreme southern Springs or vice-versa as the commute is only 35 miles. Most jarringly, Pueblo is very different in look and feel from the other two major front range cities. It is less massive suburban sprawl and more large pieces of land with custom houses, no congestion, and just not as much going on. Also, climate-wise it is much more like NM or AZ than the snow-laden aspen land people associate with CO (kind've overstated when most of the state is plains/desert anyway).
Downsides? Very little development relative to the other two. It feels much emptier, and there are some very rust-belt slummy areas here unlike any you will find in the other two cities. This is pretty much undoubtedly the worst of the 3 major cities in CO, however there are also good neighborhoods. CSU Pueblo is there but I can't speak on it, that may be an issue for those with kids of that age as the community college transfer system in the other two is amazing (I used it myself). It is telling that the area RIGHT next to the university is just now being developed and not even at massive scale.
I live in Fountain but work in Pueblo, just because the commute is worth it for me. It is however one of the last affordable areas in Colorado that isn't a little town out in the plains an hour from Denver. I think this alone is going to, over the next 30-50 years, end up with the Springs basically developed down to Pueblo. Just my thoughts.
Thornton, CO
Whiny boomers in the reviews -
1/13/2022Good place. Very suburbany (similar to the Springs). The houses are very small and old and yet still very expensive (albeit cheaper than southern Denver). Actually lots of good jobs, the median income reflects this. N line of RTD runs through if that matters.
It has a very working class vibe. Lots of normal people, close in proximity to downtown, and also close to more rural areas and parks. Downsides? Congestion as expected of the front range, schools are kind of interwoven with the strip malls which is odd. The area is still very expensive despite being a bit more faded and worn. There are also neighborhoods with throughways splitting them, with speed bumps. Doesn't feel like the best planned city but it's still very nice.