I'll be the devils advocate here and try and steer you away from Colorado - I have lived in Colorado since 1985, before that was AZ, and then MT, after growing up a nomad military brat. As I near retirement I have one thing on my mind....to find a place other than Colorado to retire. Why? It has changed dramatically over the years, it's very crowded now....almost everywhere except for small outlying areas. It's become basically California's twin for general cost of living and particularly housing costs.....in the metro Denver area the current "entry" home- 1200 sq ft or so, postage stamp lot, maybe a garage, maybe needing updating, is $560K....1-2 bedroom condo's are $350-400K ish....a nice 2000-2500 sq ft home in a decent area is $650K-$1M (plus $6-12K a year property taxes depending on tax districts).....I see it every day my wife is in real estate. Property taxes are still rising too, almost all areas now have HOA's and covenants that add $150-$400 a month in fees, water bills are high (can be $300 mo in high demand areas), electricity and gas is high (averages $340 mo statewide), car insurance is insanely high (we have the second highest hail storm claim rates in the USA- Think $4-7K a year two cars good driving records)....further, honestly, even the weather even seems to have gone downhill in the last 10 years....colder winters and lots more snow (Denver now averages 77"s annually, short summers, tons of rain and hail- Denver now averages 20"s annual precip. from rain). Crime has risen dramatically- up 62% in 5 years, homeless population too, getting any services- plumbing, construction, landscaping, concrete, electrical, automotive, exterior painting, you will pay through the nose and wait in line to get them. It has almost become cost prohibitive to live here, I used to laugh at CA because in Orange County if you had a family of 4 and your annual income was less than $100K you qualified for food stamps, Colorado is not much different than that now.....you better make $150-200K if you want to break even, pay your bills and eat out once or twice a month. Even health insurance (although bad everywhere) is crazy high here and in the mountain areas, by provider numbers, it's 30% higher than Denver Metro and for a basic Blue Cross, nothing special health insurance plan with $12K annual deductible and average co-pays it's $1,600 a month for a family of 3 in Denver area. They say currently that for someone to retire here in CO, they need to be debt free, home paid for, and to make ends meet, pay utilities, cell phone, groceries, health care, property taxes, homeowners insurance, car insurance, vehicle maintenance, the basics, a couple needs to have an annual retirement income of $85K to survive. I doubt very seriously that over the next 5-10-15-20 years that many folks will retire in Colorado except for the elite. Just a fair warning from a guy punching the numbers for the last few years and trying to figure it out himself.
