Boulder, CO Ranked Best Place in U.S. To Live

[BuffaloKyle]

I see often on here people are deciding where to move to. Well how about Boulder, CO! Was ranked #1 on U.S. News & World Report's list of the best places to live in the U.S. for this year.

https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/best-places-to-live?src=usn_pr

Edited July 13, 2021 by BuffaloKyle

[BuffaloKyle]

You can sort the list in multiple ways as well. Best place to retire is Sarasota, FL.

[+ Pensant]

I lived in Boulder for two years in the 90’s and really enjoyed it. Sure need a lot of moisturizer in the winters, though.

[Luv2play]

2 hours ago, BuffaloKyle said:

You can sort the list in multiple ways as well. Best place to retire is Sarasota, FL.

Interesting, my nephew, who is 49, has just moved to Sarasota from Atlanta with his second wife. It seems Atlanta was too small a place to have a wife and ex living in the same town.

He's not retired yet but has the kind of job that involves  lot of travel around the US. Atlanta was convenient for that but he may be looking ahead at an early retirement. His father retired at 50.

[keefer]

I lived in Boulder between '83 and '94, I suspect my experiences were unique to me, unique to my age and interests, and unique to the time...   over a two year period went from going everywhere by car to living on a mountain bike; from eating like a goat to a vegetarian diet; from sedentary to quite athletic... Pearl Street was just emerging as the destination pedestrian mall...  weekends driving through the mountains... learning to snowboard (you have to learn to respect gravity)...  truly an amazing place...   amazing start-up mentality ... don't like your job?  just go to lunch with friends and start somewhere else on Monday...   but eventually the magnitude of what I was missing outweighed the lifestyle, and I moved on (to a gritty little flat in London)...  the pangs of homesickness for Boulder are sometimes there (especially when Londoners get excited about a centimetre of snow)... but I could never move back - the real world has too much to offer.

[+ WilliamM]

1 hour ago, keefer said:

I lived in Boulder between '83 and '94, I suspect my experiences were unique to me, unique to my age and interests, and unique to the time...   over a two year period went from going everywhere by car to living on a mountain bike; from eating like a goat to a vegetarian diet; from sedentary to quite athletic... Pearl Street was just emerging as the destination pedestrian mall...  weekends driving through the mountains... learning to snowboard (you have to learn to respect gravity)...  truly an amazing place...   amazing start-up mentality ... don't like your job?  just go to lunch with friends and start somewhere else on Monday...   but eventually the magnitude of what I was missing outweighed the lifestyle, and I moved on (to a gritty little flat in London)...  the pangs of homesickness for Boulder are sometimes there (especially when Londoners get excited about a centimetre of snow)... but I could never move back - the real world has too much to offer.

Agree About biking.  When my cousin from Boulder visited about 10 years ago. I suggested a Broadway play (not a musical) he was very surprised by the ticket prices and the many choices

[Luv2play]

4 hours ago, keefer said:

I lived in Boulder between '83 and '94, I suspect my experiences were unique to me, unique to my age and interests, and unique to the time...   over a two year period went from going everywhere by car to living on a mountain bike; from eating like a goat to a vegetarian diet; from sedentary to quite athletic... Pearl Street was just emerging as the destination pedestrian mall...  weekends driving through the mountains... learning to snowboard (you have to learn to respect gravity)...  truly an amazing place...   amazing start-up mentality ... don't like your job?  just go to lunch with friends and start somewhere else on Monday...   but eventually the magnitude of what I was missing outweighed the lifestyle, and I moved on (to a gritty little flat in London)...  the pangs of homesickness for Boulder are sometimes there (especially when Londoners get excited about a centimetre of snow)... but I could never move back - the real world has too much to offer.

Interesting perspective.

[+ Pensant]

Boulder is where I bought my first mountain bike, a US-made Trek hard tail. I’ve been riding ever since.

[+ keroscenefire]

I'm not a huge fan of Boulder. It's definitely beautiful and has great access to the mountains and some good local businesses. But a lot of the people there are just kind of annoying. Haha. Like I was hiking once there and this dog bit me and the owner was like trying to say I provoked it somehow instead of being apologetic. The dog was also off-leash which it wasn't supposed to be but a lot of times they don't think the rules apply to them. 

It's also very expensive....way more than Denver. It's a lot of really wealthy tech-bros/trust fund hippies that run around town in their $5000 bikes and name-brand athletic gear from REI. 

I actually prefer Ft. Collins. Similar college-town vibe but a lot more laid back and less expensive.

[Guest]

I find these lists extremely silly because what's right for one person is not what's right for someone else. We're all individuals with different tolerances for different frustrations, which all cities have. What a gay man might prefer would be different from what an elderly married couple might prefer, just to give an obvious example. Some people can't stand the heat, others couldn't imagine shoveling snow from their driveways. One's hobbies and interests also enter these equations strongly--more outdoorsy or an opera fan? Religious feelings also enter the equation. 

[cany10011]

They should rank it according to museums, galleries,  and michelin star restaurants. None of the top cities have anything to offer me. 

I'm quite happy and comfortable living here in NYC. Some of my friends who retired at 50 have moved to Portugal where the cost of living is way lower. I've been to Portugal many times but don't see the attraction there. 

 

Edited July 14, 2021 by cany10011

[CuriousByNature]

I'm partial to Boulder's smaller sister-cities: Rock, Stone and Pebble.

[+ Charlie]

3 hours ago, cany10011 said:

They should rank it according to museums, galleries,  and michelin star restaurants. None of the top cities have anything to offer me. 

I'm quite happy and comfortable living here in NYC. Some of my friends who retired at 50 have moved to Portugal where the cost of living is way lower. I've been to Portugal many times but don't see the attraction there. 

 

Many years ago, a friend of mine from London retired to Portugal because he expected to be able to live there more comfortably on his limited retirement income. A couple of years later he phoned me from there, practically sobbing because he was so miserable. His lifestyle was comfortable, but even though he was a well-traveled, educated and sophisticated gay man, he felt completed isolated and alone in a culture that didn't really interest him. Things got even worse when he developed AIDS symptoms, because he had difficulty getting medical help there, and the locals treated him like a pariah.

[cany10011]

23 minutes ago, Charlie said:

Many years ago, a friend of mine from London retired to Portugal because he expected to be able to live there more comfortably on his limited retirement income. A couple of years later he phoned me from there, practically sobbing because he was so miserable. His lifestyle was comfortable, but even though he was a well-traveled, educated and sophisticated gay man, he felt completed isolated and alone in a culture that didn't really interest him. Things got even worse when he developed AIDS symptoms, because he had difficulty getting medical help there, and the locals treated him like a pariah.

Yikes! I always remind myself that the grass is not always greener. My friends are trying to convince me to buy an apartment in Lisbon to be close to them but I have no interest. My home is here in NYC and Toronto. I don't mind visiting them for a few weeks but I am not confident that it would be my choice of city to retire in. 

[+ azdr0710]

3 hours ago, CuriousByNature said:

I'm partial to Boulder's smaller sister-cities: Rock, Stone and Pebble.

Rock just got a Williams-Sonoma and an Anthropologie. Pebble and Stone already have these, plus an Apple store and a Land Rover dealership.

But they're no Boulder. 

[+ Pensant]

22 hours ago, keroscenefire said:

I'm not a huge fan of Boulder. It's definitely beautiful and has great access to the mountains and some good local businesses. But a lot of the people there are just kind of annoying. Haha. Like I was hiking once there and this dog bit me and the owner was like trying to say I provoked it somehow instead of being apologetic. The dog was also off-leash which it wasn't supposed to be but a lot of times they don't think the rules apply to them. 

It's also very expensive....way more than Denver. It's a lot of really wealthy tech-bros/trust fund hippies that run around town in their $5000 bikes and name-brand athletic gear from REI. 

I actually prefer Ft. Collins. Similar college-town vibe but a lot more laid back and less expensive.

Uh-oh! I’m one of those $5,000 bike guys. But I’m a pleasant fellow!

[+ Lucky]

Many consider Palm Springs an ideal place to visit, just not in the summer time. And about that heat. Right now it is pretty humid too. Might as well be in Thailand.

[+ keroscenefire]

7 hours ago, Pensant said:

Uh-oh! I’m one of those $5,000 bike guys. But I’m a pleasant fellow!

 

I'm generalizing of course. Some  Boulderites are nice people and some are a bit self-centered...just feel there are more of the latter in Boulder...haha.