For Americans: Should I move to Denver CO or Providence RI?

[Óttar]

I have a few months left before wrapping up my professional Associates degree (Paralegal Studies). I have been in Santa Fe, NM for over a year and this place is too small. My social life consists of Spanish and German conversation groups and the demographic is badly-dressed artists, old retirees, and working class Mexican Americans.

I am leaning more toward going to Providence, RI (I lived in New England for 12 years, 5 in Rhode Island, and 7 in Massachusetts, including 4 in Boston). My family has historical roots to New England going back to 1631 and I feel like N.E. is my culture.

I will soon have enough money to purchase a condominium. Denver housing prices are steadily climbing higher and higher and I found a condo or two for a decent price. Providence also has decent condos.

The unemployment rate is 2x higher in Providence than in Denver. My mom lives in Upstate NY. Providence RI is still pretty small (133,000 people), but I am only 1 - 2 hours away from Boston, New York, and other New England states. I like the "cozy" environment of Rhode Island, but the constant grey skies can get depressing.

Denver CO has a lot of jobs in computers. I want to try and start a business or learn e-commerce. Denver has a much higher population and an open-minded populace.

I don't know anyone in Denver. My aunt is 6 hours away in Santa Fe, NM. I am really sick of moving around. I would like to live in a place long term.

Both Providence RI and Denver CO have German, Italian, and Spanish conversation groups.

[Arduti]

I'm partial to the East Coast so I say RI.

[Óttar]

Bump.

Will bump once more later if there aren't more contributions.

[Óttar]

Final bump.

[Harley]

RI sounds like it has more for you, but I feel like you'd be able to get more done in Denver.

In terms of priority, how important is it that you be around people you know VS starting over new and forging new social connections, as you plan on settling long term?

[Colonel Frank Grimes]

Denver.

Do you want to be surrounded by this?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dc3MmThj_PU

Providence, R.I. is to Boston as north NJ is to NYC.

[dperucca]

Denver. More of a boom town these days and gorgeous scenery.

[zhaoyun]

Denver seems like a cooler city, and probably is more fitting for you since you're into all that new agey stuff.

The Northeast is just depressing overall, too much of that Jersey shore bullshit. But I guess if you really need to be by the ocean, it'd be a good fit. Also it has greater proximity to destination cities like Boston or NYC. So you should take that into consideration. Denver is pretty isolated. But the great outdoors should be amazing.

[Óttar]

Denver seems like a cooler city, and probably is more fitting for you since you're into all that new agey stuff.
Naropa University is a legit Tibetan Buddhist college in Boulder. There are also more touchy-feely, sexy hippie type venues. I have been thinking about getting into risque photography. Both Colorado and RI/MA have the added bonus of having fine as fuck White girls. Legal cannabis in CO is only a side-perk as I only partake 3-4x a year.


The Northeast is just depressing overall, too much of that Jersey shore bullshit. But I guess if you really need to be by the ocean, it'd be a good fit. Also it has greater proximity to destination cities like Boston or NYC. So you should take that into consideration.

After a few years, I think Providence could get really depressing despite its coziness and colonial English feel. Also, 28% of the city is below the poverty line, and property taxes are insane. Denver's real estate is starting to BOOM, so now is the time to jump in, and the property taxes are low. Shit, maybe I can sell a condo or a townhouse for California prices in 10 years if I'm super lucky.


Denver is pretty isolated.

This is a downside. I like knowing I could hop a train and book a hotel in Boston or NY and check out my old haunts in bean-town and reconnect with old friends. I feel though, that this might be a step backward. I never really made a life for myself in Boston career-wise. Maybe if Denver is so great, I wouldn't feel the need to go anywhere else. Boulder is 35 minutes away, and as a major transportation hub, Denver has reasonable flights to the east coast and California.


But the great outdoors should be amazing.
As someone with mild cerebral palsy, I can't go skiing, snowboarding, or white-water rafting. Those activities seem horrifying. I also am not big into parks and nature, but from what I've seen online, Denver does seem to have a lively, vibrant glow to it. Maybe I'll climb some mountains.

[zhaoyun]

Naropa University is a legit Tibetan Buddhist college in Boulder. There are also more touchy-feely, sexy hippie type venues. I have been thinking about getting into risque photography. Both Colorado and RI/MA have the added bonus of having fine as fuck White girls. Legal cannabis in CO is only a side-perk as I only partake 3-4x a year.

True. CO should have a plethora of fine ass white girls. The NE would probably be dominated by a bunch of trashy wog girls, a shit ton of whom probably have kids, abusive exes and major personality disorders by the time they are 30.



After a few years, I think Providence could get really depressing despite its coziness and colonial English feel. Also, 28% of the city is below the poverty line, and property taxes are insane. Denver's real estate is starting to BOOM, so now is the time to jump in, and the property taxes are low. Shit, maybe I can sell a condo or a townhouse for California prices in 10 years if I'm super lucky.

Yeah, I would think just judging RI by itself, it'd be a depressing place to stay. I have never went there but the last time I was in NYC, which was years ago, I visited a friend of mine, a cool ass Black dude who was in a program at Yale University in Connecticut, and that town was fucking shit. I think it was New Haven. I took a train out of Grand Central Station and I kid you not, the ride up there was just fucking depressing. So many of the towns and places we passed looked fucking third world. The Northeast is legit the UGLIEST place in the entire country that I've ever seen. Also, aside from a shit ton of hot models in NYC, most of the people were ugly.



This is a downside. I like knowing I could hop and train and book a hotel in Boston or NY and check out my old haunts in bean-town and reconnect with old friends. I feel though, that this might be a step backward. I never really made a life for myself in Boston career-wise. Maybe if Denver is so great, I wouldn't feel the need to go anywhere else. Boulder is 35 minutes away, and as a major transportation hub, Denver has reasonable flights to the east coast and California.

I could never live in CO permanently just because I'd be bored AF if Denver was the only major city around. It can't be that happening. I heard a lot of good things about Salt Lake City but when I went there a couple years back, not only was it creepy AF because of all the Mormon shit, but it felt like a little town where all of the shops closed their doors at 5:30 PM. It felt 1/4th the size of Sacramento, which I consider a small city. But if you don't really need to be in that big of a city or have that many amenities, I guess Denver or Boulder might just fit you right. Depends on what you're looking for. I think the quality of life in CO would be much higher than the Northeast.



As someone with mild cerebral palsy, I can't go skiing, snowboarding, or white-water rafting. Those activities seem horrifying. I also am not big into parks and nature, but from what I've seen online, Denver does seem to have a lively, vibrant glow to it. Maybe I'll climb some mountains.

I'm actually surprised as fuck that you have cerebral palsy. Do you need to be in a wheelchair? I can't believe you traveled through India with that condition, but good on you man, for not letting it limit you.

[Óttar]

RI sounds like it has more for you, but I feel like you'd be able to get more done in Denver.

In terms of priority, how important is it that you be around people you know VS starting over new and forging new social connections, as you plan on settling long term?
RI definitely feels more like home to me. Like I said, I feel like it's my culture to be surrounded by the ocean and English colonial architecture. I am apprehensive however about living in a place with such a small pop. (133,000) people.

I have been moving around my whole life and I'm sick of it. When I left Boston, I was upset. Even though I never made a career there, living in a place for 4-7 years grows on you and it's hard to leave. Despite this, I didn't really have a lot of friends. I had a core of 4-5, but we were not "tight-knit" and I don't think I've ever really had that as I am introverted and have moved around a lot.

I have lived in S. Florida (my hometown), RI, MA, WI, India, Chicago, and Santa Fe, and I'm tired of moving around. I want a home-base. I don't feel like Santa Fe is my home at all, and I'm afraid Denver might just be a bigger version of this. I am not from the Southwest. This place feels like it should be full of drunken gun-slingers, Natives, Mexicans, and bordellos. Not too far off, it is full of Chicano auto-mechanics, fat Natives, poorly-dressed artists, and retirees. Not my culture.

On the other hand, in the spirit of Ernst Juenger's Waldgaenger, I might enjoy fleeing to the mountains.


True. CO should have a plethora of fine ass white girls. The NE would probably be dominated by a bunch of trashy wog girls, a shit ton of whom probably have kids, abusive exes and major personality disorders by the time they are 30.
There are now a ship-ton of Puerto Ricans in our cozy, little Lovecraftian town by the sea, and there is a certain provincialism to it as well. The smallness of Providence most likely means there is a danger of it becoming incestuous. Everyone knows everyone. It's also full of transient art-students.


Yeah, I would think just judging RI by itself, it'd be a depressing place to stay. I have never went there but the last time I was in NYC, which was years ago, I visited a friend of mine, a cool ass Black dude who was in a program at Yale University in Connecticut, and that town was fucking shit. I think it was New Haven. I took a train out of Grand Central Station and I kid you not, the ride up there was just fucking depressing. So many of the towns and places we passed looked fucking third world. The Northeast is legit the UGLIEST place in the entire country that I've ever seen. Also, aside from a shit ton of hot models in NYC, most of the people were ugly.
The constant grey skies can wear one down after about 3 years. I traveled to New Haven for "Mithracon" which was a handful of scholars, neo-pagans, and Rome buffs sitting in a hotel room pouring over books on ancient Rome, drinking homemade mead, and looking over reams of photocopied pages from Yale's library. We ate steak afterwards in honor of the initiatic feast of the Mithras cult. Anyhow, there's really nothing in that town but Yale.

As for the ugliness of the Northeast from the train, even just taking the train from Santa Fe to Albuquerque can be depressing. We pass by dusty old Indian reservations with dilapidated trailers. Once on a drive to this shit-hole called Moriarty, I exclaimed, "If I lived here, I would probably kill myself." My uncle laughed because he knew it was true. It was also depressing going from Chicago to Milwaukee, seeing all the little Wisconsin towns whose only attraction is a gas station. One can find this kind of thing anywhere.


I could never live in CO permanently just because I'd be bored AF if Denver was the only major city around. It can't be that happening. I heard a lot of good things about Salt Lake City but when I went there a couple years back, not only was it creepy AF because of all the Mormon shit, but it felt like a little town where all of the shops closed their doors at 5:30 PM. It felt 1/4th the size of Sacramento, which I consider a small city. But if you don't really need to be in that big of a city or have that many amenities, I guess Denver or Boulder might just fit you right. Depends on what you're looking for. I think the quality of life in CO would be much higher than the Northeast.

If I were really rich, I'd move to San Francisco, but everyone knows about California's prohibitive expense. Watching videos online about Denver, on the one hand, it is colorful, bright, and lively, but some of the buildings even e.g. Union Station give off a wild-west depot vibe, the kind that characterizes New Mexico, or that absolute infernal shit-hole Tucson, AZ. Maybe the beer, restaurants, and hippies will off-set it. If I move to Denver, I plan to pick up simple hiking, mountain-climbing, and to go back to the gym. I plan to take a trip to Denver with my aunt in November or December.


I'm actually surprised as fuck that you have cerebral palsy. Do you need to be in a wheelchair? I can't believe you traveled through India with that condition, but good on you man, for not letting it limit you.

I have left-side spastic cerebral palsy which is the mildest and most common form of CP. It makes my leg muscles tight, I'm hyper-reflexic (my knees overreact when struck by that mallet at the doctor's office), and I have very slight musculo-skeletal abnormalities (osteopenia in my left foot). I don't need a wheelchair.

The son from the series Breaking Bad has my condition. I didn't care much for his character, but that's neither here nor there.

[Odin]

Denver.

[zhaoyun]

RI definitely feels more like home to me. Like I said, I feel like it's my culture to be surrounded by the ocean and English colonial architecture. I am apprehensive however about living in a place with such a small pop. (133,000) people.

I have been moving around my whole life and I'm sick of it. When I left Boston, I was upset. Even though I never made a career there, living in a place for 4-7 years grows on you and it's hard to leave. Despite this, I didn't really have a lot of friends. I had a core of 4-5, but we were not "tight-knit" and I don't think I've ever really had that as I am introverted and have moved around a lot.

I have lived in S. Florida (my hometown), RI, MA, WI, India, Chicago, and Santa Fe, and I'm tired of moving around. I want a home-base. I don't feel like Santa Fe is my home at all, and I'm afraid Denver might just be a bigger version of this. I am not from the Southwest. This place feels like it should be full of drunken gun-slingers, Natives, Mexicans, and bordellos. Not too far off, it is full of Chicano auto-mechanics, fat Natives, poorly-dressed artists, and retirees. Not my culture.

On the other hand, in the spirit of Ernst Juenger's Waldgaenger, I might enjoy fleeing to the mountains.

Based on my experience, most people from Colorado are either one of two types. White Granola Hippies/Hipsters or Rednecks. Probably still different from the trash talking Micks, Wogs and Boricans typical to the Northeast who typically stay townies and get drunk and shit faced at the same depressing local bar since they were 21. I don't know if you'd identify with either of the Denver types as "your culture", but I'm pretty sure that's what you'd find in Denver. So make your choice wisely. Considering you were into Hindu stuff and traveled to India, I figure you'd get along with the granola hipsters best.



There are now a ship-ton of Puerto Ricans in our cozy, little Lovecraftian town by the sea, and there is a certain provincialism to it as well. The smallness of Providence most likely means there is a danger of it becoming incestuous. Everyone knows everyone. It's also full of transient art-students.

Yeah I heard. The towns there are depressing.



As for the ugliness of the Northeast from the train, even just taking the train from Santa Fe to Albuquerque can be depressing. We pass by dusty old Indian reservations with dilapidated trailers. Once on a drive to this shit-hole called Moriarty, I exclaimed, "If I lived here, I would probably kill myself." My uncle laughed because he knew it was true. It was also depressing going from Chicago to Milwaukee, seeing all the little Wisconsin towns whose only attraction is a gas station. One can find this kind of thing anywhere.



Well, if you consider the historic reasons for the reservations, it's no wonder most are depressing as fuck. But there's a certain beauty in them as well, though I'd never want to live there. The Southwest in general is a fucking oven and a desert and was never meant for human life. So I seriously doubt Denver would be the same.



If I were really rich, I'd move to San Francisco, but everyone knows about California's prohibitive expense. Watching videos online about Denver, on the one hand, it is colorful, bright, and lively, but some of the buildings even e.g. Union Station give off a wild-west depot vibe, the kind that characterizes New Mexico, or that absolute infernal shit-hole Tucson, AZ. Maybe the beer, restaurants, and hippies will off-set it. If I move to Denver, I plan to pick up simple hiking, mountain-climbing, and to go back to the gym. I plan to take a trip to Denver with my aunt in November or December.

Sacramento is a good option in California. It's not too crowded and expensive, and has a lot of the medium sized city amenities that Denver has but is in close proximity to the rest of California. It's a diverse population, you'd find granola hippies of every race in the urban core, in the South, cholos, southeast Asians and ghetto black people but in the outer ring, rednecks.

[Fractal]

Providence Rhode Island since you're a Hindu, and I'm guessing you might like to be around Indian-Americans.

New Jersey and New York are the Indian capitals of the USA - not Silicon Valley as is commonly believed. But you'd also fit in with the white hippy types in Colorado - where cannabis is legal.

[KMack]

I have a few months left before wrapping up my professional Associates degree (Paralegal Studies). I have been in Santa Fe, NM for over a year and this place is too small. My social life consists of Spanish and German conversation groups and the demographic is badly-dressed artists, old retirees, and working class Mexican Americans.

I am leaning more toward going to Providence, RI (I lived in New England for 12 years, 5 in Rhode Island, and 7 in Massachusetts, including 4 in Boston). My family has historical roots to New England going back to 1631 and I feel like N.E. is my culture.

I will soon have enough money to purchase a condominium. Denver housing prices are steadily climbing higher and higher and I found a condo or two for a decent price. Providence also has decent condos.

The unemployment rate is 2x higher in Providence than in Denver. My mom lives in Upstate NY. Providence RI is still pretty small (133,000 people), but I am only 1 - 2 hours away from Boston, New York, and other New England states. I like the "cozy" environment of Rhode Island, but the constant grey skies can get depressing.

Denver CO has a lot of jobs in computers. I want to try and start a business or learn e-commerce. Denver has a much higher population and an open-minded populace.

I don't know anyone in Denver. My aunt is 6 hours away in Santa Fe, NM. I am really sick of moving around. I would like to live in a place long term.

Both Providence RI and Denver CO have German, Italian, and Spanish conversation groups.

Can't advise you on where to move. Don't buy a Condo, but a duplex. Your tenant will pay a good % of the debt service mortgage.

[zhaoyun]

Can't advise you on where to move. Don't buy a Condo, but a duplex. Your tenant will pay a good % of the debt service mortgage.

Definitely solid advice. But there are many markets where that would be out of reach for a young buyer.

[KMack]

Definitely solid advice. But there are many markets where that would be out of reach for a young buyer.

Per square they usually less expensive than condos or single family houses. There are usually less buyers in the rental RE market.