Could we live there? Denver, CO

We spent almost two weeks camped in Lakewood, CO, one of Denver’s many suburbs. Denver is the 19th most populated city in the US and the Denver Metropolitan area has close to 3 million residents. It felt similar in size to us as the Seattle Metropolitan area (Puget Sound) which has just over 4 million residents. We felt a lot of similarities between Denver and Seattle in our time there: love of the outdoors, vibrant artistic district, lots of breweries, and tons of good restaurants. We can tell that Denver residents enjoy the best of both worlds similarly to Seattle residents.

Scenic Beauty: 6/10

We were actually quite surprised by how flat the Denver region is. Maybe it is because we visited during the driest period of the year, but the mountains that we expected to be awestruck by were just not that impressive. We are very used to seeing snow on the Cascade peaks year round, but even the highest peaks in the Rockies were snow free in September. That being said, driving into the mountains did provide us with stunning scenery.

Weather/Climate: 4/10

Locals told us to prepare to experience all four seasons in one day, and OMG did that actually happen. We experienced a 50 degree temperature swing in a 24 hour period! It was over 90 degrees when we arrived and four days later, we were freezing with highs in the low 40s. Throw in extreme amounts of snow all winter long and Denver is just not gonna do it for us!

Arts and Culture: 8/10

We found so many things we wanted to do while we were visiting Denver, that there was no way to do them all. Denver is home to the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheater, is a stop on the Broadway Across America tour, and regularly has all the touring musicians make stops there. We would be more than satisfied with all Denver has to offer us.

Food: 9/10

We had so much amazing food while we were in Denver! It is truly a city with a global cuisine and we definitely want to go back just to try more of Denver’s amazing food scene.

Alignment with our values: 7/10

Denver felt very similar in a lot of ways to our home of Puget Sound. We enjoyed the diversity and open mindedness of all the people we met. In this way, we could see ourselves fitting in with Denverites.

Denver Grand Total: 34/50

Denver is scoring higher than any place else we’ve visited, but doesn’t yet crack the 40s. It’s a great place to visit, and we’ll definitely be back, but not a place we’d want to live long term.

Clockwise from top left: Views in Rocky Mountain National Park, live entertainment at Denver's Milk Market, delicious ice cream from the famous Little Man's, Summit Lake in the Rockies, art installation at Meow Wolf Convergence Station, a mural in Denver's RINO art district.