What Makes Colorado Such a Popular Place to Live?

Ever since its creation as a state in 1876, Colorado has become one of the most popular places to live and work. Only four states were more popular to move to last year. Colorado has enjoyed a steady increase in population and personal income ever since gold was found in cool creeks of the Front Range foothills of the Rockies in the 1850s.

What makes Colorado such a popular place to live? One of the most unique and attractive aspects of the state is its varied climate and terrain. Colorado's unique terrain -- plains in the east with mountains to the west -- allows residents to farm the rich fields of the plains, mine the mountain's rich mineral wealth. Colorado is well known for some of the best skiing in the world, along with vacation resorts, cattle ranches, farmlands, technology companies, universities, hospitals and excellent climate that allows great outdoor activities.

Coloradans are the most physically fit people in the nation while boasting the lowest obesity rate in the United States. The dry climate provides 300 sunny days to enjoy recreation.

The skiing in Colorado is unparalleled in the world thanks to geography -- ski resorts are blanketed liberally with dry "champagne powder" snow that provides the best skiing possible. Hundreds of miles of bike trails snake through cities and towns along with mountain trails perfect for horses and sport vehicles. Hunters and fishermen find the Colorado mountains and streams perfect places for the fly-fishing and big game hunting.

The most impressive riches in the state no longer come from a gold miner's pick or pan. Colorado is rich in gas and minerals, with seven of the nation's 100 largest natural gas fields and two of its 100 largest oil fields. Large deposits of coal, the potential for harnessing wind power, geothermal activity and water power are some of the domestically produced energy that will employ thousands of future Coloradans and help energize the rest of the nation. Corn grown on the plains for ethanol and oil shale from the western slope (estimated 1 trillion barrels) provides more potential for energy and employment.

Denver, the capital, started as a mining camp in the 1850s and has grown to be one of the centers of commerce for the entire western United States. It is the heart for numerous growing and profitable industries, none more important than the rising technology and "clean tech" companies that have and continue to find sound roots in the city and its suburbs. The Denver Tech Center, a business park on metro Denver's southern edge, has been a primary player in cable television, software development and green technologies. By 2003, Colorado ranked fourth in states for high-tech exports, fifth in software publishers, seventh in computers and peripheral equipment manufacturing, and nine in engineering services employment.

Around the Denver Tech Center there are numerous upscale communities that have easy access to transportation via Interstate 25, as well as the newly developed and very popular light rail system that feeds commuters and sports enthusiasts into downtown Denver. Just a few miles south of the Denver Tech Center rests the beautiful city of Castle Rock, right off Interstate 25 and only 15 minutes from downtown Denver and 40 minutes from Colorado Springs. Castle Rock is a typical Front Range small city whose citizens benefit from a low crime rate, beautiful scenery and easy access to the very popular shopping center called The Outlets. Castle Rock allows for country living with quick access to Denver, accentuated by The Meadows, which also boasts an impressive array of trails.

CNN Money lists Denver as the seventh best place to live as well as launch a new company in America, and fourth in the nation for receiving federal government funding through the Small Business Innovation Research program. Entrepreneurs in the Mile High City benefit from an educated work force, a beautiful environment and continuing "growth in aerospace, IT, biosciences, energy and financial services," according to CNN.

Successful start-up companies in the Denver-Boulder area include Jones Intercable, Namaste Solar, Instinct Media Solutions (new media marketing), Sunflower Corp. (public lighting systems), and Hybrids Plus (electric hybrid research and development).

SOURCES

Bureau of Economic Analysis

Colorado State Nursing Homes, http://www.assistedseniorliving.net/services/colorado/

City of Denver, www.denvergov.org

Office of the Governor of Colorado, www.Coloradogov.org

Instinct Media Solutions, http://www.instinctmedia.net/

Most educated states http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/elearning/?article=mosteducatedstates

Rutberg, Shana. Best places to start a business, CNN Money http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fsb/0803/gallery.best_places_to_launch.fsb/7.html