Does anyone live in Colorado, Virginia, or Washington?

thegoodbye

You should take a look at the various locations using payscale's Cost of Living Calculator - PayScale - Cost of Living Calculator . If I'm considering moving my family, I like to work with more concrete numbers vs. someone's word. Good luck.

phoeneous

MSP-IT wrote: »

We're trying to help you here. What exactly is it that you're looking for?

I'm more acceptable than my wife is. We currently live in a suburbia type area which is perfectly fine for me. I prefer not to live in a downtown or extreme rural country scene.

My biggest concern is getting a job first. CCNP will come in April then I start applying. What did you do in CO?

YuckTheFankees

I live in Highlands Ranch and I do not find it "too" expensive. And the 15 minute drive to DTC for work is not bad at all, just the traffic on the way home might suck. You might want to look at Castle Rock as well, it's new and very nice....but it's a little bit of a longer drive to most hubs like DTC/Denver.

undomiel

I moved up to Bellevue, WA in the middle of last year. I haven't been actively looking for a job in the area yet I receive nearly an e-mail or phone call a day from a recruiter looking for mid to senior level engineers (both on the networking and systems side). I'd imagine that the competition in this area is pretty fierce though, considering the proximity of all of these tech companies. Definitely love the area up here. It is a huge improvement on Phoenix. I don't think you would go wrong looking at the Seattle area. Kirkland, Bellevue and the nearby areas strike a good compromise between urban and rural I believe.

MSP-IT

I was a student, but I had the opportunity to live in a few places, including Highlands Ranch.

I would check out the Cherry Creek area, it's quite close to downtown and isn't as newly developed as Highlands Ranch. It would be one of my first choices if I were to move back to Denver. Cherry Creek reminded me of the nice parts of Dallas. I quite like it.

Cherry Creek, Denver - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (mean household income of $95k in 2002)

Although it doesn't provide the best view, I would look at the residential area around Cherry Creek with Google Street View. It will give you a decent idea of the type of residences in the area.

YuckTheFankees

The houses in Cherry Hills are more expensive than HR, a little heads up. The food is very good in Cherry Hills but pricey. Overall, Cherry Hills is more expensive than HR.

it_consultant

OP already indicated that he wasn't looking for urban living so Cherry Creek is an automatic disqualification. I have a buddy who lives in Castle Rock and commutes to Denver, it is a long drive but you can get a lot more house in CR than you can in the closer suburbs.

phoeneous

Is Cherry Hills and Cherry Creek the same thing?

YuckTheFankees

I meant to say Cherry Creek*

it_consultant

No, sorry, Cherry Hills is not the same thing. Cherry Creek is a Denver neighborhood and Cherry Hills is a development in Highlands Ranch. Sorry for the confusion!