Aurora, Colorado

If you crave an active outdoor lifestyle then you’re going to LOVE Aurora. Frequently ranked among (#1 at times) the most active cities in the country with: 100 parks, 5,000 acres of protected open space, innumerable places to kayak, sail, run, hike and some of the best skiing in the world, less than an hour away.

Here's a local celebrating some of the characteristics of Aurora: look into the central park section of Aurora. It's very walkable, diverse, LGBT+ friendly with outdoor opportunities. However it's not really cheap and the crime isn't great. But it's a great quality of life. Lots of people live here because it's very very close to Anshutz.

Aurora is historically a predominantly white city with a relatively conservative middle class culture. The recent growth in population, and diversity in that growth in particular, has created tension in the city that comes from traditionalists who decry the changes. A growth mentality in Colorado is overwhelming this conservative energy but for newcomers it is helpful to know it still exists.

Here's a tranplanter with a pov that the complaints are overblown: The thing is that Five Points is quickly becoming gentrified at a quicker rate than most of the denver metro area. Rents are shooting up like crazy. A friend of my dad who lived there in the 80s-90s saw dead bodies on the street corner everyday. Now all you see is new trendy restaurants, breweries, and bars. Denver does have its fair share of violent crimes, but that’s normal in every major city. I do not like how people hate on Aurora and compare it to cities like Chicago and Memphis…most of those people haven’t left their little white lily suburb. I’ve spent a lot of time in the so-called bad neighborhoods of both cities and have never felt unsafe.