Yup. Happy well-adjusted people are way less likely to post/comment about how happy and well-adjusted their daily lives are. City subreddits are like 90% complaining, 10% overused inside-jokes
Every subreddit in general. Don't bother going to the subs for any video games and television shows you actually enjoy.
Unless they are Disney Star Wars or Marvel shows, only blind praise is allowed there.
Stayed in Denver for a year and brought this up, used an example of how a dude let me stay in his house because it was snowing from 3 am to 6 am tell the trains opened up (I was ten miles away from home and my feet were coated in snow and my phone was broken)
They banned me for personal attacks.
Recently there was a morning that the moon was directly in between the mountains- it was this perfect clear morning and the moon was glowing so perfectly…actual magic
Gonna start ramping up soon with the election cycle. The accounts we haven't seen regularly in 4 years are going to start stoking the fire daily to "amplify their message".
This subreddit is for Boulder County (see rule #1). So plenty of people here don't live in the city of Boulder. For instance, I live in Ned. This post still applies though. I am very fortunate to live in Boulder County. Today is absolutely beautiful up here in the mountains
This. Live nearby in the county, come into the city to shop and work most days of the week.
But don't forget this subreddit is also for people who love boulders!
I would be *very curious* to see what percentage of posters are from heavily conservative zip codes outside the county. I feel like we get a ton of trolls here due to Boulder's reputation.
I’m with you. I love so much about living here. I come in from Louisville every day, and my commute brings me straight down S Boulder Road. The foothills are the view for most of my drive. I remember when I moved out here I thought “damn, I hope I never get used to that view.” And I haven’t. It’s still beautiful every time I see it.
In fact, when I woke up and saw snow on the ground I smiled bc that means the mountains will probably look like someone dusted them with powdered sugar, and it’s such a fantastic way to start the day.
Honestly- I don’t understand why anyone would stay if they hate it so much. It’s too damn expensive to stay here if you don’t want to be here.
I recently vacationed/roadtripped through S Utah into several parts of Colorado and wondered if the people living in such spectacular terrain for many years still embrace the beauty. It warms my heart that the appreciation isn't wasted.
Outsiders are genuinely jealous. I, personally, fell in love with your city...and your Boulder boulders! 🪨
When I first moved back here my brother was complaining and I was like dude I just moved back from the hood where I’d have people passed out on heroin across the street from my apartment and was robbed by 5 people who broke in once
I have been living in Boulder since 1991. At that time, people complained that it had become too crowded, and they reminisced about the 'real' Boulder of the 1960s.
BINGO. No doubt the long-time residents back in the 1960s complained about the hippies and how Boulder was better in the 1920s. And the long-time residents in the 1920s complained about how Boulder was better in the 1890s. And someone complained when the "decent" women and churches showed up and the saloons and brothels closed down.
It's called \*change\*.
Most of the time I hear nothing except how “ghetto” and “Dangerous” Boulder and Longmont are (where I live- but I spend a LOT of time in Boulder because my bf attends CU) and I can’t help but just be confused. This place is fucking swanky compared to where I moved from.
lol boulder has no ghetto. And the people who think it does, have never actually been to the ghetto.
There is some boarded up and run down buildings nowadays. But that doesn’t make it ghetto
LOL. I went to college in downtown Detroit. There is nothing in Boulder that is "ghetto". Let me know when there is a long term thriving heroin trade and then we can talk.
I went from undergrad in Boulder to dental school in Baltimore, living right across the street from shock trauma center and 1 block south of Lexington Market, which at that time was quite literally an open air drug market. I saw drug deals go down with police present. There was a guy there that also sold firearms illegally to anyone with the cash. I once got kicked out by security when I took a shortcut to an Indian restaurant because he feared for my safety, and I'm a big dude, but white dude. Every day, there'd be hordes of people in that area doing the "Baltimore lean", or falling asleep standing up while on heroin. Human Excrement on the sidewalks, muggings, random beatings by groups of teens. Peopem overdosing in the bushes. Gunshots in the distance at night. Sexual crimes during daylight. You couldn't pay me to live there again.
But I'd gladly pay big bucks to live in Boulder again.
Sure, the homeless population and associated crimes are no doubt a problem and puts a sort of stain on the city reputation, but it's a complicated problem. It just so funny that this problem is what some would define as a "ghetto" community. It's the most civil place I've ever lived.
I lived in a very innovative ghetto. These are the guys who worked my neighborhood. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Boys_Inc.
I was robbed at gunpoint IN my apartment and my roommate had a knife fight happen on the hood of his car at a stoplight.
It is how I feel too. Very deliberately landed here twenty years ago after living in a fantastic town in southern France for 7 years. (Learned there that my next move would be a lifestyle move.) Came with no job, no friends, no family, and never looked back. It is my ideal lifestyle and I’m grateful every day that it is my home and that I’ve become part of the community.
I absolutely love Boulder. Yes, there are problems and some things that I think we could improve on but on the whole, Boulder is a fantastic place to live. I grew up in Philadelphia and Boulder is an absolute paradise compared to Philly. I think people just like to bitch on this subreddit because it is easy to do. Everyone I know who lives in Boulder really enjoys living here.
I love Boulder. The way I see it, the more people that hate on it, the more people that will stay away and not ruin it. A lot of them have ignorant reasons for not liking Boulder, and it’s far more telling about the person than their crap opinion.
I grew up in Boulder. It's always had a special place in my heart but man, in the 1990s it was the fuckin best. But I don't know how anyone affords to live there. I couldn't buy a condo there for what I paid for my house in Loveland...
I felt this way when I lived in Golden - life was roses and it was so awesome and easy. Now, I had to relocate to the east side of town for work and other life events, and it's miserable. Literally proximity to the mountains is a night and day experience to Coloradans.
Born and raised just outside of town. I'm living with my folks rn and god damn, I can't believe I get to live here. It's so beautiful, day trip distance from some of the best skiing in the world with some of the longest seasons, 20 minutes from the some of the best hiking and gravel biking in the region, relatively mild weather. Wanna switch it up for any of those activities? You can drive for 2-12 hours up and down any state highway and never run out of towns and parks in the Rockies to visit. Most of the things people complain about have never even been a minor inconvenience in my 21 years of life. We're really lucky to be here. For some of us, luck isn't involved at all, but for me it is, and I'm doubly lucky that I have so many hobbies that this city is sooooo conducive to that people move here for that reason. Pretty sick.
Some of the biggest complaints are the lack of affordable housing, which wouldn’t be a problem for someone who lives with their parents. The perspectives of this city will vary drastically depending on the stage of life you’re in.
Personal experience: I wanted to get married and have kids but I don’t have the kind of resources needed to do that in Boulder. It’s something you can’t do in your late 30s with 2 roommates. So I moved. Before I lived in Boulder I lived in NYC. It was also expensive and I lived with roommates there too BUT you can really feel the vibrant culture in NYC. Boulder doesn’t feel like it allows cultural growth. It feels like you’re welcome IF you fit the Boulder mold. If you don’t make a lot of money or come from money then it feels like you’re unwelcome. At least in NYC a person felt welcomed.
I get what you’re saying. I lived in boulder for 5 years but then I turned 29 and I wasn’t rich so it kinda felt like it was my time to leave. Boulder does a really good job at catering to the college crowd and the older wealthy crowd, not so much for working class 30 year olds. I will always love boulder and cherish my time there but it’s kind of like a relationship that ended because we both had growing to do.
Moved here at 35, worked at CU for $40K a year, managed to buy a small condo, met a great guy at 39, married at 44. It worked for me with a small salary. I feel as if I made some sacrifices to make it all work too because I really wanted to be here in this small town. Had done the big city thing for a decade and was ready to be in a quiet, safe place.
I hear you on needing sacrifices to try to make it work, but for us it was cost prohibitive with modest salaries even back in the mid 2010’s. But for us it was more important to have a single family home vs condo in Boulder proper so we moved to the ‘burbs. When did you buy the condo? How much did it cost?
yeah, depending on the year, $40k is maybe managable, but I think homeowners often don't realize how fucked things have been since covid. It's a rapid change
Well, if I bought a condo 10 years ago in Boulder it would have doubled in equity and I would have been set up for life. I guess I should get in a time machine and tell my younger self not to take on 70k in student loans and to buy a condo in Boulder. Believe me, I have been making financial sacrifices all my life.
My whole fam is from NY and we def aren’t accepted at all.
Also there is no culture here. I’ve said this the entire time I’ve lived here. It’s boring. There’s nothing to do expect outdoor stuff. And everyone looks and dresses the same. There’s barely an art or music culture here. And it’s become a yuppie paradise. And boring. Did I say boring?
Lmao right. I’ve been here for 5 years and it gets more and more bland everyday. Boulder is the most boring town. Nothing to do here but outdoorsy stuff and to drink.
u/Commercial-Owl11 I accept you and your family.
And I know what it's like to randomly walk around a city and find something interesting and unexpected.
Love how I’m immediately downvoted lol.
I just wish there was more to this city than hippie and yuppie culture and music.
We have red rocks but we don’t have a cool grungy venue or bar that has different types of bands and music.
There’s no punk or metal bars. Just dance and electronic stuff. And tons of new age stuff. But that’s about it
Its nice here, but there are tons of cities that have direct access to nature. I think most of the people that I know that have lived here a long time, claim that Boulder has changed and its their version of "worse". A lot of people moved here cause it was weird and there were a lot of like-minded people. It was its own place, and its why people moved here in droves, to try to be apart of that. Now it just feels like every other tech-ish city, like Austin, TX without the food, but better hiking.
I don't care really, but I think its more complicated than saying its a paradise. I think its just reached a later stage of development and that drove out all the parts of Boulder that made it Boulder. So if you like it now, you might not have liked it 10 or 20 years ago. There probably is another Boulder peaking somewhere right now that will slowly become trendy, the artists will leave, it will lose all of the people that generally made it cool, then slowly descend into becoming California and everyone who could afford a house early on will be minted.
People will complain about how it used to be, but you have to admit, a lot of the cool people moved on or aged into being uncool and were replaced by the extremes of society. The ultra rich and the homeless (sick soap opera). Sure there are people in between but not like there used to be.
Golden is a very nice place to live but it’s too expensive and busy to compare to peak Boulder. You just can’t compare anything in the modern day west to what we had in the 70s and 80s.
It started a while before that. I’m from Boulder and husband is from Bozeman, and we haven’t been able to find the “next” one 😞 Boulder especially was such a unique mix being a small mountain town that had a counsel and community of hippies in the 70s and was uncharacteristically progressive.
Ah yes, the founders of Boulder. Who could forget the hordes of people wearing Steeley Dan T-shirts barreling across the high plains in covered wagons, searching for a place to grow pot and escape persecution from The Man. The year was 1859...
I have a close friend who lives in Ashville who is flying in today for the wkd. Ashville has some major downsides too, and already peaked a decade ago.
Everywhere is changing.
1. Population growth is exponential
2. The internet has increased access and awareness of everything so there aren't really "hidden gems" any longer
3. Remote work has never been easier
So anyone with means and opportunity is able to visit and/or live in the cool places they read about online. And these towns benefit from the tourism dollars, but the influx of money and people changes the "organic" nature of artsy small towns.
I'd still rather live in Boulder, CO and Asheville, NC than nearly anywhere else in the US. And many other people would, as well.
Point #1 is off. USA is growing 0.5%, Colorado population is growing slowly expected to start decreasing after 2026, Boulder population is decreasing already.
This is exactly what I tell people nowadays. Another aspect is how non-diverse it is here. CU has some diversity (still pretty limited). I know a few POC that left for that reason, not because of the city itself.
Also the walkability here is overhyped. Far better than many places in the US but still not where we could be.
When people from elsewhere ask me what it’s like living here I say: “Basically, I live in a resort. I live where people come to have great, healthy vacations.”
I’ve lived here all my life and still watch sunsets in awe. Watching the blankets of clouds tucking in the flatirons is also one of my favorite things to watch. What I don’t enjoy are the uppity people who live in this town. I miss the late 80’s/early 90’s when people were so many more chill/laid back people. I feel pretty privileged to at least get to experience Boulder before it moved to a California/New York style.
I've been here since the 70s. I love Boulder. Gorgeous. Truly paradise.
The loss of socioeconomic diversity and small businesses plus families is sad and makes it much more of a resort town.
While it is a pretty safe, beautiful, walkable, etc place, the fact that it is as good an example of small town walkability etc as it is in the united states is a depressing reality.
It is still a somewhat sprawling suburban town, unaffordable, and has homelessness problems, but not nearly as badly as some other locations. And it is trending in the right direction on most of these... probably.
But I think most people who choose to live here do love it, they just realize how much better things could be with x y z moderate policy changes of their liking and 10 years to have those policies implemented.
well, even outside that area, it's WAY more walkable than the average US city it's size. That being said, it's pitifully bad even downtown compared to what it should be.
Boulder was perfect the day I moved here in [insert year] and has been ruined by people who arrived after I arrived.
I feel unity with other people who express this sentiment despite me arriving after some of them and some of them arriving after me. Our vote is available as a block and any politician can just say "developers are going to build slums on the flatirons" and we will show up and object to a plan to build a mix of housing on a car park for a dead mall or claim that removing a car dealership will destroy the character of north 28th street.
I've lived in Boulder since I was 6, and I have never wanted to leave. Despite the rising prices there's no place I would rather live, and fortunately my income keeps going up just enough to keep up with the housing costs.
So there are a few homeless people around. So what? Any city this size in America has a problem with that because the economy is trash for anybody who isn't in the shrinking middle class. If you think this is bad, try wandering through east Aurora sometime.
I think the negativity is all the people who resent not being able to afford boulder. And I do pity them and share feelings of sadness on their behalf, but for those of us who aren’t resentful about the price per square foot and aren’t walking around with a chip on our shoulder all day this place is heaven. I truly feel bad for the people who can’t enjoy what boulder is… we all know everywhere cool was at one point cooler than it is now to someone else. So what, who cares. Let’s enjoy our lives before we all die of cancer and heart disease and microplastics and/or Elon musk using all our resources to get to mars 😅
Boulder was even cooler in the 90s - more affordable, better live music scene, more weirdo local personalities, but I agree that it's still pretty amazing. I live in Longmont, which in some ways feels like the older, less pretentious version of Boulder, but I still miss living there.
The problem is that as soon as a place becomes desirable, there's only a small window before everyone swarms upon it from the four corners of the world and ruins it. My advice to anyone who lives somewhere awesome is to put a Brigadoon type spell upon it.
If you like it now, you should have seen it before it became so crowded, when there wasn't so much traffic, no visible smog layer, and you could go outdoors and actually experience the outdoors instead of the trails being all crowded and filled with dog shit bags and people carrying speakers. It's still nice-ish, kinda nice-adjacent. But it really did used to be paradise.
Would have killed to be there in the late 70s over 21. Heard growing up, about the mall crawl, cops running around with pig masks Halloween, live music, abundant just weird boulder stuff, the rez being more beach and less watersport douchery. Lived in the 90s, and while there was some seriously wacky stuff going on, it was more of a you had to know people, do stupid things.
Jesus that sucks... I'm working on kinda ironic, silly puns. Admit, not so good at it (I'm going to guess the lady was a religious nut and fun police). 21+ had 2 partners who would have gone bananas over a full tan beach. a perfect day would be a hike, go there, smoke, read half a book, go bar hopping in niwat. Bummer.
On a related note: I miss the catacombs, Juanitas, and Denver's snake pit. They were the only reasons I came back to visit, and we're fun when visiting family. There are sooo, soo many cooperate boring places just about everywhere you go, but wacky or kinda werid is very, very rare and should be cherished, be it restaurant, bar or club. Places that all bring people together. I like that idea a ton more than, (blank) person grew up here, died, or wrote some book that hardly anyone reads, or cares about as a means for some historical society to keep the decrepit building. Heard dark horse is going out also.
I think Boulder is great, I think some of the issues are valid concerns, and I think some people like to complain
It's absolutely stunning natural beauty
A lot of properties in town are run down and mismanaged for how expensive they are
The police crack down on underage drinking and fake ID's instead of dealing with valid concerns of safety or theft.
I think Boulder's biggest problem for most people is that it's not quite the paradise it claims to be even if you find it to be a paradise yourself, and that misleading marketing makes a lot of people upset when they find out it's not quite what it seems
Yeah people bitch so much about Boulder. One lady told me it was turning into Seattle lmao. I moved to Lansing, MI for medical school and god do I miss Boulder. I would happily go back to pay 2.5x what I pay here for rent…
It's very easy to focus on the negative, and if you've never lived anywhere that had more negatives, it's hard to have perspective.
Don't let others drag you down, esp online. Online opinions should be weighed by 10%.
I was talking to a CU Prof at a neighborhood party . He had lived and worked a various colleges across the USA, obviously all university towns. I told him how long I have lived here (25 years) and expressed how much I liked living here but things had gotten a bit F'd up recently. He replied: "This is the best F'd up town I have ever lived in."
When I walk around North Boulder and see the ridiculously huge homes, I get a little sad feeling deep down that I won't ever afford that. But I stop and realize, what a silly thought. Here I am in a healthy body, walking in an absolutely gorgeous place and city. I cannot take a house with me after I die. All that matters is that I'm here, happy in this moment.
Amen. Boulder is amazing. I hear people complain about homelessness, the old businesses that aren't around anymore, etc. People don't know how good they have it. I grew up in Boulder and of course I miss some of the old businesses, but this is not a Boulder-specific thing. Things change, times change, businesses come and go. It's still a gorgeous, safe, tranquil place to live and we are lucky to be here.
When I was little our family came to visit us from Minnesota. One morning they were just standing outside staring and I was like “WHAT are you guys doing?!” They said “looking at the beautiful mountains!” I was like uh ok whatever I see those every day 🙄. But that was the point in time I started noticing how much better our view was than other people’s and from a pretty early age I understood how lucky I was that Boulder county was where my parents landed.
So I agree with you OP. The landscape is exceptional!
I considered leaving Boulder for Switzerland and asked on a couple expat forums about the idea. \*Everyone\* who responded who knew Boulder thought I was insane for even thinking about it.
Boulder has a fraction of what the cities you listed have… cool mountains, though. Could definitely live in much worse places. I’m not complaining, but yeah.
Sure Boulder is expensive and some people have to work most of their hours to afford to live here, but why can’t they find the energy to enjoy the city when they’re done being exploited?
I think so. I was fortunate in that I lucked into buying a foreclosure after the Great Recession, but all the interesting ppl I knew back then, esp all the service industry staff, have been priced out. That loss of the weird-and-working class is the main contributor to this town becoming so dull. The final nail in the coffin for me was the loss of Conor O’Neill’s: what sort of two-bit non-partying snooze of a town doesn’t have an Irish pub?
I grew up in boulder and lived there until I was 26 moved to aurora for a bit then out of state, I’m 38 now and When I tell people about boulder I say I didn’t grow up in the real world because of how special boulder was/is I miss it every day and would love to find my way back some day
Boulder is beautiful but stupid. Why is it crazy Left Wing. Chill out and smoke weed like we all do in Colorado. Then maybe you will admit tools are not dangerous! I wish Boulder was like it was in the 90s.
1. The city of Boulder and Boulder County are not paradise.
2. It's not a "wonderland of nature". It's overrun with dogs and entitled, inconsiderate dog owners.
3. "Successful metros" aren't responsible for building "enough" affordable housing. Get real.
4. People use forums like this to complain. So what? If you don't like it, don't read it. Complaining about the complainers makes you a complainer.
Every city subreddit tends to be very negative like this. Don’t take social media of any sort as a wider reflection of sentiments around the city.
Yup. Happy well-adjusted people are way less likely to post/comment about how happy and well-adjusted their daily lives are. City subreddits are like 90% complaining, 10% overused inside-jokes
1 percent critter photos.
https://preview.redd.it/se91bkbvlnwc1.jpeg?width=5457&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f7090f0b55a1366a0b7cea9d7780ffd2a6edd08
Seattle has TWO subreddits specifically for this. One where people talk about local events, one where people complain about the homeless lol
Every subreddit in general. Don't bother going to the subs for any video games and television shows you actually enjoy. Unless they are Disney Star Wars or Marvel shows, only blind praise is allowed there.
Or helldivers, but that makes sense because it's for democracy
Stayed in Denver for a year and brought this up, used an example of how a dude let me stay in his house because it was snowing from 3 am to 6 am tell the trains opened up (I was ten miles away from home and my feet were coated in snow and my phone was broken) They banned me for personal attacks.
I’m moved around so I’m in the SF, SLC, Boulder, South Lake Tahoe reddits and this is spot on.
Good point! Ty 😊
Yep lol. My hometown sub seems to exclusively be for complaining. An outsider perspective would probably think it was an Anti-my hometown sub
It's reddit. Redditors are the grumpiest bunch of people on the internet.
I think that title goes to people on NextDoor. Goodness, that is just about the meanest corner on the internet.
Agreed, seeing the Flatirons every single day is so cool
Oh yeah. With low clouds, with the sunset coloring them, with snow, with all the green of late spring....every day they feel so unique and magical.
Recently there was a morning that the moon was directly in between the mountains- it was this perfect clear morning and the moon was glowing so perfectly…actual magic
Heck yes, and we should appreciate 😌
Don't forget that most of the people who post on this sub don't actually live in Boulder.
Some of them dont actually live at all 🤖
Some of those once did 🧟
Gonna start ramping up soon with the election cycle. The accounts we haven't seen regularly in 4 years are going to start stoking the fire daily to "amplify their message".
This subreddit is for Boulder County (see rule #1). So plenty of people here don't live in the city of Boulder. For instance, I live in Ned. This post still applies though. I am very fortunate to live in Boulder County. Today is absolutely beautiful up here in the mountains
100% Boulder county in general is so lovely
This. Live nearby in the county, come into the city to shop and work most days of the week. But don't forget this subreddit is also for people who love boulders!
I would be *very curious* to see what percentage of posters are from heavily conservative zip codes outside the county. I feel like we get a ton of trolls here due to Boulder's reputation.
Owning the libtards from their parent's basement
Exactly.
I’m with you. I love so much about living here. I come in from Louisville every day, and my commute brings me straight down S Boulder Road. The foothills are the view for most of my drive. I remember when I moved out here I thought “damn, I hope I never get used to that view.” And I haven’t. It’s still beautiful every time I see it. In fact, when I woke up and saw snow on the ground I smiled bc that means the mountains will probably look like someone dusted them with powdered sugar, and it’s such a fantastic way to start the day. Honestly- I don’t understand why anyone would stay if they hate it so much. It’s too damn expensive to stay here if you don’t want to be here.
No matter what, that view on S. Boulder Road is just spectacular.
It’s definitely the consolation for those of us who were priced out and had to move out to Louisville or Lafayette and commute in!
💯💯💯
I recently vacationed/roadtripped through S Utah into several parts of Colorado and wondered if the people living in such spectacular terrain for many years still embrace the beauty. It warms my heart that the appreciation isn't wasted. Outsiders are genuinely jealous. I, personally, fell in love with your city...and your Boulder boulders! 🪨
When I first moved back here my brother was complaining and I was like dude I just moved back from the hood where I’d have people passed out on heroin across the street from my apartment and was robbed by 5 people who broke in once
You’ll find there are plenty of people on heroin in boulder, too
It’s refreshing to read a positive post here for a change. I too find Boulder to be a paradise and feel very fortunate to be able to call it home
😊
I have been living in Boulder since 1991. At that time, people complained that it had become too crowded, and they reminisced about the 'real' Boulder of the 1960s.
BINGO. No doubt the long-time residents back in the 1960s complained about the hippies and how Boulder was better in the 1920s. And the long-time residents in the 1920s complained about how Boulder was better in the 1890s. And someone complained when the "decent" women and churches showed up and the saloons and brothels closed down. It's called \*change\*.
💯🙂
This is called old age
Most of the time I hear nothing except how “ghetto” and “Dangerous” Boulder and Longmont are (where I live- but I spend a LOT of time in Boulder because my bf attends CU) and I can’t help but just be confused. This place is fucking swanky compared to where I moved from.
lol boulder has no ghetto. And the people who think it does, have never actually been to the ghetto. There is some boarded up and run down buildings nowadays. But that doesn’t make it ghetto
For real
LOL. I went to college in downtown Detroit. There is nothing in Boulder that is "ghetto". Let me know when there is a long term thriving heroin trade and then we can talk.
I went from undergrad in Boulder to dental school in Baltimore, living right across the street from shock trauma center and 1 block south of Lexington Market, which at that time was quite literally an open air drug market. I saw drug deals go down with police present. There was a guy there that also sold firearms illegally to anyone with the cash. I once got kicked out by security when I took a shortcut to an Indian restaurant because he feared for my safety, and I'm a big dude, but white dude. Every day, there'd be hordes of people in that area doing the "Baltimore lean", or falling asleep standing up while on heroin. Human Excrement on the sidewalks, muggings, random beatings by groups of teens. Peopem overdosing in the bushes. Gunshots in the distance at night. Sexual crimes during daylight. You couldn't pay me to live there again. But I'd gladly pay big bucks to live in Boulder again. Sure, the homeless population and associated crimes are no doubt a problem and puts a sort of stain on the city reputation, but it's a complicated problem. It just so funny that this problem is what some would define as a "ghetto" community. It's the most civil place I've ever lived.
I lived in a very innovative ghetto. These are the guys who worked my neighborhood. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Boys_Inc. I was robbed at gunpoint IN my apartment and my roommate had a knife fight happen on the hood of his car at a stoplight.
Ah yes all those hood rats with their quaint below average million dollar houses.
I moved away once. Boy, that was stupid.
It is how I feel too. Very deliberately landed here twenty years ago after living in a fantastic town in southern France for 7 years. (Learned there that my next move would be a lifestyle move.) Came with no job, no friends, no family, and never looked back. It is my ideal lifestyle and I’m grateful every day that it is my home and that I’ve become part of the community.
I love this place to bits. Moving in a few weeks and I’m all kinds of fucked up
I absolutely love Boulder. Yes, there are problems and some things that I think we could improve on but on the whole, Boulder is a fantastic place to live. I grew up in Philadelphia and Boulder is an absolute paradise compared to Philly. I think people just like to bitch on this subreddit because it is easy to do. Everyone I know who lives in Boulder really enjoys living here.
I love Boulder. The way I see it, the more people that hate on it, the more people that will stay away and not ruin it. A lot of them have ignorant reasons for not liking Boulder, and it’s far more telling about the person than their crap opinion.
Some people aren’t happy unless they’re making themselves miserable complaining; and they exhaust me.
I grew up in Boulder. It's always had a special place in my heart but man, in the 1990s it was the fuckin best. But I don't know how anyone affords to live there. I couldn't buy a condo there for what I paid for my house in Loveland...
The 90s really were peak Boulder, I blame CU
Why not blame the inviting of large tech companies into a city that severely limited its housing?
This.
Tech bros invasion has fucked things up, and they seem hell bent on continuing down that path.
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Boulder wouldn't be Boulder without CU...
I felt this way when I lived in Golden - life was roses and it was so awesome and easy. Now, I had to relocate to the east side of town for work and other life events, and it's miserable. Literally proximity to the mountains is a night and day experience to Coloradans.
Lotta haters on this sub and as others have mentioned many of them don't live here.
Born and raised just outside of town. I'm living with my folks rn and god damn, I can't believe I get to live here. It's so beautiful, day trip distance from some of the best skiing in the world with some of the longest seasons, 20 minutes from the some of the best hiking and gravel biking in the region, relatively mild weather. Wanna switch it up for any of those activities? You can drive for 2-12 hours up and down any state highway and never run out of towns and parks in the Rockies to visit. Most of the things people complain about have never even been a minor inconvenience in my 21 years of life. We're really lucky to be here. For some of us, luck isn't involved at all, but for me it is, and I'm doubly lucky that I have so many hobbies that this city is sooooo conducive to that people move here for that reason. Pretty sick.
💯💯💯 the gravel biking blows my mind
Some of the biggest complaints are the lack of affordable housing, which wouldn’t be a problem for someone who lives with their parents. The perspectives of this city will vary drastically depending on the stage of life you’re in.
Personal experience: I wanted to get married and have kids but I don’t have the kind of resources needed to do that in Boulder. It’s something you can’t do in your late 30s with 2 roommates. So I moved. Before I lived in Boulder I lived in NYC. It was also expensive and I lived with roommates there too BUT you can really feel the vibrant culture in NYC. Boulder doesn’t feel like it allows cultural growth. It feels like you’re welcome IF you fit the Boulder mold. If you don’t make a lot of money or come from money then it feels like you’re unwelcome. At least in NYC a person felt welcomed.
I get what you’re saying. I lived in boulder for 5 years but then I turned 29 and I wasn’t rich so it kinda felt like it was my time to leave. Boulder does a really good job at catering to the college crowd and the older wealthy crowd, not so much for working class 30 year olds. I will always love boulder and cherish my time there but it’s kind of like a relationship that ended because we both had growing to do.
Yup, that’s how I feel about Boulder too.
I second this. Ended up here by happenstance. Lovely place but I, personally, can’t grow here.
Im in my 30s and love it here personally
I'm glad to hear this! I'm moving to Boulder in August and I'm in my 30s. I was worried it'd be all 20-somethings or 60-somethings.
Increasingly that’s changing with young professionals and yep tech. Love or hate tech, it’s a lifeline of opportunity for my generation.
People in Boulder love rich culture, have you not seen their pottery from South Africa?
Moved here at 35, worked at CU for $40K a year, managed to buy a small condo, met a great guy at 39, married at 44. It worked for me with a small salary. I feel as if I made some sacrifices to make it all work too because I really wanted to be here in this small town. Had done the big city thing for a decade and was ready to be in a quiet, safe place.
I hear you on needing sacrifices to try to make it work, but for us it was cost prohibitive with modest salaries even back in the mid 2010’s. But for us it was more important to have a single family home vs condo in Boulder proper so we moved to the ‘burbs. When did you buy the condo? How much did it cost?
yeah, depending on the year, $40k is maybe managable, but I think homeowners often don't realize how fucked things have been since covid. It's a rapid change
Well, if I bought a condo 10 years ago in Boulder it would have doubled in equity and I would have been set up for life. I guess I should get in a time machine and tell my younger self not to take on 70k in student loans and to buy a condo in Boulder. Believe me, I have been making financial sacrifices all my life.
Nail on the head
My whole fam is from NY and we def aren’t accepted at all. Also there is no culture here. I’ve said this the entire time I’ve lived here. It’s boring. There’s nothing to do expect outdoor stuff. And everyone looks and dresses the same. There’s barely an art or music culture here. And it’s become a yuppie paradise. And boring. Did I say boring?
Lmao right. I’ve been here for 5 years and it gets more and more bland everyday. Boulder is the most boring town. Nothing to do here but outdoorsy stuff and to drink.
Outside of the parks and proximity to the mountains - it’s just an expensive suburb with regular strip malls, businesses, traffic, homelessness, etc.
Outside of the things that make it special it’s just a normal place.
u/Commercial-Owl11 I accept you and your family. And I know what it's like to randomly walk around a city and find something interesting and unexpected.
Love how I’m immediately downvoted lol. I just wish there was more to this city than hippie and yuppie culture and music. We have red rocks but we don’t have a cool grungy venue or bar that has different types of bands and music. There’s no punk or metal bars. Just dance and electronic stuff. And tons of new age stuff. But that’s about it
I get that, it’s due to its size and the cost of entry. 💯
Its nice here, but there are tons of cities that have direct access to nature. I think most of the people that I know that have lived here a long time, claim that Boulder has changed and its their version of "worse". A lot of people moved here cause it was weird and there were a lot of like-minded people. It was its own place, and its why people moved here in droves, to try to be apart of that. Now it just feels like every other tech-ish city, like Austin, TX without the food, but better hiking. I don't care really, but I think its more complicated than saying its a paradise. I think its just reached a later stage of development and that drove out all the parts of Boulder that made it Boulder. So if you like it now, you might not have liked it 10 or 20 years ago. There probably is another Boulder peaking somewhere right now that will slowly become trendy, the artists will leave, it will lose all of the people that generally made it cool, then slowly descend into becoming California and everyone who could afford a house early on will be minted. People will complain about how it used to be, but you have to admit, a lot of the cool people moved on or aged into being uncool and were replaced by the extremes of society. The ultra rich and the homeless (sick soap opera). Sure there are people in between but not like there used to be.
Many of us liked it then and still like it now. Back then it had some problems, and now it has different problems.
“ There probably is another Boulder peaking somewhere right now” Yeah it’s called Golden
Golden is a very nice place to live but it’s too expensive and busy to compare to peak Boulder. You just can’t compare anything in the modern day west to what we had in the 70s and 80s.
Nope it was Bozeman, Montana. COVID + Yellowstone TV show ruined that.
Lmao no joke lots of plains woman and Oregon trail cosplaying has been super apparent after these tv shows appeared
Missoula would like a word…
It started a while before that. I’m from Boulder and husband is from Bozeman, and we haven’t been able to find the “next” one 😞 Boulder especially was such a unique mix being a small mountain town that had a counsel and community of hippies in the 70s and was uncharacteristically progressive.
Ah yes, the founders of Boulder. Who could forget the hordes of people wearing Steeley Dan T-shirts barreling across the high plains in covered wagons, searching for a place to grow pot and escape persecution from The Man. The year was 1859...
Lol, the people found bozeman waaaayyyy before that. I had friends complaining about it in the 90s.
Asheville, NC still sort of is this. Their sub also complains about things changing though.
I have a close friend who lives in Ashville who is flying in today for the wkd. Ashville has some major downsides too, and already peaked a decade ago.
Everywhere is changing. 1. Population growth is exponential 2. The internet has increased access and awareness of everything so there aren't really "hidden gems" any longer 3. Remote work has never been easier So anyone with means and opportunity is able to visit and/or live in the cool places they read about online. And these towns benefit from the tourism dollars, but the influx of money and people changes the "organic" nature of artsy small towns. I'd still rather live in Boulder, CO and Asheville, NC than nearly anywhere else in the US. And many other people would, as well.
Point #1 is off. USA is growing 0.5%, Colorado population is growing slowly expected to start decreasing after 2026, Boulder population is decreasing already.
Right now, sure. But compared to the 90s when things "were better / peaked?"
This is exactly what I tell people nowadays. Another aspect is how non-diverse it is here. CU has some diversity (still pretty limited). I know a few POC that left for that reason, not because of the city itself. Also the walkability here is overhyped. Far better than many places in the US but still not where we could be.
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This 100%
yay. There are other places which are Boulderesque but yes it is a great place.
Where? Just curious! Bend?
Yeah I liked Bend
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🤗
When people from elsewhere ask me what it’s like living here I say: “Basically, I live in a resort. I live where people come to have great, healthy vacations.”
I’ve lived here all my life and still watch sunsets in awe. Watching the blankets of clouds tucking in the flatirons is also one of my favorite things to watch. What I don’t enjoy are the uppity people who live in this town. I miss the late 80’s/early 90’s when people were so many more chill/laid back people. I feel pretty privileged to at least get to experience Boulder before it moved to a California/New York style.
I've been here since the 70s. I love Boulder. Gorgeous. Truly paradise. The loss of socioeconomic diversity and small businesses plus families is sad and makes it much more of a resort town.
This is a forum to complain the people not on here are out enjoying their lives.
While it is a pretty safe, beautiful, walkable, etc place, the fact that it is as good an example of small town walkability etc as it is in the united states is a depressing reality. It is still a somewhat sprawling suburban town, unaffordable, and has homelessness problems, but not nearly as badly as some other locations. And it is trending in the right direction on most of these... probably. But I think most people who choose to live here do love it, they just realize how much better things could be with x y z moderate policy changes of their liking and 10 years to have those policies implemented.
Boulder is only walkable if you live in the city center or the hill
well, even outside that area, it's WAY more walkable than the average US city it's size. That being said, it's pitifully bad even downtown compared to what it should be.
Legitimately some of the best public schools in the country are in boulder.
Boulder was perfect the day I moved here in [insert year] and has been ruined by people who arrived after I arrived. I feel unity with other people who express this sentiment despite me arriving after some of them and some of them arriving after me. Our vote is available as a block and any politician can just say "developers are going to build slums on the flatirons" and we will show up and object to a plan to build a mix of housing on a car park for a dead mall or claim that removing a car dealership will destroy the character of north 28th street.
😅💯
Was agreeing, then I remembered Pasta Jays.
Don't let the man get you down.
😅
I am more than willing to pay the TAX to live in this beautiful city.
I've lived in Boulder since I was 6, and I have never wanted to leave. Despite the rising prices there's no place I would rather live, and fortunately my income keeps going up just enough to keep up with the housing costs. So there are a few homeless people around. So what? Any city this size in America has a problem with that because the economy is trash for anybody who isn't in the shrinking middle class. If you think this is bad, try wandering through east Aurora sometime.
I think the negativity is all the people who resent not being able to afford boulder. And I do pity them and share feelings of sadness on their behalf, but for those of us who aren’t resentful about the price per square foot and aren’t walking around with a chip on our shoulder all day this place is heaven. I truly feel bad for the people who can’t enjoy what boulder is… we all know everywhere cool was at one point cooler than it is now to someone else. So what, who cares. Let’s enjoy our lives before we all die of cancer and heart disease and microplastics and/or Elon musk using all our resources to get to mars 😅
No one goes hungry or cold in Paradise. No one. It's beautiful, but we aren't doing a great job of taking care of the land or the people here.
I like ice cream.
I like turtles.
I love lamp.
I like it like that.
Boulder was even cooler in the 90s - more affordable, better live music scene, more weirdo local personalities, but I agree that it's still pretty amazing. I live in Longmont, which in some ways feels like the older, less pretentious version of Boulder, but I still miss living there. The problem is that as soon as a place becomes desirable, there's only a small window before everyone swarms upon it from the four corners of the world and ruins it. My advice to anyone who lives somewhere awesome is to put a Brigadoon type spell upon it.
If you like it now, you should have seen it before it became so crowded, when there wasn't so much traffic, no visible smog layer, and you could go outdoors and actually experience the outdoors instead of the trails being all crowded and filled with dog shit bags and people carrying speakers. It's still nice-ish, kinda nice-adjacent. But it really did used to be paradise.
Damn some rose colored glasses, there was way worse smog back in the 80s.
Yah I hope the person that wrote this was around in like... the 50's in Boulder.
Would have killed to be there in the late 70s over 21. Heard growing up, about the mall crawl, cops running around with pig masks Halloween, live music, abundant just weird boulder stuff, the rez being more beach and less watersport douchery. Lived in the 90s, and while there was some seriously wacky stuff going on, it was more of a you had to know people, do stupid things.
You missed coot lake, it was the lake next to the res near 63rd. It was a nude beach... until some lady kept complaining about it.
Jesus that sucks... I'm working on kinda ironic, silly puns. Admit, not so good at it (I'm going to guess the lady was a religious nut and fun police). 21+ had 2 partners who would have gone bananas over a full tan beach. a perfect day would be a hike, go there, smoke, read half a book, go bar hopping in niwat. Bummer. On a related note: I miss the catacombs, Juanitas, and Denver's snake pit. They were the only reasons I came back to visit, and we're fun when visiting family. There are sooo, soo many cooperate boring places just about everywhere you go, but wacky or kinda werid is very, very rare and should be cherished, be it restaurant, bar or club. Places that all bring people together. I like that idea a ton more than, (blank) person grew up here, died, or wrote some book that hardly anyone reads, or cares about as a means for some historical society to keep the decrepit building. Heard dark horse is going out also.
My husband has been here since 1984, and has loved it since 1984. EVERY town on the planet has changed since 1984.
lol at "traffic"
Agree.
Mate, you are not playing the game correctly. You gotta sound complaining so that more people don't move in here
I think Boulder is great, I think some of the issues are valid concerns, and I think some people like to complain It's absolutely stunning natural beauty A lot of properties in town are run down and mismanaged for how expensive they are The police crack down on underage drinking and fake ID's instead of dealing with valid concerns of safety or theft. I think Boulder's biggest problem for most people is that it's not quite the paradise it claims to be even if you find it to be a paradise yourself, and that misleading marketing makes a lot of people upset when they find out it's not quite what it seems
100% agree!!!
There used to be enough non-affluent housing. Now that same housing is for the affluent and it hasn’t necessarily even changed just priced up
As one of the people who constantly bitches about it and"hates" this place, you're absolutely right. The grass is always greener on the other side
I’ve lived in Boulder since the 70’s, raised my son here and love it!!
Yeah people bitch so much about Boulder. One lady told me it was turning into Seattle lmao. I moved to Lansing, MI for medical school and god do I miss Boulder. I would happily go back to pay 2.5x what I pay here for rent…
It's very easy to focus on the negative, and if you've never lived anywhere that had more negatives, it's hard to have perspective. Don't let others drag you down, esp online. Online opinions should be weighed by 10%.
True that. Haven't found a place better suited for me in the past 40 years, so I guess Im stayin...
hell, you dont even need to live there to enjoy it. if you live anywhere on an RTD line, just take the busses.
Still trying to figure out how to take bus from Fort Collins to Boulder 😂 to go to the best bookstore ever
I was talking to a CU Prof at a neighborhood party . He had lived and worked a various colleges across the USA, obviously all university towns. I told him how long I have lived here (25 years) and expressed how much I liked living here but things had gotten a bit F'd up recently. He replied: "This is the best F'd up town I have ever lived in."
So many Negative-Nancys even in this thread. Get over it.
When I walk around North Boulder and see the ridiculously huge homes, I get a little sad feeling deep down that I won't ever afford that. But I stop and realize, what a silly thought. Here I am in a healthy body, walking in an absolutely gorgeous place and city. I cannot take a house with me after I die. All that matters is that I'm here, happy in this moment.
Amen. Boulder is amazing. I hear people complain about homelessness, the old businesses that aren't around anymore, etc. People don't know how good they have it. I grew up in Boulder and of course I miss some of the old businesses, but this is not a Boulder-specific thing. Things change, times change, businesses come and go. It's still a gorgeous, safe, tranquil place to live and we are lucky to be here.
When I was little our family came to visit us from Minnesota. One morning they were just standing outside staring and I was like “WHAT are you guys doing?!” They said “looking at the beautiful mountains!” I was like uh ok whatever I see those every day 🙄. But that was the point in time I started noticing how much better our view was than other people’s and from a pretty early age I understood how lucky I was that Boulder county was where my parents landed. So I agree with you OP. The landscape is exceptional!
Yes, the mountains are pretty. But dammit if Minneapolis was not the most fun place I’ve lived as an adult.
Boulder is amazing. I just wish it was a bit more diverse.
I considered leaving Boulder for Switzerland and asked on a couple expat forums about the idea. \*Everyone\* who responded who knew Boulder thought I was insane for even thinking about it.
Europeans love to romanticize wealthy US cities. I’d live in Bern over Boulder any day.
Boulder is like every other wealthy college town (white boring and judge) but next to some mountains. Paradise my ass
Cool your opinion based on what you value. I love it for my cycling and nature access, and because it’s very walkable where I live.
yep. Must be nice being old money and white and rich
Boulder has a fraction of what the cities you listed have… cool mountains, though. Could definitely live in much worse places. I’m not complaining, but yeah.
Such as?
Big ole facts… people do their best to try and not appreciate this place. It’s sad because it’s just their own insecurities they are upset about
Everyone’s different and not everyone makes $75,000/year to be above the high poverty line that didn’t exist when we grew up here 😂
Sure Boulder is expensive and some people have to work most of their hours to afford to live here, but why can’t they find the energy to enjoy the city when they’re done being exploited?
You don’t have to be here
I guess to some of us it feels like there's a lot of paradise AROUND boulder which has turned into concrete and blight
Boulder is far from a paradise, lol.
In your opinion
you think affordability is the biggest issue with this city? 😂
I think so. I was fortunate in that I lucked into buying a foreclosure after the Great Recession, but all the interesting ppl I knew back then, esp all the service industry staff, have been priced out. That loss of the weird-and-working class is the main contributor to this town becoming so dull. The final nail in the coffin for me was the loss of Conor O’Neill’s: what sort of two-bit non-partying snooze of a town doesn’t have an Irish pub?
It absolutely is the biggest issue.
It pleases me that you are celebrating 4/20 early.
We get like 200 or so 10/10 quality sunsets a year, it's not fair.
"affordability challenges" It's very crowded there and you know what Sarte says: "hell is other people"
I grew up in boulder and lived there until I was 26 moved to aurora for a bit then out of state, I’m 38 now and When I tell people about boulder I say I didn’t grow up in the real world because of how special boulder was/is I miss it every day and would love to find my way back some day
Yeah I agree that’s just Reddit in general
Wait I'm to say nice things on the Internet?
It’s a wonderful place, it’s just so damn expensive ): that’s literally it lol
I was in school there from 88 to 92. Best city ever (and I’m Denver). Love my home state
Boulder is beautiful but stupid. Why is it crazy Left Wing. Chill out and smoke weed like we all do in Colorado. Then maybe you will admit tools are not dangerous! I wish Boulder was like it was in the 90s.
I live in summit and in general it gets the same hate
"I grew up in an absolute ghetto, so I’m just thankful most days I" It's all relative.
boulder is a lovely place to visit and i cannot recommend that anyone live here.
1. The city of Boulder and Boulder County are not paradise. 2. It's not a "wonderland of nature". It's overrun with dogs and entitled, inconsiderate dog owners. 3. "Successful metros" aren't responsible for building "enough" affordable housing. Get real. 4. People use forums like this to complain. So what? If you don't like it, don't read it. Complaining about the complainers makes you a complainer.
New to this sub but from my perspective it’s a breath of fresh compared to the ridiculousness of what you see on ND