[lloyddobbler]

As someone else mentioned, one reason is it's cheaper...for now. The "for now" is key. Having lived in Denver for more than 10 years, our housing and costs of living are growing incredibly quickly (relative to the Bay Area at least). Our total housing costs are definitely not in the same ballpark as the Bay, but we're creeping up on L.A. levels.

Add to that a good quality of life for employees (low pollution, the outdoors, etc), as well as an abundance of talent, and a city (or three) that's been very focused on nurturing its tech/startup community for the past 10 years (including Denver Startup Week, the largest free startup-focused event in the world)...and it's a no-brainer.

TBH, one of the biggest recent macro-challenges for Denver is the sheer number of people moving here, a large portion of which are from California.

[throwaway0a5e]

>TBH, one of the biggest recent macro-challenges for Denver is the sheer number of people moving here, a large portion of which are from California.

If the goal is to get the hell away from CA culture and SV engineering mindset wouldn't somewhere else be a better fit? I get the attractiveness of Denver relative to CA at present but if you're playing a long game that's like trading in your ticket on the Titanic for one on the Lusitania.

[lloyddobbler]

Agreed. My family has actually looked at moving away from Denver, with all the influx of people. The cost of living is no longer as attractive, and the politics that are coming in from out-of-state are much more slanted. I moved away from California 10+ years ago - now it seems like a lot more are doing the same thing, but bringing the same things with them that has made California less attractive.

That being said, as someone else mentioned, if your goal is to escape high taxes and the super-expensive housing costs of SF, all while living in an area that supports your life outside the office, Denver is a good place to look at. Even if its cost of living is rising.

[throwaway0a5e]

>I moved away from California 10+ years ago - now it seems like a lot more are doing the same thing, but bringing the same things with them that has made California less attractive.

And people who did that were the incremental change that enable the people who you think are changing it for the worse to feel like moving there and doing that is a good idea.

Sure that boutique deli that you and your neighbors keep in business (or local law you voted for, or whatever, doesn't matter what it is, just some small seemingly non-meaningful change) doesn't really matter individually but all these little things at the margin add up to a big difference.

It's like how the presence of ethnic neighborhoods furthers immigration from whatever that source country because potential migrants know they have a turnkey place to fit in (though I consider people migrating into a position to economic disadvantage to be fundamentally different than people migrating into a position of economic advantage).

I'm not picking on you. You're just one person. One person doesn't matter. It's the larger mechanism of migration that I'm trying to describe here. Basically don't blame the new migrants. People like doing what you did are why people like them moved in.

[lotsofpulp]

The goal is probably getting away from the high taxes but still remain in a place with low humidity, mild weather, access to nice mountains, and a socially liberal government.