I lived in Austin, Texas for 7 years. It’s a great town. I would pick Austin, TX!

Colorado is a good spot. Boulder is nice.

I would choose Colorado for the natural beauty. I love it there! It isn’t as hot as Texas and Arizona, and it would give me the opportunity to enjoy all of the outdoor activities that I enjoy.

I’ve never lived in Colorado or New Mexico, but I lived in Texas for 22 years. I haven’t the words to say how I miss it. I don’t know about Austin…we lived just outside of Dallas. Theoretically, I’d go back in a heartbeat. I love Texas my Texas. :-/ There’s no place like it. It’s its own country.

Colorado.

Austin was one of our choices, but New Orleans won out….but I would also consider Durango, Colorado (or Denver)- don’t know much about Boulder. It’s not one listed, but I would also check out Athens, Georgia.

I will probably move to Austin some day though, I love it! Very laid back, great music, great food, chill people, environmentally conscious, and the prettiest land in Texas (IMO).

Texas, the cooler part that pioneers and cowboys raved about.

Colorado

I loved Boulder when we visited. Filled with healthy athletic people and near all the big Rocky Mountain highs.

@jbfletcherfan I miss Texas a lot too and could never have imagined that I would have grown to love the place as much as I did when I was there. The culture shock nearly knocked me out when I first arrived, from the East Coast (where I grew up), via Portland, OR (where I lived for over 10 years prior to moving to Austin). I got there in August and the day I arrived it was 108 degrees! Yikes. And the landscape, driving through the Hill Country everything just looked like it was dead. And yes, it is unique. I felt like I had moved to a foreign country, not just to another part of the U.S. Then I learned to love spring in the desert, and field after meadow after field after meadow of wild flowers in the spring! Thank you Lady Bird! Blue bonnets and Indian paintbrush were my favorite combination. And the live oaks. What amazing trees those are. And swimming in Barton Springs in the winter! And I miss the music. And I miss the food, tex-mex in particular, and the people and everything. So I can imagine. There’s no place like Texas.

My father is from Colorado, so I grew up spending many summers there. Boulder is a great place.

I lived in Santa Fe for 3 years and would move back there if only the winters weren’t so cold. It’s truly enchanting. However, you will find that the job market is much stronger in Albuquerque.

I’ve never lived in Austin, but I did live in Dallas for 4 years and heard nothing but good things about living in Austin. I hated living in Dallas, actually.

I live very near to Boulder. It’s absolutely beautiful, with the Rockies right in your backyard. Also, it’s not nearly as hot as Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas. That’d be my pick if I were you.

I like Austin, TX and of the places you list, it would be the easiest place for me to find a technical job. So that would be my top pick. However, I really like seasons and mountains, so I’d choose Colorado, if job opportunities were equal.

I would pick Colorado… even though I’m not a fan of any of the options. Ok, maybe I like Colorado a bit.

Colorado!! Steamboat Springs is beautiful.

Colorado.

I live in Albuquerque and have for many years. It has steadily moved up in “best places” lists over the years, but it is mediocre in many respects. It’s a decent place to raise a family, and the economy is more stable (albeit smaller) than all some of your other options. Santa Fe is easily more quirky, refined, and charming. If you have money and want to live in some wilderness, check out San Pedro Creek Estates, Placitas or the far NE Heights of ABQ above Tramway.

Durango is beautiful, but expensive and with a limited economy. Many who who work in Durango live in surrounding towns.

I would say Austin and Denver are interchangeable in terms of economy and cosmopolitan offerings, so a choice between those two would boil down to preferences around weather, landscape and aesthetics. Both have great things to offer. Austin is hot and humid in the summers. Denver is kind of whitebread. Albuquerque is predominately hispanic and caucasian with Asian and Native American cultures coming in third.

ACVB Web site: itsatrip.org

If you want more info about ABQ, let me know. The forums on city-data.com/forum is also good for grounded opinions.

Connecticut

Colorado! To be specific, Loveland or Ft. Collins is nice. Boulder, as mentioned above, is nice too, but it’s an expensive town.

@cbloom8 Fort Collins lurve.

I love the mountains and the wild forests. Colorado.

I can’t say from experience, since I’ve never lived anywhere outside of PA. I will say this – my cousin visited Boulder, about 25 years ago, and he never came back.

I have to say Colorado, because that’s where I live. There is so many great places out here to see, and so much to do. I love Alamosa, it is beautiful out there, and the people are really nice, plus it’s close to the sand dunes.

Santa Fe. The arts, culture and people are diverse and weather is beautiful. If you want skiing it’s some world class skiing.

And all the garages in Santa Fe are beauiful adobe buildings. Plus, no skyscrapers anywhere and chili-flavored ice cream.

I think Colorado would be nice. Anywhere outside of MN would be nice.

Boulder! If you can afford it, it’s an amazing place. Actually, I lived there when I couldn’t afford it and it was still amazing.

I was raised in Colorado, several years on the Western Slope, (Gunnison, Delta, Grand Junction) and my entire school hood in Denver. I hate snow! I chose Southern California, and I’m not sorry about it.

I had cousins in Albuquerque, and lived there for several months. It was gorgeous if you like the desert.

Any of them. I currently live in colorado, but I lived in Texas for about 8 years during the eighties. I have spent some serious time in Arizona and New Mexico, and have friends in both places.

Colorado. Its my native area and despite its weird weather patterns… has the best overall climate and has 4 seasons! I also love the wonderful scenery, the mountains, and being in the denver area.

Austin is nice; problem is, it’s in Texas. Texas is nice, problem is, it’s filled with Texans.

Boulder Colorado.I want to see Mork & Mindy’s house.Nanu nanu.

This is one hard question. Austin: it’s great for young people who love the sushi-music on the streets-nightlife lifestyle and don’t care about STIFLING, UNBEARABLE HEAT AND TRAFFIC. God. We drove thru Ausitn at 5pm and it was a Nightmare. Never again. The food tends to be terrific, though. Colorado-if you love lots and lots of deep snow and a really neat outdoorsy attitude you’d love it. Loveland is Heavenly to me. So clean, friendly and scenic. Lots of Mormons there. Good luck getting your car out of the garage in January due to snowdrifts. But it Is gorgeous. So is Ft Collins. Durango is remote and extremely unique. The schoolbusses have snowplows on the front so the kids don’t miss school. In summer, try their black/purple plums in the grocery stores. Enjoy the pointed roofs in the neighborhoods. You will never forget Durango. I lived in Alamosa for awhile and found it to be dry with sandstorms. I just didn’t care for it. It is not a “shoppers’ paradise.” Tucson is dry. Santa Fe is dry. I need TREES and ‘real’ green yards and RAINFALL. Santa Fe used to be wonderful, and in some ways it still is if you enjoy museums and Indian stuff but the traffic is becoming too much for me. Wonderful Mexican food and atmosphere. Texas grows on you. But not West Texas. That reminds me of funeral parlors and unbearable heat and No scenery. Just very very friendly people with dry cracking skin.
East Texas is friendly, has a lot of big pine trees, great food but not as good as Austin’s, and the weather is good except June to September when the heat and humidity are ridiculous. You might get some snow in winter; you might not. One thing I’ve found different about ETexas is if you go into a store and a smiling stranger starts talking to you or helping you it’s quite nice. I’ve not found this anywhere else. They’re just warm people.
If I had to choose a town, and this is hard, I’d choose Loveland or Ft Collins in the spring and summer then southern CO in the winter.

I suggest Oro Valley, just north of Tucson – it is a growing town with great weather.

I would NEVER live in Texas or Arizona and I like heat way more than snow, I would go with New Mexico first, then Colorado.

New Mexico. It is central and you can get to any of the other three relatively quickly.

@tb1570 Great answer but you left off “Texans are nice but they are full of…..............”.

Texan btw.