Moving to Denver, CO

Plan Your Move to Denver With SpareFoot

Planning a move to Denver? SpareFoot can help. Use SpareFoot to find special deals and discounts on Denver Moving Truck Rentals. If you need a storage unit as part of your move, SpareFoot makes it easy to find storage units in Denver too.

This post was updated in October 2022 to reflect current trends.

Jump to:

Thinking about moving to Denver?

Denver At-A-Glance

You, and an astounding 115,000 people between 2010 and 2020.

Denver’s combination of cosmopolitan living, proximity to world-class recreational opportunities, and a strong economy have made the Mile High City – so nicknamed for its altitude, 5,280 feet – a mecca for everyone from startup geeks to entrepreneurial stoners. Denver has a distinct “outdoorsy chic” vibe that is unique among United States cities.

You’ll find a strong independent art and music scene, and a quintessential cultural experience for locals is attending a show at Red Rocks Amphitheater. The city hosts many big-name musicals and touring shows at venues such as Ellie Caulkins Opera House and the Denver Performing Arts Center. The Denver Performing Arts Center is the second largest arts center in the U.S. after Lincoln Center in New York City. The Denver Museum of Art attracts high profile exhibits and the town also has a zoo, botanic gardens, an aquarium, several specialized museums and an amusement park, Elitch Gardens.

Denver also has a strong foodie presence and is home to the flagship restaurants of several well-known, award-winning chefs. The annual 5280 Top of the Town and Best New Restaurants issues are two of the most popular for the city’s largest regional magazine, which helps drive a vibrant food and dining culture in the town. Coloradans are lucky to have a bountiful agriculture scene; farm to table restaurants, local wineries and microbreweries abound and it shows in the creative menus and number of farmers markets around town.

Denver Essential Resources

The City of Denver website Everything you need to know about living in Denver. Chock full of useful resources, including information about the Denver government, calendars of city meetings and events, important city terminology and more. Voter registration Register to vote in Colorado, check your registration, find a polling place and more. Vehicle registration and […]

Constant Exposure to Beautiful Landscapes

If you’ve got the money to live here, the lifestyle is outstanding. With a combination of big-city amenities and natural beauty, it’s no wonder why Denver draws close to 17 million visitors a year. Denver is the heart of what locals call the Front Range, which, geographically, is where the Rocky Mountains meet the Great Plains. The Front Range is dotted with the largest and most populous cities in Colorado, stretching from Fort Collins in the north, to Pueblo in the south. Denver is close to several ski resorts and national parks, and offers a fantastic mix of outdoor opportunities and cultural offerings.

Even though the first permanent structure in Denver was a saloon, you’re more likely to overhear millennials discussing “bagging a fourteener” (the slang term for climbing one of Colorado’s 53 mountain peaks over 14,000 feet) than which nightclub they went to over the weekend. There are a few clubs downtown that offer Top 40 tunes and bottle service, but if you want flash, take it to L.A. or New York. 

Some of the more interesting and time-tested venues include Dazzle, which attracts some of the biggest jazz names in the biz, and El Chapultepec, Denver’s oldest blues and jazz club that has stood on the same corner since 1933. One of the city’s best-kept secrets is Lannie’s Clocktower Cabaret, a live cabaret show housed in the iconic Clock Tower building on lower downtown’s 16th Street Mall. Just remember, golf balls go ten percent further in Denver – and so do cocktails – because of the altitude.

With professional teams in baseball, football, basketball, soccer, hockey, and lacrosse, sports fans can cheer to their heart’s content in the Mile High city. Sports Authority Field and Coors Field are home to the Broncos and Rockies respectively, and when Pepsi Center isn’t being used for a Nuggets, Avalanche or Mammoth game, it serves as a concert venue.

Denver Metro is a Rising Star for Its Job Growth

Colorado has one of the top economies in the United States, ranking sixth by a new study from Wallet Hub. Denver is enjoying a strong economy fueled, in part, by startups, energy development, technology and marijuana legalization. And its diversified economy is one of its strengths. It is headquarters to several large companies including DaVita, Oracle, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Chipotle, Coors Brewing Company, Frontier Airlines, Quark, and Newmont Mining. 

In the era of flexible workplaces, Denver has lured plenty of tech talent from coastal hubs, adding 14,477 tech workers from 2015 to 2020, which was a 6.6 percent increase. 

  • Unemployment rate: 3.1 percent (as of May 2022)
  • Average weekly wages for all industries: $1,275 (as of August 2022)
Living Costs Surging With Influx of Population

It’s not cheap to live here. You’ll need a decent salary to live comfortably in Denver as the cost of living is a whopping 14 percent higher than the national average. Households in Denver do make more than the national average. The 2020 median household income in Denver is $72,661 compared with $64,994 as the median annual income across all states.  

According to City-Data.com, Denver’s population has increased nearly 20 percent between 2010 and 2020, and transplants continue to pour into Colorado in record numbers. Median rent for an 841 sq. ft. one-bedroom apartment in the city reached a staggering $1,994 in July 2022, and the median listing price for homes is fast approaching $600,000. In August 2022, the average home sold for $585K, which is trending up over 11 percent year-over-year. These are the best neighborhoods for buying a home:

  • RiNo
  • City Park
  • Washington Park
  • Capitol Hill and Uptown
  • LoDo
  • Golden Triangle
  • LoHi
Top Neighborhoods for Beautiful Views and Incredible Architecture

Every area in Denver has something different to offer, from a neighborhood with a fast-paced lifestyle to a more relaxed vibe for families. The one thing you’re guaranteed no matter the neighborhood? Amazing views! You’ll enjoy 140 miles of panoramic mountain vistas, including 200 visible peaks in just the metro area alone. These are some of the trendiest neighborhoods in Denver.

Capitol Hill: Capitol Hill is one of Denver’s oldest neighborhoods with art, culture, and Victoria era mansions turned into apartments, condos and townhomes. Affordable, conveniently located and beautiful architecture, families and young professionals can’t go wrong with this neighborhood.

Lower Highland (LoHi): Cutting edge shops, restaurants, unique businesses and more await you in the newest and hottest neighborhood in Denver. LoHi is super convenient to downtown with amazing views of the skyline, but it will cost you a pretty penny to live here. It’s lively yet quiet, which is the perfect compromise living away from downtown.

River North Art District (RiNo): If “hipster” is more your vibe, RiNo has you covered with restaurants, coffee shops, and apartments situated in old warehouses and factories. This vibrant neighborhood is a hotspot for the drinking scene which makes it perfect for students and nightlife lovers.

Sunnyside: This neighborhood used to be a magnet for high crime but thanks to the popular areas exploding nearby, it’s enjoying a revival. It offers plenty of spacious single-family homes, large yards, and family-friendly green spaces. 

Where New Residents of Denver Are Moving From

It is no secret that people are flocking to Denver, CO–but where are they call coming from? The Denver metro population grew more than ten percent from 2010 to 2015, reaching a population of more than 2.8 million people. That got us at SpareFoot curious to find out where all these people are moving from, […]

Find A Self-Storage Facility Near You

No Car? No Worries. Getting Around This Walkable City is Easy

Denver International Airport (DIA) is the largest airport in the U.S. by land area, and the third busiest by passenger boardings. The city also boasts extensive light rail and public bus systems. The A light rail line, which opened in April 2016, transports passengers from downtown Union Station to DIA in less than 40 minutes. The light rail network covers 113 miles across 12 rail lines and has 78 stations along Denver’s north, east, southeast, and west rail corridors.

Traffic has worsened in recent years due to construction projects and the massive influx of new residents, but Denver’s bike-sharing program is one of the best in the U.S. B-cycle has 88 stations and 700 bikes scattered throughout Denver’s neighborhoods.

Denver Has a Highly Educated Workforce

Colorado has one of the nation’s most educated workforces, ranking second among the 50 states for the percentage of residents (42.7 percent) who hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. According to The National Center for Education Statistics, Denver residents have 28 institutions of higher learning to choose from to further their education.

In addition, there are 20 different public school districts in the seven-county metro of Denver, including Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Denver, Douglas, Weld, and Jefferson. Collectively, the school districts located in these counties serve the educational needs of over 500,000 children.

Don’t Like the Weather? Wait 15 Minutes.

It’s a myth that Denver has more than 300 days of sunshine per year but it’s still one of the sunniest cities in America with an average of 245 sunny days. Which might come as a surprise to those who associate the city with the snow-capped peaks in photos. 

In Denver, it’s not uncommon to experience a 20-to-30-degree temperature swing within a few hours so if you don’t like the weather of a day, you may just have to wait 15 minutes. Does Denver also experience severe storms? Hail yes. Denver is in the heart of “hail alley” and sees the second-highest amount of hail claims in the country. 

Humidity is low, making for mild weather marked by warm, sunny days and cool evenings. Average temperatures are 45 degrees Fahrenheit in winter and 86 degrees in summer. Even when it does snow, the white stuff melts fast due to all that sunshine.

10 Can’t-Miss Things to Do in Denver

Denver’s city website says, “Denver is strengthening its reputation as one of America’s livable cities and is a destination that simply ‘has it all.’” And that includes things to do! Make a plan to schedule in these 10 activities you don’t want to miss.

  1. Check out the latest in Native and Western American art at the Denver Art Museum.
  2. See a concert at nature’s own music hall, the ever-so-dramatic Red Rocks Park & Amphitheater.
  3. An all-in-one place to enjoy the spa and your favorite craft beer? You betcha. Soak away your worries in zero gravity chairs while you sample Colorado’s finest craft brews. 
  4. Shop your next vintage find at the Platt Park stretch of South Broadway (SoBo, Denver sure loves their acronyms!) where you’ll snag everything from folk art to furniture.
  5. In addition to rail riders, Union Station is a must-see destination for architecture buffs, scenesters and foodies. 
  6. Cross a baseball game and spectacular views of the Rockies off your list in one shot at Coors Field. 
  7. Hit the trails and go for a hike on either an easygoing loop of Lookout Mountain or a rugged climb in Eldorado Canyon State Park. 
  8. Window shop down the very pedestrianized Larimer Square. You’ll be able to browse swanky boutique stores or grab a bite to eat at a high-end restaurant. Either way, it’s the place to both see and be seen. 
  9. The Source, an epicurean food hall has a dream team of vendors that serve food and drink that are both top notch. 
  10. Unsinkable Molly Brown is legendary and you can hear her stories and more for a corny-but-entertaining self-guided tour of the Molly Brown House Museum. 

Find Self-Storage Near You

Storage With Truck Rental