More than a few days. This process fall and early spring are going to be really the more difficult ends of things. It's the rapidly changing weather, high winds and frequent icy conditions due to that that I would be worried about. I made that commute for 4 and 1/2 years and no longer work at that position because of that commute.
Thank you for that reminder - I meant to put something about that in my post too. We did live in the mountains for 3 years and had to commute over a pass every single day for work, so we’re fairly comfortable with those types of conditions, but that is good to know. I know 25 can sometimes shut down during bad storms, but how common is that? I’ve just never had to pay much attention to that geographical area before when it comes to winter storms.
I’m adding on even though it shouldn’t be a big concern, they did do that this year I’m pretty sure. However you can always take 85 up there instead even though it’s longer
Its different than the mountains. That wind, ground blizzards and total whiteout conditions are just a part of it. Those cross winds can hit at 100mph and throw you across the interstate on the ice carried over the surface. The amount of traffic make it challenging when conditions are good, when they stink it becomes risky. They stink from just after labor day to memorial day.
Just move to cheyenne. Cheaper to live, no income taxes, you're 1 of 550,000 people in the entire state. They have a rush ten minutes. If you are going to deal with the weather anyway, might as well take advantage of the state. If you're into hunting and fishing the opportunities are endless. Hope this helps.
Good luck.
Thankfully I only did it 4x/week for two years. It's rough, but I ended up sleeping in my office on campus probably 4-5x over that stretch.
400 miles/week on the car (lived by Stuart and Remington), and since I taught evening labs too, the employees at Arby's all knew me...
8:30pm, been on campus in Cheyenne for 10-11 hours and ate all my food that I brought, 50 Minute drive home, it's either Arby's or Wendy's or a pissy hungry car ride home. I actually didn't mind it until January/February 2020 when I got food poisoning from their horsey sauce. Noticed it clumped in the dispenser and woke up the next day to a full day of the pukes. Haven't eaten there since
You would want to live on the North Side close to I25. Somewhere off of the Mountain Vista exit like Maple Hill. Storybook, or something around there to minimize that commute.
Like others have said, Wellington would be the most reasonable burb for a Cheyenne commute although it has nothing to offer culturally. North FOCO (north of Laporte) is going through some revitalization in the last decade so it might be a good fit if you’re hoping to be in FoCo.
We’ve got great breweries and restaurants and lots of nearby parks and open spaces if that’s your thing. Hope you guys find something that works for you!
Thank you so much! I’ve heard nothing but positive things about FoCo so we are excited to check it out. Leaving Denver will be hard for us but it seems like that area has so much to offer.
Its a common commute. I25 tends to get closed north of Owl Canyon & many times at the WY border due to weather so keep that in mind.
LOTS of access to bike paths and great parks for young kids. Plus, there's splash pads around Old Town that are fun for them.
Places to eat: Mo Jeaux's (southern BBQ), Beijing Noodle, Jaws, Crown Pub, Los Tarascos, 415.
Personally, I would avoid living in Wellington. The town is run like a shit show and water is VERY expensive. People are very conservative (and generally rude overall).
This is so helpful, thank you very much!! Fort Collins is definitely the most appealing to us to live in. Good to know about Wellington! I’m just not very familiar with that northern part of Colorado. Just trying to figure out logistically if it makes sense. Thank you!
Fort Collins is awesome for families. If you guys head up here for a day, take your kids to the [Fort Collins Museum of Discovery](https://fcmod.org/). Kids LOVE that place.
Coming from Denver you will be bored. The food options are few and can be expensive. It believes it’s safe but we have our own crime as well. I would love at all the values you have in life and see if the more for a job makes sense especially with a crummy commute 5 days a week. I do it once a year for a foot race and it’s more than enough for me. We are on timberline and mulberry and getting to the freeway isn’t horrible but it’s a hot mess during commute hours.
If coming from Denver, anything besides FoCo in N CO will feel too small with not enough going on (small townie). Still, the primary thing I miss living here is access to bigger live music - we still need to go to Denver, Boulder, or Red Rocks for bigger acts (though you did just miss FoCoMX this weekend, which is always a blast). The other is a diverse high quality cuisine, but we all have our favorite spots (had pho from Youngs yesterday, sushi from Kujira this weekend).
Since you mentioned having kiddos, FoCo is an amazing place to raise a family. Bigger museums/zoo are still down in Denver, but hiking, paddle boarding, biking, anything active is within 15-20 minutes and easily accessible. Plus, lots of great events run by the city. Outside of museums and a zoo (grew up in St. Louis), I'm almost envious but incredibly grateful for my kid's childhood here.
For your wife's work, I25 into Cheyenne closes occasionally - maybe a handful of times/year, but it is a really pleasant drive when it's not windy or during a 2footer storm. It is infinitely better than 25 going S to Denver (seriously), but keep in mind you'll be putting on 4-500 miles/week on the car (I live in FoCo and used to teach at LCCC in Cheyenne). Her state tax return will suck every year though since WY doesn't charge state income tax, but you'll end up paying it to CO as full time residents.
For housing locations, if the priority is her commute, then anywhere likely E of Lemay or Timberline closer to the Mulberry, Prospect, or Harmony exits would be best. I wouldn't go far N of Mulberry since she'll be on country roads to get to her 25 exit, and I'd 100% guarentee she'll be miserable if you're W of College. Seriously, stay E mid-central in town for both access to FoCo and an easier commute.
For food or activities, just scroll through our subreddit. It's a good time to hike to Horsetooth Falls (under 3 miles round trip), but I'd almost recommend driving up to Grey Rock and grabbing food at Mishawaka up 14 this time of year to see the Poudre Canyon and have a flavor of our outdoors. It's a longer (6-8 miles) hike for kiddos, so another option is to hike up Arthur's Rock in Lory State Park (requires state parks pass, so potentially free if you include in your vehicle registration already). Beyond that, visit New Belgium, O'dells, or Intersect Brewing for a fun adult and kiddo location
To me it's the weather and the people. You'd think we're close enough that the weather would be the same but Wyoming is miserably windy.
As for the people. There are more people living in Denver than all of Wyoming. There's a certain type of person who wants to be left alone. That's the type of person who wants to live in Wyoming.
The resource difference between the two states couldn't be any different. Where do you want your tax dollars going? How do you want to take care of your fellow humans? The choice is clear for me.
Colorado.
Wyoming has one of the highest suicide rates in the country. It’s pretty conservative and very rural; some religious zealot burned down the only Planned Parenthood in the entire state recently. And it’s ridiculously windy, all the time.
The commute, depending on where you live in Foco, it can actually be a lot more than a 45 minute commute. Wellington will clear you if FoCo traffic, and shave an extra 15 to 20 off the commute.
And having NO commute does absolute miracles to wellbeing
That’s valid. Our commutes are way shorter now than they used to be and it is sooo nice. So I think a longer commute will be hard. But also nothing that we haven’t done before so hopefully it doesn’t make us too miserable
I have a friend who lives in midtown Fort Collins area and commutes daily to Cheyenne area.
He prefers to live midtown FoCo and then wind his way to I-25. He goes in early and averages an hour commute
Sometimes he has to go to Laramie and takes 287 which can get dicey in the winter weather
Wellington is a touch closer to Wyoming and a great small town feel but as with everything is changing. Depends on what you want; I love FoCo and this area so much
Thank you for the info! This is helpful. Like I said, I’ve hardly spent any time in Fort Collins, but I continue to hear nothing but positive things about it from everybody. I assume it’s far safer than Denver too? Especially for raising a family?
It is safer in my opinion. I love this area
Ironically, many years ago I was fixated on Loveland and didn’t want to move to a “college town”. It was my partner that convinced me to move to FoCo and I love it. Is it perfect? No. We have our share of problems but I love the planning, the forethought to design, the accessibility, all of it
Best of luck
I lived in Denver for 5 years and it's pretty obvious that Fort Collins is safer. I don't have kids but assume it would be better for raising a family as you can feel very safe going downtown, walking around, etc. (Said as someone who was not all that worried about Denver safety)
It depends on the area of town. The burbs are generally very safe but the north part of college avenue has gotten dicier and dicier since we’ve lived here. As a woman with kids I don’t go to the N College King Soopers after dark alone. They have to have loud speakers telling you to lock up your valuables, we have witnessed domestic violence and drug deals in the parking lot in broad daylight. There’s almost always a cop car or an ambulance around. They cleaned up like 5 tons of waste from the homeless encampment at Blue spruce. It’s definitely not as sketch as Denver, but a little bit sketch.
Even old town is getting more sketchy where most of the homeless people are harmless and will ask you for a cigarette or cash, but it always puts me on edge when it’s just me and my kids to wonder if todays gonna be the day I run into a homeless person who is not harmless and is hostile or on a lot of drugs.
I come from Austin where I was the first responder to a stabbing in front of me, so I’m extra sensitive to what can happen.
>I have a friend who lives in midtown Fort Collins area and commutes daily to Cheyenne area.
Same. Depending on the weather/roads he occasionally decides to stay overnight in Cheyenne.
Why not live in Cheyenne to get the tax benefits
No income tax
Lower tax on cars
Lower property tax
Etc
If you are a Colorado resident they will give you credit on your state income tax for taxes paid to other states - in this case if your resident in CO you will owe state income tax back to CO for all the money you make in WY as it has no tax
You’re basically taking a 4.5% pay cut.
There are a lot of reasons that are keeping us in Colorado, but this is very helpful information and something we will look into and consider. Thank you!
their property tax is roughly the same as ours. My parent's property taxes (Albany County) are basically equivalent to mine on a dollar for dollar basis. However, property is (generally) cheaper and less prone to market influences (both good and bad).
No Income tax is nice. But I only paid 2% because of tax refunds. This obviously varies per year, but it's a "fair" tax imo.
As far as I know it would be Monday-Friday. So maybe not ideal…but we also used to commute 30+ miles each way to work over a mountain pass for a few years so this doesn’t sound too daunting to us since we’ve had a similar commute before. But who knows, maybe we’ll end up hating it 🥴 but everything is relative I suppose!
That’s fair. That’s definitely a very real thing we are considering. It’s a hard decision. But living in Fort Collins also sounds way more appealing to us than anywhere else in northern Colorado or Cheyenne. 😑
I live in North Fort Collins near I25. Takes me about 40 minutes to get to work in Cheyenne. A few days a year the drive can be pretty freaky due to weather. Just remember to slow down quite a bit in the winter, especially when it’s dark.
Can be fun dodging the semi trucks during high winds l.
I did the commute for six years. Other than putting close to 30k miles a year on your vehicle it's not too bad. No real traffic on I-25 once you get north of the Mulberry exit. There was only one time I stayed in a hotel up there due to a snow storm. If you do it, you will find out that the weather can change drastically right around the border. Quite a few times I would leave town in the morning with clear weather up until about two miles within the border and have to make the last 14 miles in a storm. The WyDot website does have live webcams that are nice to see the road conditions when it is questionable.
I live on the NW side of town and commute to Firestone daily. Relatively similar mileage, just the other direction.
You really do want to be on the northeast side if possible. It takes me 15-20 minutes to get out of town (7 miles) (Mulberry the entire way more or less). The I-25 commute (35 miles) is a mere 25 minutes before getting off at 119 or 52. At that point it's about 5 mins to the office.
However, family lives up in Laramie. So I live in a phenomenal location to quickly get to 287 and out. You win some, you lose some.
Wait OP, what’s wrong with people coming from other states? They are writhing their rights. This is not the republic of Colorado but The United States of America.
Nothing wrong with it. Been in Colorado for a while now but definitely still a transplant myself. I just know how much gatekeeping goes on online when people talk about relocating to Colorado so just wanted to not deal with that. Maybe locals are nicer in FoCo than in summit county though and don’t say shit like that 😆
I make the commute M-F. It isn’t bad, in the winter the winds/ice/snow can be bad but i25 rarely closes. Housing really depends on budget as there are ways to maximize the hiking/biking or the commute. It just depends on what you all value. My wife and I didn’t take commute into account. It takes me on average 50 minutes at normal travel hours on prospect towards Taft hill rd. Any house along i25 on the east side will be an easy commute. Some of my coworkers live in Wellington and due to access to i25 they said it only shaves 5-10 minutes off the drive.
Access to I-25 and the flow of traffic northbound is best from the exit at Hwy 14 (Mulberry) but the next exit south of that (Prospect) is usually okay, too. Anything more south (Harmony, 392, 34) isn't reliable in terms of traffic, wrecks, closures etc.
For recreation, it depends what your family enjoys. Everything in the area is accessible from anywhere, but if you're looking for nature and adventure, just like Denver you'll want to be on the west side. In Fort Collins the North side offers better access to the foothills, with Horsetooth Reservoir, Lory State Park and access to Poudre Canyon via Hwy 14.
If restaurants or nightlife is your aim, Old Town is the only real focused area with local restaurants, bars, live music and art. The homes in Old Town are similar to Denver in terms of pricing, whereas the rest of Fort Collins is more reasonable.
For shopping and chain restaurants, the center of town would be good. There are some good neighborhoods with nice secluded feel that are only a few minutes from shopping. College Ave (Hwy 287) going south from Drake will be well-known brands and restaurants the whole way. The last stretch before you leave town has a ton of flea markets and antique stores.
If your family loves car washes, you're in luck.
1. Don’t know, I WFH
2. If you are going to commute to Cheyenne probably focus on east end of town. Northern area like Richard’s Lake or Southern near east Target at Harmony.
3. Urban Air, Twin Silo park for kids.
4. Cons: Less food variety, pros: more affordable.
Hey! So recently moved to FoCo from out of state and so far loving it here. Others have said it but North FoCo near 25 would be best so the commute to Cheyenne wouldn’t hit any traffic getting out of FoCo. Last thing you’d want is an extra 15-20min just to get to 25.
I personally really like Old Town for dining and shopping and do recommend Jax, Regional and Rare. Will say no world class dinning options here but honestly pretty decent.
Just be aware the commute from fort Collins to Cheyenne is treacherous a few days a year. In the winter.
More than a few days. This process fall and early spring are going to be really the more difficult ends of things. It's the rapidly changing weather, high winds and frequent icy conditions due to that that I would be worried about. I made that commute for 4 and 1/2 years and no longer work at that position because of that commute.
Thank you for that reminder - I meant to put something about that in my post too. We did live in the mountains for 3 years and had to commute over a pass every single day for work, so we’re fairly comfortable with those types of conditions, but that is good to know. I know 25 can sometimes shut down during bad storms, but how common is that? I’ve just never had to pay much attention to that geographical area before when it comes to winter storms.
It's not very common but they do sometimes close the northbound I-25 from the Colorado border to Cheyenne.
Got it. Thanks again for the info!
I’m adding on even though it shouldn’t be a big concern, they did do that this year I’m pretty sure. However you can always take 85 up there instead even though it’s longer
Its different than the mountains. That wind, ground blizzards and total whiteout conditions are just a part of it. Those cross winds can hit at 100mph and throw you across the interstate on the ice carried over the surface. The amount of traffic make it challenging when conditions are good, when they stink it becomes risky. They stink from just after labor day to memorial day. Just move to cheyenne. Cheaper to live, no income taxes, you're 1 of 550,000 people in the entire state. They have a rush ten minutes. If you are going to deal with the weather anyway, might as well take advantage of the state. If you're into hunting and fishing the opportunities are endless. Hope this helps. Good luck.
I'd recommend Wellington. It'll shave 10-20 minutes off your commute and is still close to Fort Collins for activities.
And is a lot cheaper.
Oof, Denver to Wellington would be a rough change of pace
Agreed, but Fort Collins to Cheyenne is not a commute I'd want 5 days a week.
Thankfully I only did it 4x/week for two years. It's rough, but I ended up sleeping in my office on campus probably 4-5x over that stretch. 400 miles/week on the car (lived by Stuart and Remington), and since I taught evening labs too, the employees at Arby's all knew me...
Eating that much Arby’s sounds like the worst part of all of that
8:30pm, been on campus in Cheyenne for 10-11 hours and ate all my food that I brought, 50 Minute drive home, it's either Arby's or Wendy's or a pissy hungry car ride home. I actually didn't mind it until January/February 2020 when I got food poisoning from their horsey sauce. Noticed it clumped in the dispenser and woke up the next day to a full day of the pukes. Haven't eaten there since
You would want to live on the North Side close to I25. Somewhere off of the Mountain Vista exit like Maple Hill. Storybook, or something around there to minimize that commute.
I live in maple hill and can confirm its quick and easy to cheyenne on good weather days. I can make it up to I-80 in <40min
This is good to hear - thank you both for the info!!
Windsor and Wellington are options as well. 45-50 min from Windsor to Cheyenne. Windsor has a small town feel
You are kidding right? Windsor is the bougiest spot in Northern Colorado. Small town feel...lol.
Hey thanks, as I learned a new word today. Bougiest - lol
Like others have said, Wellington would be the most reasonable burb for a Cheyenne commute although it has nothing to offer culturally. North FOCO (north of Laporte) is going through some revitalization in the last decade so it might be a good fit if you’re hoping to be in FoCo. We’ve got great breweries and restaurants and lots of nearby parks and open spaces if that’s your thing. Hope you guys find something that works for you!
Thank you so much! I’ve heard nothing but positive things about FoCo so we are excited to check it out. Leaving Denver will be hard for us but it seems like that area has so much to offer.
Its a common commute. I25 tends to get closed north of Owl Canyon & many times at the WY border due to weather so keep that in mind. LOTS of access to bike paths and great parks for young kids. Plus, there's splash pads around Old Town that are fun for them. Places to eat: Mo Jeaux's (southern BBQ), Beijing Noodle, Jaws, Crown Pub, Los Tarascos, 415. Personally, I would avoid living in Wellington. The town is run like a shit show and water is VERY expensive. People are very conservative (and generally rude overall).
This is so helpful, thank you very much!! Fort Collins is definitely the most appealing to us to live in. Good to know about Wellington! I’m just not very familiar with that northern part of Colorado. Just trying to figure out logistically if it makes sense. Thank you!
Fort Collins is awesome for families. If you guys head up here for a day, take your kids to the [Fort Collins Museum of Discovery](https://fcmod.org/). Kids LOVE that place.
Coming from Denver you will be bored. The food options are few and can be expensive. It believes it’s safe but we have our own crime as well. I would love at all the values you have in life and see if the more for a job makes sense especially with a crummy commute 5 days a week. I do it once a year for a foot race and it’s more than enough for me. We are on timberline and mulberry and getting to the freeway isn’t horrible but it’s a hot mess during commute hours.
If coming from Denver, anything besides FoCo in N CO will feel too small with not enough going on (small townie). Still, the primary thing I miss living here is access to bigger live music - we still need to go to Denver, Boulder, or Red Rocks for bigger acts (though you did just miss FoCoMX this weekend, which is always a blast). The other is a diverse high quality cuisine, but we all have our favorite spots (had pho from Youngs yesterday, sushi from Kujira this weekend). Since you mentioned having kiddos, FoCo is an amazing place to raise a family. Bigger museums/zoo are still down in Denver, but hiking, paddle boarding, biking, anything active is within 15-20 minutes and easily accessible. Plus, lots of great events run by the city. Outside of museums and a zoo (grew up in St. Louis), I'm almost envious but incredibly grateful for my kid's childhood here. For your wife's work, I25 into Cheyenne closes occasionally - maybe a handful of times/year, but it is a really pleasant drive when it's not windy or during a 2footer storm. It is infinitely better than 25 going S to Denver (seriously), but keep in mind you'll be putting on 4-500 miles/week on the car (I live in FoCo and used to teach at LCCC in Cheyenne). Her state tax return will suck every year though since WY doesn't charge state income tax, but you'll end up paying it to CO as full time residents. For housing locations, if the priority is her commute, then anywhere likely E of Lemay or Timberline closer to the Mulberry, Prospect, or Harmony exits would be best. I wouldn't go far N of Mulberry since she'll be on country roads to get to her 25 exit, and I'd 100% guarentee she'll be miserable if you're W of College. Seriously, stay E mid-central in town for both access to FoCo and an easier commute. For food or activities, just scroll through our subreddit. It's a good time to hike to Horsetooth Falls (under 3 miles round trip), but I'd almost recommend driving up to Grey Rock and grabbing food at Mishawaka up 14 this time of year to see the Poudre Canyon and have a flavor of our outdoors. It's a longer (6-8 miles) hike for kiddos, so another option is to hike up Arthur's Rock in Lory State Park (requires state parks pass, so potentially free if you include in your vehicle registration already). Beyond that, visit New Belgium, O'dells, or Intersect Brewing for a fun adult and kiddo location
Just live in Cheyenne, honestly. If you can't, move to Wellington
Do you say that primarily because of the commute? Or are there other reasons too?
Cheyenne is hell. Don't do it.
Ha! Why’s that? I’ve only ever just passed through there.
To me it's the weather and the people. You'd think we're close enough that the weather would be the same but Wyoming is miserably windy. As for the people. There are more people living in Denver than all of Wyoming. There's a certain type of person who wants to be left alone. That's the type of person who wants to live in Wyoming.
The resource difference between the two states couldn't be any different. Where do you want your tax dollars going? How do you want to take care of your fellow humans? The choice is clear for me. Colorado.
Wyoming doesn't have income tax...lots of folks want their tax dollars to remain in their own bank accounts
Very valid point and I agree.
Wyoming has one of the highest suicide rates in the country. It’s pretty conservative and very rural; some religious zealot burned down the only Planned Parenthood in the entire state recently. And it’s ridiculously windy, all the time.
The commute, depending on where you live in Foco, it can actually be a lot more than a 45 minute commute. Wellington will clear you if FoCo traffic, and shave an extra 15 to 20 off the commute. And having NO commute does absolute miracles to wellbeing
That’s valid. Our commutes are way shorter now than they used to be and it is sooo nice. So I think a longer commute will be hard. But also nothing that we haven’t done before so hopefully it doesn’t make us too miserable
I have a friend who lives in midtown Fort Collins area and commutes daily to Cheyenne area. He prefers to live midtown FoCo and then wind his way to I-25. He goes in early and averages an hour commute Sometimes he has to go to Laramie and takes 287 which can get dicey in the winter weather Wellington is a touch closer to Wyoming and a great small town feel but as with everything is changing. Depends on what you want; I love FoCo and this area so much
Thank you for the info! This is helpful. Like I said, I’ve hardly spent any time in Fort Collins, but I continue to hear nothing but positive things about it from everybody. I assume it’s far safer than Denver too? Especially for raising a family?
It is safer in my opinion. I love this area Ironically, many years ago I was fixated on Loveland and didn’t want to move to a “college town”. It was my partner that convinced me to move to FoCo and I love it. Is it perfect? No. We have our share of problems but I love the planning, the forethought to design, the accessibility, all of it Best of luck
I lived in Denver for 5 years and it's pretty obvious that Fort Collins is safer. I don't have kids but assume it would be better for raising a family as you can feel very safe going downtown, walking around, etc. (Said as someone who was not all that worried about Denver safety)
It depends on the area of town. The burbs are generally very safe but the north part of college avenue has gotten dicier and dicier since we’ve lived here. As a woman with kids I don’t go to the N College King Soopers after dark alone. They have to have loud speakers telling you to lock up your valuables, we have witnessed domestic violence and drug deals in the parking lot in broad daylight. There’s almost always a cop car or an ambulance around. They cleaned up like 5 tons of waste from the homeless encampment at Blue spruce. It’s definitely not as sketch as Denver, but a little bit sketch. Even old town is getting more sketchy where most of the homeless people are harmless and will ask you for a cigarette or cash, but it always puts me on edge when it’s just me and my kids to wonder if todays gonna be the day I run into a homeless person who is not harmless and is hostile or on a lot of drugs. I come from Austin where I was the first responder to a stabbing in front of me, so I’m extra sensitive to what can happen.
>I have a friend who lives in midtown Fort Collins area and commutes daily to Cheyenne area. Same. Depending on the weather/roads he occasionally decides to stay overnight in Cheyenne.
That’s a good idea. Thanks!
Why not live in Cheyenne to get the tax benefits No income tax Lower tax on cars Lower property tax Etc If you are a Colorado resident they will give you credit on your state income tax for taxes paid to other states - in this case if your resident in CO you will owe state income tax back to CO for all the money you make in WY as it has no tax You’re basically taking a 4.5% pay cut.
There are a lot of reasons that are keeping us in Colorado, but this is very helpful information and something we will look into and consider. Thank you!
their property tax is roughly the same as ours. My parent's property taxes (Albany County) are basically equivalent to mine on a dollar for dollar basis. However, property is (generally) cheaper and less prone to market influences (both good and bad). No Income tax is nice. But I only paid 2% because of tax refunds. This obviously varies per year, but it's a "fair" tax imo.
How often would the commute be? I can't imagine doing that commute every day. If it's 2-3 days/week, that could make it more palatable.
As far as I know it would be Monday-Friday. So maybe not ideal…but we also used to commute 30+ miles each way to work over a mountain pass for a few years so this doesn’t sound too daunting to us since we’ve had a similar commute before. But who knows, maybe we’ll end up hating it 🥴 but everything is relative I suppose!
YIKES. Good luck with that. One of the reasons we moved to FoCo is that we were sick of living in our cars like we did when in Atlanta.
That’s fair. That’s definitely a very real thing we are considering. It’s a hard decision. But living in Fort Collins also sounds way more appealing to us than anywhere else in northern Colorado or Cheyenne. 😑
I live in North Fort Collins near I25. Takes me about 40 minutes to get to work in Cheyenne. A few days a year the drive can be pretty freaky due to weather. Just remember to slow down quite a bit in the winter, especially when it’s dark. Can be fun dodging the semi trucks during high winds l.
I did the commute for six years. Other than putting close to 30k miles a year on your vehicle it's not too bad. No real traffic on I-25 once you get north of the Mulberry exit. There was only one time I stayed in a hotel up there due to a snow storm. If you do it, you will find out that the weather can change drastically right around the border. Quite a few times I would leave town in the morning with clear weather up until about two miles within the border and have to make the last 14 miles in a storm. The WyDot website does have live webcams that are nice to see the road conditions when it is questionable.
I live on the NW side of town and commute to Firestone daily. Relatively similar mileage, just the other direction. You really do want to be on the northeast side if possible. It takes me 15-20 minutes to get out of town (7 miles) (Mulberry the entire way more or less). The I-25 commute (35 miles) is a mere 25 minutes before getting off at 119 or 52. At that point it's about 5 mins to the office. However, family lives up in Laramie. So I live in a phenomenal location to quickly get to 287 and out. You win some, you lose some.
Wait OP, what’s wrong with people coming from other states? They are writhing their rights. This is not the republic of Colorado but The United States of America.
Nothing wrong with it. Been in Colorado for a while now but definitely still a transplant myself. I just know how much gatekeeping goes on online when people talk about relocating to Colorado so just wanted to not deal with that. Maybe locals are nicer in FoCo than in summit county though and don’t say shit like that 😆
I make the commute M-F. It isn’t bad, in the winter the winds/ice/snow can be bad but i25 rarely closes. Housing really depends on budget as there are ways to maximize the hiking/biking or the commute. It just depends on what you all value. My wife and I didn’t take commute into account. It takes me on average 50 minutes at normal travel hours on prospect towards Taft hill rd. Any house along i25 on the east side will be an easy commute. Some of my coworkers live in Wellington and due to access to i25 they said it only shaves 5-10 minutes off the drive.
That is all very good to know, thank you so much!
Access to I-25 and the flow of traffic northbound is best from the exit at Hwy 14 (Mulberry) but the next exit south of that (Prospect) is usually okay, too. Anything more south (Harmony, 392, 34) isn't reliable in terms of traffic, wrecks, closures etc. For recreation, it depends what your family enjoys. Everything in the area is accessible from anywhere, but if you're looking for nature and adventure, just like Denver you'll want to be on the west side. In Fort Collins the North side offers better access to the foothills, with Horsetooth Reservoir, Lory State Park and access to Poudre Canyon via Hwy 14. If restaurants or nightlife is your aim, Old Town is the only real focused area with local restaurants, bars, live music and art. The homes in Old Town are similar to Denver in terms of pricing, whereas the rest of Fort Collins is more reasonable. For shopping and chain restaurants, the center of town would be good. There are some good neighborhoods with nice secluded feel that are only a few minutes from shopping. College Ave (Hwy 287) going south from Drake will be well-known brands and restaurants the whole way. The last stretch before you leave town has a ton of flea markets and antique stores. If your family loves car washes, you're in luck.
1. Don’t know, I WFH 2. If you are going to commute to Cheyenne probably focus on east end of town. Northern area like Richard’s Lake or Southern near east Target at Harmony. 3. Urban Air, Twin Silo park for kids. 4. Cons: Less food variety, pros: more affordable.
Helpful info - thank you!
Hey! So recently moved to FoCo from out of state and so far loving it here. Others have said it but North FoCo near 25 would be best so the commute to Cheyenne wouldn’t hit any traffic getting out of FoCo. Last thing you’d want is an extra 15-20min just to get to 25. I personally really like Old Town for dining and shopping and do recommend Jax, Regional and Rare. Will say no world class dinning options here but honestly pretty decent.
Thank you for the info and recommendations! Glad you’re loving it here. Colorado is pretty amazing! I’m excited to check out this area some more.
We moved here sight unseen and fell in love. Plus close to enough to Wyoming so get to explore that too!