I'd like to move to Colorado. I lived there for a new months and was in love with it. Arizona is very nice as well but I don't enjoy the heat enough to live there.
I really enjoyed being in Colorado the few times I was out there for business, but I have to wonder if I could live there. There are so few trees, and no, I dont mean the kind that you smoke. I am in the North East and used to everything looking pretty lush in the summer. I also find it works wonders for my mood.
You also lose ocean access. Its funny, I barely go anymore, but I would always like to live near a coast. I am also from NJ, and there are a lot of positives about living anywhere else, IMO. It is not all bad, but really, most things I would miss here I could get elsewhere.
I'm from a heavily wooded state and had trouble adjusting to the lack of trees when I moved to Colorado. But what I lost in forestry, I gained in lack of humidity, fewer bugs, and the most amazing sunrises and sunsets you can imagine. I still miss the trees. It's weird that my kids are growing up not using the phrase "the woods"
What field are you in? I can try to hook you up. The job market is HOT in colorado right now - from entry level stuff up through executive management stuff. unless you're in oil and gas... those jobs are super sparse since the Saudi's cut crude prices earlier this year...
I work for a disability service right now (mental health and developmental disabilities) , I do system administration for our electronic health records. Help desk, implementation, etc. I work as an EMT at night. 2 jobs seems to be necessary to pay rent in NJ if you're single lol. Fortunately no oil and gas for me!
We've got people hurting themselves and requiring EMT services out here... and I even know a few people that work in public and private centers/homes/services. They are the actual PCPs, but they might have some insight into how to apply for the back-end administration. PM me if you're interested. Full disclosure: Rent in Colorado is going up, up, up. It has grown faster than anywhere else in the country this year. We're still cheaper than the coasts and Chicago, but our percent increase has (unfortunately) beaten everyone.
Reading through that article, that is still a little cheaper than where I live in NJ. I was recently looking around for 1 bedroom apartments and I refuse to pay $1200 a month for it + all utilities. Pretty ridiculous, but I guess it's all relative. I think the organization I work for now has services in Colorado, but it's very hard to transfer since each state is it's own organization really. I remember looking at their career options online and they only had like 3 job openings. I'll be sending you a PM soon.