My husband and I have always been Denverites since we moved here 17 years ago—we’ve lived in the Highlands, Hutchinson Hills, Cherry Point, and then…bam! The proverbial urban flight happened…we moved to the “burbs.” Most of our city friends still love us though and unbeknownst to us when we made the choice to move to Littleton, there are many “urban-like” opportunities nestled in this area.
Me three years ago: “We’re moving next month.”
My Friends: “Oh, really—how exciting! Where?”
Me: “Actually, Littleton!”
My Friends: “What? Why are you moving to Littleton? Gosh, I don’t know a thing about Littleton. How far is that from Denver?”
Low and behold, it’s actually ranked #24 out of 100 small to mid-size cities with populations between 20,000 and 350,000 in the US according to Liveability, beating out towns like San Luis Obispo (are you kidding?), Manhattan, KS (okay, I can see that) and other places I love like Napa, Asheville, and Lawrence (Rock Chalk). Okay, so it didn’t rank as high as Boulder, but depending on the area you can buy three homes in Littleton for the price of one there. Also, I might add, Boulder is slipping in the rankings, from #4 in 2014 to #5 in 2015—Hah! http://www.livability.com/best-places/top-100-best-places-to-live/2016
Why did Littleton rank so high? There seems like there’s always something going on in Littleton- from festivals, downtown theme walks, not to mention doing all those with the back drop of the mountains—even if I can’t get there enough I’m regularly reminded of them which either kicks my butt in gear to get to them or simply puts a smile on my face. There’s light rail and the Platte River trail that meanders parallel to Santa Fe—ride your bike down it and stop off at the new Breckenridge Brewery. I still feel like we’re lacking in enough yummy eateries to provide variety both for families and couples, but hopefully that will come.
WalletHub agrees that Littleton is awesome. Analysts looked at 1268 small cities in the U.S. and using 22 metrics related to affordability, economic health, quality of life, and education and health, and drum roll….Littleton ranked #2! https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-small-cities-to-live-in/16581/#methodology
If you ever want to come visit, drop me a line—our family will welcome you with open arms! And, you can still get to Denver in 15.
