foreign
spot destination for out-of-state migration it just might be Denver's been a landing spot for
people searching for a new life since the 1800s in all those decades they have only
had two censuses where they lost population in 1980 census and the 1990 census in 2020 they
gained almost 20 percent with the entire metro area gaining almost 15 percent that looks like
it's about to change and start looking like the 1980s with losing people again which long time
residents are okay with trust me nobody wants to go back to living like the 1980s more than
long-time Denver residents and maybe Scott Baio in 2021 in 2022 Denver lost population
again and in 2023 it's estimated that they will lose an additional 1.5 percent some predictions
have them dropping around 12 percent by 2030. why is the population of the mile high city shrinking
there are two main reasons number one long time residents are leaving not just the city but the
entire entire metro area for other states like Wyoming Idaho Oregon and Texas at the same time
fewer people from California Texas and Arizona aren't choosing Denver as a relocation spot
anymore and that's what the statistics say I know the numbers and the facts won't stop
someone from claiming that they're overrun with Californians that's very popular to leave in a
comment section even if it's not true someone from Mississippi said that the other day they
said we're getting overrun by Californians no you're not now I'm not saying no Californians
are moving to Denver anymore I'm just saying not nearly as many as they had a few years
back to do this video we ran a survey and asked people leaving Denver and people relocating to
pick one of 30 of the most common reasons why Denver isn't for them a lot of these are the
same as other videos but they have different stats got it get it good let's take a look
number 10 High Cost of Living the cost of living in Denver has been climbing and climbing for years
and honestly I don't see that changing anytime soon Denver's outpacing 72 percent of the major
cities in the U.S when it comes to the rate that their cost living is going up according
to a 2022 study by the council for economic research the cost of living in Denver is 15
percent higher than the national average in 2022 and it's expected to go higher in 2023
number nine lack of affordable housing this one is kind of a piggyback off cost of living you rarely
have a high cost of living and low home prices it's just not the way the world works it's also
a good indicator if a place is a great place to live I mean Denver is don't get me wrong people
just aren't moving there like they used to it kind of got too good and when things get too
good too many people show up prices go up that's how the world works if you want to keep prices
down check out what Mississippi's got going on they've cracked the code on keeping things cheap
besides it just being really expensive to buy a house or condo or whatever even renting a place
in Denver they've got a serious housing shortage according to a 2022 study by the Colorado Housing
Finance Authority there's a shortage of 50 000 affordable housing units in the Denver metro
area this is due to a number of factors as you can imagine High Cost of land and high cost to
construction along with the many residents that had moved in there over the years now
that one may be easing things a little a bit in the coming years but right now it's still
pretty high and that's chasing a lot of people out and stopping a lot of people from moving in
number eight traffic congestion traffic always seems to come up whenever we're talking about
a good sized city Denver's no exception is it as bad as San Francisco Los Angeles or Boston
I don't think so I don't drive it every day the last time I drove in Denver was just a little
over a year ago it was bad it wasn't crazy bad but it was enough to get under your skin
several studies have showed that Millennials and Generation Z are looking for low traffic
congestion and a good transit system in whatever city they're moving to that's one of the reasons
Portland was so popular for so many years they have one of the best public transit systems in
the country they're always in the top ten the average commute time in Denver is 26.7 minutes
there are different studies out there but the average or what's acceptable I guess you could
say is supposed to be about 17 minutes so they're you know almost 10 minutes more I
honestly thought that stat would be dropping after the pandemic because not a lot of people
are going into the office still to this day in every city I just thought that would ease
up the traffic congestion but it didn't really have as much impact as I thought it was going to
be but when it comes to public transit Denver is ranked 21st in the nation give you an idea
who's got the best New York is number one San Francisco's number two Washington DC's number
three Boston is number four and Jersey City New Jersey is number five Portland's number
eight you know your transit system sucks when Newark New Jersey beats you Newark New Jersey
is number 10 Denver's 21. 59 of the residents of New York City will use the transit at least
once a week if they're traveling only seven percent of Denver residents use public transit
number seven the crime crime rates in Denver have been on the rise in recent years they go
up every couple years then they'll have a down year then they go up again a lot of cities go
through this but there's just seems to be in everyone's face these days according to the
Denver Police Department in 2022 the violent crime rate in Denver Rose 10 percent currently
their total crime rate is 186 percent above the national average and their violent crime rate
is 140 percent above the national average that is high but like I say in all my videos that's
nothing compared to like the worst of Detroit which is like 450 percent above the national
average and I think St Louis right now is 385 percent above bad but definitely not the worst
number six air and water quality now the air quality I totally agree with Denver has some
pretty bad air quality a lot of that has to do with the wildfires they have every single year
but in general normal even without the wildfires they got some pretty bad air quality this can
be a major bummer for people with respiratory problems especially older people that may have
some compromised lung capacity or people with asthma COPD things like that they will avoid
Denver because of the air quality now the water quality people put that down but I really don't
think it's that big of a deal they're definitely not the worst if you look at the top 100 cities in
the United States they're ranked 44th for water quality so they're right in the middle they're
definitely not that bad I read one study that said the city's water supply is contaminated with lead
Arsenic and pollutants yeah little tiny micro bits just like any city in the United States air
quality definitely that is a problem water quality I don't agree with it but people put it down there
number five the job market the job market in Denver isn't what it was say five six seven
years ago but really no city is right now we're still recovering from the pandemic shutdown and
all that stuff all the jobs aren't back things are getting better and I think this one is kind of a
holdover from that people that put this down I think they're still living with that shock
maybe they left because they lost a job during the pandemic something like that because again
Denver's not doing that bad but a lot of people seem to think so just last April the state gained
7 200 jobs that's the largest monthly gain in the last year and a half the private sector added 6
500 jobs after losing 1700 in March obviously the Leisure and Hospitality sector lost a whole bunch
of jobs during the pandemic but they've also gained about 4 400 since then they are still
seeing a slow down in energy production gas and oil things like that that's everywhere though
just about but things like Aerospace Aviation financial services and education those are
are still on the rise even though this one was picked I think it's a little wrong I
think it's because the recovery hasn't hit all sectors equally but that's how people feel
number four health care costs yeah this is another one that comes up it has to do with the cost of
living that's always a big factor they also say there's not enough competition in the Denver
area when it comes to Health Care Providers yeah they're not much different than other cities but
they are ranked as the sixth highest in the nation when it comes to health care costs the good news
is their fourth best when it comes to access and their quality of Health Care is seventh in the
nation so you're paying a lot for it compared to other cities but you could see a doctor and when
you do see them it's going to be pretty good care now to a lot of you that doesn't really
matter if you're under 30 you don't go to a doctor health care costs really don't bother you that
much because you're not going to the doctor you start getting into your 50s and 60s this
becomes a big issue so that will actually stop a lot of retirees from moving to a city that's
got high health care costs but the access on the quality of healthcare might drive some in anyway
number three education when you look at the education system in Denver it's not great now
they're universities that they have in the area are outstanding you have the University
of Colorado at Denver you have University of Denver and a few other ones but it's that K
through 12 that most people aren't too keen on according to public school review Denver
Colorado Public Schools have an average math proficiency score of 26 percent versus Colorado
Public Schools average of 31. so a little bit low there their reading proficiency scores 39
verse Statewide 47 schools in Denver have an average ranking of 5 out of 10 which is in the
bottom 50 percent of Colorado Public Schools so that's not great and a lot of people know
it they're underfunded overcrowded understaffed just like so many other school districts in this
country nothing against the teachers it's usually not their fault I'd say about 99 of the time it's
not their fault you always have that bad apple but most the time they're just extremely underfunded
number two cost of child care yeah this is a big one for a lot of people Child Care is expensive
and when your Millennial gen Z this is you know working on your frontal lobe most the time because
you have kids and you want to go to work and it's expensive the cost of child care in Denver
is really high this is due to a number of factors including the city's high cost living and lack of
available child care providers that's what happens when you have too many people move into a place
over a decade and not enough time for companies to catch up with it so child care providers are
in short supply in Denver at least that's what a few different studies say just like anything else
when there's a shortage it gets more expensive if you need child care in Denver it's like
having another mortgage that's how expensive it is every single month full-time infant care costs
are Seventeen hundred dollars a month on average in Colorado in Denver it's like nineteen hundred
dollars that's what it was in 2022. you have three kids dropping them off at daycare head off have to
work at a law firm and have to sell pictures of your feet at lunch just pay for child care
all right if you're looking to move to Denver or any other city in the United States there
is a link for a website called home and money in the description box below they have a bunch
of tools to help you find a mortgage all that good stuff but most importantly they'll get you
in touch with a real estate agent in whatever area you want to move to alright on number one
and number one the homeless yes the homeless situation is a problem in Denver too even though
it gets painfully cold there like I say in every video I got nothing against the homeless this just
keeps coming up it is a problem for a lot of people not just the cities the residents have
a serious problem with it here in Portland Oregon we're finally starting to change things to where
it's gonna make the city more manageable Denver has been working at it for a while and they've
been making some progress it's just not enough for people that are moving there and some people are
moving out because of it homelessness is a growing problem in Denver according to a 2022 count by the
metro Denver homeless initiative there's over 6 000 people experiencing some form of homelessness
in the Denver metro area this is due to a number of factors including the high cost living and lack
of affordable housing of course you have the standard mental health situation and addiction
problems just like every place else a guy know that works for Colorado Tech I think it's Colorado
Tech University anyway he was uh staying at someone's house downtown he woke up in the morning
is back window was busted out and someone had spent the night in his car but that is the number
one reason people don't want to move to Denver or they're leaving Denver they say it's just too much
all right that's today's video hope you guys enjoyed it hope you got some
information of it now go out have a great day and be nice to each other