Probably not the wisest financial approach. If you buy a neighborhood that is likely to appreciate, it is almost always a better investment. "Affordable" usually has a reason. That said, if you find a place that you want to live in long-term, go for it!

Helena or Bozeman MT

Daughter was road and track. Raced three years and then took a year off to race in Netherlands/Belgium. Came back and decided she was burned out on racing and training. Worked for another year and re-enrolled this fall, with plans to graduate in May. She rides mtb now and then, but just for fun.

GJ is desert and would be warmer year round.
GJ is the most affordable city on your list
GJ has awesome mountain biking (Fruita) but so does Durango
Durango - closer to skiing.
All three have fairly small regional airports.
GJ and Durango both have small colleges.
Durango is more "hip" than GJ.

I would tilt towards Durango, which seems to offer more of a "mountain" town with easy access to the AZ desert if you need more warmth in the winter. Durango's weather can really vary on where you live. A little up 550 into the mountains you gain elevation and the weather is much different than if you live in town or south of town. I have friends that live at Electra Lake in Durango and that's about 9,000 feet. Much more snow and much colder than in town.

We visited Spokane as part of a college trip in the NW for our son. He really liked Gonzaga and the Spokane area seemed like a decent place to spend time. I personally would prefer Durango due to the skiing and Mtn biking access. Driven through Grand Junction and made a few stops. Of the three, it would be bottom of the list (except there are a couple really nice golf courses there).

I hear you on the CO Front Range. Getting a little crazy these days with property values and traffic.

drn92

I live Grand Junction now and moved from Denver/Golden 1.5 yrs ago. GJ is going next up and coming town in CO. Maybe Boulder/denver 30 or so years ago. The western slope is very blue collar part of the state that was hit hard with oil prices going down and the recession but on the rebound. Tourist pretty much drive through to the mountains but don't visit here.
The university and medical industry are the main two up and coming industries. Mesa college just became a designated university(not really sure the importance). I know they are adding a PA and PT programs a couple of years. Also they are partnered with CU for engineering. I don't really know other programs they are adding but know it is growing a lot.
St Mary's Hospital(where I work) is the only level 2 trauma center b/t Denver and Salt Lake. It is getting busier and expanding. Also has residency program bringing in more people.
We have been renting and just started looking to buy. You can get a lot of house for 200-300 thousand that you can't in Denver. Housing prices have gone up 15% was what I was told.
For the outdoors/mountain: The riding and trail running are great. We have just a little less than the front range without the drive. It is 10-15miles to fruita or Palisade. For GJ, we have the lunch loops. Rides similar to Apex style trails with a lot more trails. Right out of town. Fruita has 18 road and kokopelli just down the road. Easier than driving Denver to Golden area trails. We are getting the Moab crowd expanding to this area also. Palisade has palisade rim trails. The town is in process of creating the Palisade plunge. 30ish mile trail dropping from the top of grand mesa to palisade. Supposed to rival the whole enchilada in Moab. We have 3 high end bike shops for what ever you need. 2hrs to Moab and 3hrs to Crested butte for destination riding in our backyard.
For skiing: We have Powder horn right here. 2.5 hrs to Vail. 3hrs to Crested butte and Telluride. Plenty of free cross country skiing on Grand Mesa. Also plenty backcounty skiing around.
The downsides are the same as Spokane/Denver. Lots of meth/drugs and homeless/transient population. The area is getting more violent. There is an obvious gap between low class and middle class. Lots of chain restaurants. Not as much local or healthier options as Denver/Boulder. Some in downtown. Stay away from Clifton.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have other questions.

When looking at $400k+ on a teacher's salary, it's not a great deal. Pay has been frozen for years while cost of living has increased greatly. In these other areas (other than maybe Durango) pay is in the vicinity we are at now, while COL is much lower. Maybe Denver housing is a bertter investment, but its getting more and more difficult for the middle class.

My sister lived in Spokane as well as Paul Swift one of our instructors here for our fit course. I just talked to him about his move from Seattle, he seems to not be happy about the move. As others have pointed out the cost of living and housing prices are attractive in a lot of Spokane, but for a reason. My sisters place has pretty much just stayed at or below the original purchase price 15 years ago. A lot of white poverty there, so best to take the advice of the folks that have lived there for sometime and still do. Paul just told me it is like two different states when you go from Seattle to Spokane, dark blue to blood red. So you can imagine the accompanying lifestyles that go with each and figure they dominate.

I have always loved CO, but not really familiar with Durango, so once again go with the locals that have been there a bunch. Guessing whatever you buy there would actually appreciate, but probably cost more to begin with. And one place you get a bunch of rain and freezing rain with snow, the other mostly snow. Both places winters probably will suck more than Denvers, maybe some warmer climate in AZ or New Mexico?

Nice to hear from a GJ local. The only people I know there are college students, so their experience is a bit skewed. I have driven through and scouted it a bit. The wife isn't a huge fan, but as you point out, its a great central location. You provided a lot of information, but how do YOU like it?

My wife insists we didn't move west to live somewhere warm, but she doesn't understand the increase in rain and sleet that you get in a lot of places. I am fine with GJ/ Durango, and even Los Alamos, but she's a different story. We lived in redneck-ville in FL, so that aspect of Spokane wouldn't take too much adjustment. Sounds like CDA is better for living, but Spokane better for work (location dependent.)

Interesting, I did one of my clinical affiliations for PT school in GJ about 20 years ago. Teach in a PT program now and always casually looking for one out west as a possibility to move.

I loved the road ride up the monument and back down into Fruita when I lived there.

I'm currently living in CDA and have lived in Spokane in as well. I've also lived in Portland, DC, Minnesota, and a number of placed in Montana (Bozeman, Missoula, and Great Falls)

The complaints about Spokane/CDA in the thread are dated and become less of an issue each year. Meth houses? What decent sized town doesn't have an issue with these? White power? The POS aryan nation left over 15 years ago after they lost their compound in a lawsuit.

The cost of living in Seattle has led to a lot of people moving to the east and Spokane is starting to see some of the gentrification that places like San Fran, Seattle, PDX have gone through (albeit on a much smaller level). Lots of older crap neighborhoods turning into nice neighborhoods with parks (i.e. Kendal Yards), lots of new independent restaurants, etc.

Mountain Biking
I really loved mountain biking when I was living on the lower south hill. I could ride down the block and start riding single track on "The Bluff" at Poly Judd park. This trails connect up with Riverside State park which has a ton of single track and you almost never run into other riders since there are so many trails to take (the one downside is nothing is really labeled so it takes a while before you know which routes you enjoy the best). There is also good riding at Beacon Hill as well as a few different areas on the south end of Liberty Lake. In CDA most people ride up at Canfield or at Beauty Bay. Both are good, though I just prefer the Spokane area trails for no good reason. If you are into downhill riding, Silver Mountain in Kellogg has a decent park system.

Skiing
Last winter we got hammered with snow. About 120 inches in town I think. So it was easy to XC ski as you could just go to a golf course or head out on the centennial trail. As for maintained trails, Mount Spokane has a good trail system. I've only been up there twice, but when I went there was a number of nicely maintained (for both classic and skate skiing) loops as well as some less maintained trails that run through the trees and what not. For downhill, there are a few options within an hours drive. Mount Spokane, Silver Mountain, Schweitzer, Lookout Pass, 49 Degrees North. It has been a long time since I've skied any of them, so I can't comment much.

Other Good Stuff
- The Centennial Trail is great. A 50-60 mile long multi-use trail that runs a long the lake and river for a majority of it. It's nice to get on there for a run or family bike ride and not worry about cars. Also, a short drive away is the Trail of the Coeur d Alenes which is a paved bike/pedestrian only trail around 80 miles long.
- Lots of lakes. There are about 10 different lakes within an hour of each other. So lots of opportunities for uncluttered fun on the water. The Spokane river as well as some of the rivers south of CDA offer some good whitewater opportunities in the spring as well.
- Good Hiking. Riverside state park (the bowl and pitcher area), Dishman Hills, Liberty Lake Park, English Point, Farragut State Park, etc, etc. Lots of good places around town to hike or trail run. And none of them are really over crowded (which was the issue I always had at the good hikes around the Portland area).
- Cost of living. Take a look at Zillow. You can get a lot of house (in terms of size and quality) in the area. I think the Spokane area is a bit cheaper than CDA. The mortgage on my 3000 foot house on a 0.4 acres is less than the rent of my 700 foot apartment near downtown Portland
- Pretty good rock climbing. There is a rock gym and boulder gym in Spokane and the big gym in CDA has a small rock wall. I haven't been climbing outside here, but apparently there are some decent places to go.
- Not overcrowded. I loved living in Portland and liked DC as well. But after a while the amount of people started to wear on me. Parking was a pain, long commutes were a pain, hiking trails were busy, etc. I just wanted to get back to a place where it was easy to get out of town and enjoy wide open spaces without a bunch of people or cars. You could do that in Portland, but it is faster and easier to do it here.

The Bad Stuff
- I don't think the crime is high per-capita in Spokane, but it is there. There are drug users and homeless people. Less than Portland. Not sure in comparison to Denver. Most of the crime is stupid car crime (breaking windows to grab a backpack) and petty theft. I always tell people don't leave stuff in your cars overnight. That's why some people like living in Liberty Lake or CDA instead of Spokane proper. The crime has a sharp drop off.
- CDA loves their trucks, guns, and republicans. None are really my cup of tea. But neither was the bleeding heart Prius driving liberals in Portland who would protest something every week. I've managed just to ignore both.
- Lack of diversity. It's white up here. Really white. Spokane has a little bit more diversity than CDA. Even the immigrants here are white (Spokane has a number of Russian immigrants). That being said. In my department of the hospital we now have an Egyptian, a Palestinian, and few homosexuals. So maybe there is hope for some more diversity one day
- Pay. My sister is a grade school teacher in CDA. According to here there is a significant pay gap between ID and WA. I think she said if you have a masters you can make 15-20k more in Washington. Her comments have been that in general the support of schools in ID isn't the best. Not surprising given who runs the government in each state. A number of teachers will teach in Spokane Valley or Liberty Lake and live in CDA since the commute is short (less than 30 minutes). Another difference is WA does not have income tax (ID does), but property taxes are less in ID.

Anyway, that's my general spiel on the area. I can answer more questions if you want. If you do come up this summer feel free to send me a message. I like the area and don't really have plans on moving. Though there are other areas where I would love to live as well. If Bend, OR wasn't so far from Montana/my family, I'd go there in a heartbeat. Someone a few posts up above mentioned Helena and Bozeman. I really like both places. Bozeman is awesome. But cost of living there is very expensive since so many out-of-staters are moving there. Helena is a places I'd always considered settling down in. In both places you'd have to like living in a smaller city (30-50k) which not everyone does since you loose some amenities. That type of thing appeals to me since I grew up in a similar sized town in Montana, but it's not for everyone.

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Matt

I like it for now. I would love to live in a mountain town don't see that happening and there is more to do daily here. My work/life balance is nice right now. I have a stable job that is not going anywhere and it is busy enough to keep me interested but not crazy busy/stressful. Night shift seems to all get along with minimal drama. My only two complaints are the heat in July/August and make sure you find a house/area/neighborhood you like.

I've been to Spokane a couple times for vacations (college football road trips to Pullman) and like it a lot. It's on our list of potential relocation destinations.

Stayed in Liberty Lake this year and enjoyed a nice hike at the park by the lake. Seems to be lots of brewpubs around -- we went to No-Li on our way out of town.

Kid might end up at WSU for college -- all the more reason to go up there.