Why Locals Are Fleeing: The Real Colorado Springs Exodus

Reach out to us (Home Buyer's Form)

Reach out to us (Home Seller's Form)

Book a discovery call with us/Download FREE RESOURCES

Welcome to Moving to Colorado Springs! Discover why locals are choosing to pack up and leave in our latest video, "Why Locals Are Fleeing: The Real Colorado Springs Exodus." Join us as we delve into the factors driving this trend.

In this video, we'll explore the real estate landscape and how skyrocketing rents and home prices are affecting the community. We'll discuss the impact of Colorado Springs' swift growth on the quaint small-town charm that once defined the area.

Our mission is to provide you with a clear picture of the shifting lifestyle and relocation challenges in Colorado Springs. We'll share insights on the increased cost of living, from groceries to utilities, and offer tips on how to prepare for the unique Colorado weather and outdoor living experiences.

Our goal? To ensure you're well-informed about the dynamic changes in Colorado Springs. Whether you're considering moving here or just curious about the region, this video is an essential resource.

Download our free Neighborhood Guide here:

#ColoradoSprings #RealEstate #Moving #Community #Lifestyle #Relocation #OutdoorLiving

If you find our content helpful, don't forget to subscribe and tap the bell for notifications. For personalized advice on your move, request a free consultation with us today!

CHAPTERS:
0:00 - Colorado Springs Exodus Introduction
0:06 - Cost of Living Concerns
2:18 - Crime Rate Increase
2:59 - Infrastructure & Overcrowding
3:48 - Relocation Mistakes
5:29 - Conclusion on Colorado Springs Departures

-----------------------------------------

If you want to know everything about eating, sleeping, working, playing, the good, and the bad of living in and around Colorado Springs, Colorado, whether you're a civilian or military personnel, then subscribe ▶ and tap the bell 🛎 for notifications so you can be the first to know about the current real estate market in Colorado Springs😁

📅 Request a Free Consultation

Ricky Marquez, REALTOR®
📲 Call / Text: 480-370-2557

Vanessa Marquez, REALTOR® MRP
📲 Call / Text: 719-421-0909

[montanagal]

Traffic is a nightmare too and the WAY people drive. I'd say a very angry population.

[Techniquezander]

I'm a native to the springs. One of the largest issues I face downtown with all the growth is the audio pollution. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, construction ect... This used to be a quiet town and it's a drag strip at all hours now.

[jeffreyallen]

Traffic and crowds! Miserable crowds everywhere and horrible traffic. This was a great place up until about the year 2000, then the crowds really started to come.

[debragonzales]

I WAS BORN HERE, PEOPLE ARE GREEDY, COLORADO USE TO BE A NICE PLACE TO LIVE. WE ARE NOT USE TO THIS, IT'S AWFUL...THANKS.

[NoName-rgnp]

Kansas has a great view of Pikes Peak! Everyone should go there…

[BigfootDadExploresMontana]

Lived in Colorado Springs off and on since the 80's. Finally left for the last time in 2004. Still visit from time-to-time, but my catalyst for leaving was the bad, bad, rude, careless, and selfish drivers... to be quite frank. 😬 Never have I seen so many cars just seemingly and randomly tipped over in a city in various wrecks. With the incredible speeds they drive, it does make sense.
However, the scenic views in this city are incredible, there's no mosquitoes (strangely), and somehow I always feel like I'm "home" when I come back to visit. If the people were less cold and just changed their mentality, it would be an awesome place to live again.
Until then, I'm staying up north (with it's own set of problems 😅).

[worldmedic]

How much it snows? LoL as a former Chicagoan this snow is a joke. Feels like a vacation, it snows and melts the same week.

[cxerphax]

The most negative thing about Colorado is the hail. Period. Especially as a home owner. Every video needs to talk about that because it is hardly mentioned. Every summer your car can potentially get totaled on any given day with little to no warning while you are parked at work and can literally do nothing but watch. Everything else is actually better than most of the country

[seifazghandi]

I lived in Denver for 30 years right around the time the Denver International Airport (DIA) went through completion. Then there was the I-25 project and many buildings that surrounded it. The distance between Denver and Colorado Springs (CS) is around 50 miles and that was also done and it made CS more accessible. The offloads who couldn't afford Denver real estate market, then, flooded the CS! That's the main reason why CS affordability went down the tube. CS has a great outdoors but at a exhuberant cost.

[MikeKassel-vkue]

I rented a North end 1986 for 315.00 per month... cleared 1600..00 per month at job, was single at 25, food bill was around 160.00 per month, had a real nice used truck for 1200.00 cash.. Gasoline was cheap, Company had good health plan. Was not so bad back then.

[thedroneranger]

One thing a lot of Colorado Springs residents are actually NOT aware of is the extremely high number of prison parolees in COS! Especially around the southern part. That area, especially, seems to be more economically depressed! Homeless campsites up and down the Sand and Fountain Creeks. The city seemingly desires to put money into the north side for new, and saves the left overs for the south side. We have been resident since I retired from USAF at Pete! The very north end of Powers was absolute pasture land (from Constitution and north to the big curve) and far west as one could see! Now, housing and retails! Southside has practically zero opportunity for expansion, but on the north side, another story! Been here since 94, bought new in 97. Watched the crime rates increase as well! Too damned old to uproot and relocate. Kinda dependent now on the military commissaries and BX/PX’s. As a military retiree, my only advice is DO NOT use Carson for your healthcare. Use UCHealth instead! (They saved my life after Carson misdiagnosed!). Overall, Springs is still a great place to be. A lot to see and do! Plus: easy access to the mountains!

[dangeles]

Traffic is a nightmare. I live on the north end and work downtown. Driving home takes twice as long and going to work. It started getting bad in 2016 and gotten horrific over the past two years.

[White_Hell_Days]

I wouldn't move to Colorado. I live on the west coast, my one bedroom apt is almost $1700 a month, and I now live in the hood. This area use to be nice. Makes it hard to save money when 60% of your income is going to rent.

[billredding]

Of the 4 major cities of CO -- Boulder, Denver, Colorado Springs(COS) and Pueblo -- COS is the only one that could be said to lean conservative (65/35 maybe?), although Pueblo (a surprise to me!) MAY be slowly moving in the red direction. Also, COS has 4-5 military bases, so lots of active duty Army and Air Force people there, and military retirees/veterans as well. It has a very nice main VA clinic there facing Pikes Peak and Garden of the Gods -- the clinic building (built a few years ago so it's fairly new) looks kind of "ski lodge" in its design.
But for sure, liberals will LOVE Boulder and Denver -- no doubt -- if you can afford the even MORE expensive housing market there (more so than COS), Boulder probably being the MOST expensive major city. Other expensive cities/towns are the ski resort areas, like Breckenridge, Steamboat Springs, Vail, Aspen, Crested Butte...but even places like Dillon and Frisco are pricey as well. For MOST of us, visiting those places is nice but living there full-time is only a dream. Even condos there are $400K-500K and higher. Homes $1M and more easy. Many are multi-million. But the views are outstanding as those ski towns are very scenic summer and winter both....they're just kind of "out in the sticks" so you have to drive a while to get to a major city (and inclement weather/snowstorms permit). ;-)
As for apartments, COS has LOTS of nice upscale Class A apt complexes, new/newer, and more being built even now. You can get a nice 1/1 (1-bed/1-bath) apt in a number of upscale Class A ("luxury") complexes for $1450-1650/mo, so they have come down big-time since I was there (October 2022) when MY rent (for a 3rd lease-renewal) was going up 14% ($191), then they went up to ~$1800/mo. Rents since then have dropped $300-400/mo and have been there for a while now. BUT, you have to pay on top of rent utilities (gas, electric, water, sewer), a garage if you want one (if attached it's included in the rent with "selected" apts, a detached garage is maybe $125-150 extra per month -- or pay a smaller amount for a carport), but COVERED parking is PREFERRED...one reason is CO's infamous hailstorms! Don't ask how I (and many other Coloradans) know this. ;-)
Yes, some of those complexes are still high rent-wise -- month-to-month rents are OUTRAGEOUS ($2500 to over $3K even for 1/1 apts!) -- but some of those more expensive complexes are also the best resident-rated complexes: Get a 12-13-month lease (the cheapest it's gonna get!) and you're fine at those or the slightly cheaper but still full-amenity Class A ("luxury") complexes. I keep a running list of ~25 complexes I personally would feel good living at (I've lived in 2 of them myself, and both times were nice -- no complaints) to keep track of rents there (am in West TX now, but hope to move back to COS come late 2025 so I need to keep on top of apts there, but will be looking to BUY a property then, but only IF the housing market (AND mortgage interest rates!) become more affordable. If not, I may still move back to COS but rent at one of those mentioned upscale/luxury apt complexes and just STAY there (as I DO miss COS).
Life could be worse...
As mentioned, right now $1500-1600/mo will get you quite a few 1/1 (1-bed/1-bath) choices in one of those VERY nice complexes. As always, shorter leases quickly get pricier. AND as probably everywhere (not just in CO), rental rates can vary DAILY, so it depends on when you move there what you will find re: vacancies and rent rates.
As for the southern part of the city (the SE quadrant, the COS airport area, or even farther south towards Widefield/Security/Fountain), that's not the better part of the Springs if you can afford elsewhere in the city. The NE quadrant is mostly new & growing. While there are other parts that are pretty decent -- various single-family homes, town-homes and condo "enclaves" here and there -- I'd say most of the nicer/newer apt complexes are to be found in the NE quadrant. Home builders are in this area, too (Banning-Lewis Ranch is huge), so COS is moving E towards Falcon...almost there now -- and NE toward the Black Forest area: Pretty pricey homes there in Black Forest (but HUGE lots, too, and in the woods (pine trees): Have at least $1M in your pocket just to start LOOKING there.
But in Banning-Lewis Ranch and Wolf Ranch (a bit older community but still nice and still building northward (around Wolf "Lake"), you can find town-homes/carriage-homes (mostly new) for just over $400K and even some (duplexes) for well under 400K -- starter homes or for downsizing also. And in nice, upscale new subdivisions/communities. Banning-Lewis Ranch has a fairly new subdivision called The Retreat -- single-level homes (no stairs!) -- which is an "active lifestyle" 55+ community. Town-homes, carriage-homes and The Retreat have HOA fees, true, but you get quite a few amenities for the money (clubhouse, pool, tennis, events, etc). And Banning-Lewis even has some some schools. And LOTS of neighborhood trails to walk/jog/bike.
I don't know of ANY town-home community in COS -- be it new, newer or older -- that does NOT have HOA fees (at the very least to cover landscaping care & snow-removal), so if you don't want a HOA you'll need to find a single-family/detached home (new, newer or older), even though SOME of those have a HOA also. One is a covenant community, and it's HOA is VERY high, but home prices there are low so maybe it balances out. However, most older homes/communities in COS don't have HOA fees.
-- BR

[AlexMar-r]

It’s hard talk about this without sounding like a smug coming from Mass .i have paid this 2000 bucks for one room apartment since I was like 20 -2007 . the perception of affordability I have it’s pretty good :) . people just needs to keep up with life, I move a lot for work and I have seen it . all the time the natives always complain it’s natural growth .