Lakewood

Although I have never lived in Lakewood, I've had many friends who lived there over the years. There are many busy streets and getting to Denver if you need to commute for work can be very time consuming. Every street that borders Lakewood is a major artery so rush hours can be tough.

There are numerous subdivisions in Lakewood although my favorite is Green Mountain. This area is still busy on the border roads but within the neighborhoods it's a lot of nice homes with well tended yards and some have really great views. The median home price is right at about $260,000 although this area can have homes under that around $120,000 and much higher than that going over the million mark.

There are many nice parks in Lakewood, including Bear Creek Lake Regional Park which is one of the best.

Lakewood is ideally situated for those who like to get up into the mountains for skiing or snowboarding. Just west of Lakewood is C-470 which goes up the mountains to many great ski resorts. Lakewood is also close to Denver for those who need to commute.

There are numerous places to shop in Lakewood, but one of my favorites is Belmar. There are over 80 shops and restaurants located just off of the corner of Alameda Parkway and Wadsworth Blvd. There are also apartments for rent here and it is a great place to get a coffee and just window shop.

Lakewood is a big western suburb of Denver. I think of Lakewood as a pretty classic Colorado suburb with a lot of traditional suburban neighborhoods, some kind of ran down compared to other Denver suburbs. The perception of Lakewood is that it is crowded and along the highways that come in and out of Denver. Lakewood is between Golden & Denver and I personally would much rather live in Golden than Lakewood.

There are some great hiking trails that wind around rock formations and give good views of the surrounding mountains by Golden especailly on the western bounds of the city. The Green Mountain Park trails are cool, walking around Bear Creek Lake is also a good spot. There are lots of trails and golf courses and pretty places in and around Lakewood.

Lakewood schools are part of the Jeffco Public School district--the largest school district in Colorado. The two major high schools are both International Baccalaureate schools and the area has a fair reputation for education, the downfall is that the schools are packed and huge but do offer a lot of great team sports and advanced classes for motivated students. Lakewood is a major suburb of Denver with a fairly large area and population and is known for having a relatively low cost of living. I think you can rent and buy a home there for a lot less than say downtown or the more affluent suburbs to the south such as Littleton or Highlands Ranch.

The largest employer in Lakewood is the government , many many people work at the Federal Center, the school district or the City of Lakewood. There are also a lot of people who work in healthcare and commute the short distance into Denver to work at the many tech companies around the metro area.