Westminster

I like living in Westminster for a variety of reasons and ultimately chose to buy my first home in this city a few years ago. Westminster has a great location and also has quality amenities for people in the community. It is a nice area for first time homebuyers to investigate because of the reasonable home prices and taxes.

Westminster is basically right in the middle of Denver and Boulder, and you can reach either in about 20 minutes by car. If you are like me and enjoy visiting the city, but don't necessarily want to live downtown, Westminster is a good option for you. I like that I can quickly get to either Denver or Boulder, and take advantage of what both cities have to offer.

Another bonus with Westminster's location is that you have really easy access to the mountains and many ski resorts. Just take a common route of Wadsworth to I-70 westbound and you are on your way! You can make it to Loveland Ski Area in just about an hour from that location, and get to Winter Park or Keystone in about an hour and a half. You can reach Vail in about two hours. This is all dependent on traffic and weather conditions of course.

Inside city limits you have lots of shopping, grocery, gas, and restaurant options close at hand. Overall options are a little limited compared to larger cities, but you can usually find what you want or need. You are less than an hour to DIA and also have the Jefferson County Airport just over the border in Broomfield.

When visiting Westminster you'll also find that they have great amenities for residents and guests. The Westminster Rec Center is a great facility and our family has spent may days there swimming in the pool and working out in the fitness areas. The attached City Park is huge and has a playground, a frisbee golf course, soccer fields, baseball fields and walking trails. Standley Lake is another great park for hiking, fishing, boating, camping and also catching some killer views of the Front Range. There are all sorts of walking trails and parks scattered throughout the city as well.

Westminster is about half way between Boulder and Denver. The northwest suburb of Denver has over 100,000 residents and it is a big area with many neighborhoods, business areas, churches, shopping areas and schools.

The big red building known as the Westminster Castle is the historic Westminster University that was founded in the first few years of the 1900's. Today the beautiful building and campus houses Belleview Christian Schools. This building is visible from most of Westminster and the surrounding suburbs and highways. The Christian religion past of the area gives the suburb its name. Prior to the white folk, the Arapahoe indians inhabited the area now known as Westminster.

The average household income for Westminster is about $55,000. There is a huge range of homes and neighborhoods. There are trailer parks (some pretty nice) and many many apartment complexes in the city. There are super high end new and old properties and that vast majority of the neighborhoods are good old fashioned 1970 brick ranch style homes. The middle class is prominent in the city.

Looking at the school district there are no less than 8 high schools, not even including the many private schools. I can only imagine if there are 8 public high schools there must be dozens of elementary schools. The area is also famous for its many little lakes and the vast network of open space trails for walking and biking. The area has really really grown in the last couple decades and the public bus system and recreation has been well planned.

Typical homes, middle class homes in Westminster go for about $200--$400,000. This is a great place to live for families moving out to Colorado who need to me close to Denver or Boulder or DIA but do not want to pay to live in Boulder or be downtown.

I have lived in Westminster for over two years. Growing up in Arvada, I was adamant to never return to the area (teen angst) nor even close to Jefferson County. After living in Denver for around 12 years and as my wife and I started to have school-aged children, we started to look elsewhere. We decided to plant our roots in Westminster not only because of its convenience to getting to two of our favorite local cities (Boulder and Denver) but also because of its overall lifestyle. Westminster has done an amazing job retaining trails and open spaces while smartly managing its growth. During a jog or a bike ride on any of its trails (Big dry creek is my favorite), you will definitely cross paths with many people always willing to smile and wave as you pass. Coming from Denver, our biggest negative is the lack of unique (non-chain) type of restaurants. Our hope is that when the new Westminster mall is developed near 88th and Sheridan, that new and exciting restaurants will also follow (as can be found in similar places like Belmar). And even though the Northwest portion of Fastracks has been a major disappointment for many of us in the northwest area, the last stop (for the foreseeable future) is going to be near church ranch (104th) and highway 36. It will be fantastic to ride the trains into Denver to go see the nuggets, broncos, etc or to escape the chain type of restaurants and enjoy one of Denver's dining establishments. I love being able to enjoy the amenities of Denver/Boulder while not having to worry higher cost of buying/renting a home there. Schools are a bit of a mixed bag but most school districts face this obstacle as well. We were fortunate to enroll our kids at Jefferson Academy (a local charter school) which has been ranking as one of the top schools in the state. Feel free to contact me with any other questions/concerns or follow-ups.