I have had several friends and a few family members move to Denver recently, their reasoning being there are more opportunities in a larger city.

More opportunities? Yeah, maybe so, but what will it cost for you to take advantage of those opportunities should you decide to move to Denver, or anywhere else for that matter?

I've found a Cost of Living Calculator that takes you from where you are now and shows you how much different the cost of living is in another city. For discussion purposes I used Denver.

First, the cost of living is lower here by five percent. In other words, you would need to make $66,288 in Denver to have the same standard of living $62,697 provides in Grand Junction.

But what goes into all of that? Let's look.

Living Expenses

No matter where you live, you need food, your car needs gas and you need to plan for other expenses as well, like entertainment. Some of these things, with a little searching, you may find in Denver that will cost you around the same or maybe a little less than what you pay here. A search worth taking for sure.

Housing

This right here is what will cost you a lot more in Denver than it does in Grand Junction. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Denver is around $1,720 per month where Grand Junction, it will run you around $870.

Income

Generally speaking, a job in Denver pays more than the same job in Grand Junction, for the reasons we already stated. But the dollar doesn't go nearly as far. And the competition for those jobs is more intense.

Growth

Colorado continues to see an influx of people, having grown 6.5% in a four year period between 2010 and 2014. The more people that move to Colorado, the more things will cost. While we're not saying moving to Denver, or any other large city would be a bad idea. Just make sure if it's a move you are set on making that you plan accordingly.

Make sure you know the employment you are going to pays enough to cover all of the increases in charges you are going to see. Put together a comprehensive budget and stick to it.

Living in a big city as a lot of advantages, if you know how to take advantage of them.

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