Why Denver Is Perfect For Your Family

 
US News & World Report lists Denver as the third best place to live in the U.S., and we’d like to add that it’s also the best place to raise a family. City ranking sites like Niche.com continually list Denver as a top city to raise a family and the mile-high city definitely deserves that distinction. Denver is a bustling metropolitan city surrounded by serene suburbs nestled in the shadow of the beautiful Rockies. You can eat, dine, shop, play, hike, and snowboard all in the same day. Plus, the medium home price of $421,500 in the Denver area can’t be beat, considering that access to culture, nature, and city-life is all within reach.
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           Families love Denver because there’s always something to do. Take the kids to the Denver Zoo, which is modeled after a Kenyan nature preserve or to a Colorado Rockies baseball game at Coors Field. Parents love the Denver Art Museum, a sleek ultra-modern complex featuring classical and contemporary art, but take their little ones to the Children’s Museum of Denver for fun, interactive exhibits. Other fun outings in Denver that are great for kids are the Elich Gardens Theme and Water Park, the Downtown Aquarium, and Dinosaur Ridge, which is a short drive from the city, but you can touch the bones of Allosaurus and Stegosaurus where they were originally discovered in the late 1800s. If you want to save some money, take a stroll through Washington Park in the summer — which boasts several gardens, jogging paths, two lakes, paddle boats, and a rec center — or take the family on a hike through Red Rocks Park. 
Your teens will have fun hanging out at 16th Street mall, which is an outdoor mall filled with shops, restaurants, and a movie theater. At night, the whole family can take a ride in a horse-drawn carriage up and down the busy street. Your kids might also like the 50,000-square-foot Denver Skatepark, which is free and even fun for parents to do some people watching. 
If you’re looking for good date night options, head over to Larimer Square for upscale dining and drinks in a historic part of the downtown. Or parents can get a sitter and try one of Denver’s many breweries (like the legendary Coors Brewery) or try one of the city’s fun walking brewery tours. 
Denver is a beautiful city to live in if you want to experience all that the changing seasons have to offer. The summers are warm and dry which many Denverites spend in the parks or at the Denver Botanic Garden, and the winters bring such gorgeous snowfalls that many families like to go snowtubing — with snow tubing and sledding areas just an hour and half drive from the city center.  
The schools in Denver are fantastic, no matter what age your child is. Denver Public Schools offer preschool programs to three and four-year-olds, but if you need childcare options for your infants and toddlers, there are plenty of private preschools to choose in Denver. For example, The Cadence Academy has five locations across Colorado and will enroll children as young as six weeks old. Expertise.com noted that Denver has 135 preschools, so you’ll have no trouble finding one you love. As far as K-12 is concerned, Denver has everything from private religious schools, to art schools, to public schools with Gifted and Talented programs, plus a variety of private and charter schools all over the Denver area. 
We mentioned the median Denver home price above, but if you move out to the surrounding suburbs, the average price of a home drops. Suburbs like Centennial have homes in the mid $200,000s, the medium home price in the neighborhood of Montebello is $304,600, but Windsor is perhaps the most affordable suburb and has more condo options than any of the other neighborhoods. 
Denver is a diverse, progressive city surrounded by beautiful suburbs which makes it the perfect place to start a family. With a variety of outdoor activities to suit anyone in your brood, a wide range of schooling options, and affordable home prices — we can’t think of a better place for your family. 

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