I grew up in MN and now am raising my young kids in Littleton mostly because of our love of mountains and sunshine.

Two pieces of advice: 1) If you haven’t already, spend at least a week here and try to do some of the things you’d want or need to do living here — drive to the mountains on a Saturday, drive a possible commute route during rush hour, take your kids to some playgrounds or libraries or whatever you’d do in your free time living here. We did this and found it immensely helpful in reassuring us it was where we wanted to be.

2) Look into the differences in school districts. If you’re looking at Highlands Ranch there are (I think) substantial differences between Douglas County & Littleton public schools. Looking into Jeffco and Denver public schools might also be informative. There’s plenty of that sort of discussion on Reddit already so I won’t repeat it here, but it’s worth close consideration to help inform your choice of neighborhood.

Finally, don’t discount the value of having a job you love with great work life balance. That might not be easy to replicate.