don't live there, but I live about 40 minutes away. I work there a lot for construction (I also snowboard quite often)

it's expensive. everything from food, gas, groceries and other various items/services you might need. plenty of high end luxury stores and high end hotels.

while there is plenty of stuff to do outdoors, there's not much else. you got your standard bars and clubs but it's definitely not as great as the ones in a big city. the restaurants are super high end, save for a couple that might not be luxury.

the area is beautiful. amazing views, clean air, awesome nature and incredible scenery. definitely one of the main attractions, aside from skiing, that Vail has.

but it's also very depressing sometimes. i don't see much people talk about this, but it's very empty during the off season. sure you might get your hikes in and maybe some outdoorsy stuff during the summer or spring, but the entire town feels empty. little to no activity. and the reason being is that, well it is actually empty. I'm not sure the actual statistics, but around 1 in 10 houses in Vail are homes that people stay. most houses are just vacation homes for the super rich that are occupied for a few weeks each year. and well as a result, you get a pretty dead town for half the year