Cool City Showdown: Boulder Colorado vs. Santa Clarita, California

I left Boulder in 1985, and never looked back. The cold, slushy winters, unrelenting hipster vibe coupled with my increasingly lousy college grades to point me towards greener pastures. So I moved 40 miles or so northeast, to Fort Collins, and there was much rejoicing. That town was more grounded, and every bit as eclectic. Fort Collins remains one of the best places in the entire country to live, especially to raise a family. But it got me thinking: why do I still see Boulder trotted out as more of a focal point of Colorado, and not Fort Collins? Did I make a mistake leaving?

Now I live in Santa Clarita. Awesometown. I've lived here for 20 years, and watched it grow like a weed. I hesitate to ever use that phrase that probably coined by some PR company 10 years ago, as it seems just a little too boastful, even when it's absolutely true. Santa Clarita is now the 3rd largest city in L.A. County, larger than more famous cities such as Burbank, Glendale or Pasadena. Colorado and California are two of your better places to settle down. I know a dozen people who moved from Colorado to Cali, stayed awhile, but then high-tailed it back to Colorado, never to return, even as a tourist. Los Angeles has that effect on people. But Santa Clarita is NOT L.A., just as Boulder is NOT Denver. I know both cities pretty well, though Fort Collins is undoubtedly growing and changing quicker than the other two combined.

So, if Boulder remains the coolest city in Colorado, is it a better place to live than my new cool spot?
Let's dig in....

Scenery

 In the video below, which city are you looking at? There's mountains, there's even buffalo grazing....

Alright.. That is not Boulder. But...

The initially shaky and jarring video above,

(hey, you do a 360 degree shot in under 60 seconds.. time is money, people!)

and photo below are shot exactly one mile from my doorstep.

 I can walk 1 mile in 3 directions, and hit absolutely gorgeous hiking trails.

I have to drive at least 5 or 6 miles in Boulder....

 The Score:  SC:1 BLDR: 0

If the citizens of Stevenson Ranch would bust out a camera and take a picture of their own flatirons, I'd have an excellent photo to give you a side by side of... But trust me, these are an absolute clone of Boulder's famed Flatirons.

Quick.. Colorado... is this the front range?

Santa Clarita

Boulder

Boulder gets 4 full seasons, including SNOW. Point: Boulder

Score: SC: 1 - Boulder:1

Biking:

Boulder was a biking hotspot even back in the 1980's.. It was ahead of its time in a lot of ways. I was raised on hamburgers and lasagna, Imagine my shock when I rolled into Boulder as a freshman at C.U. to find a falafel shop and a yoga studio..Those things have only recently made it into the mainstream. Bike paths don't really exist in Boulder. You have to ride in the street, in your own "special lanes" and pray you don't get run over by someone who is fed up sharing the road with you.

I know Boulder has tons of bike trails, but...

Santa Clarita has Paseos...

 In 2007, the League of American Bicyclists awarded Santa Clarita its "bronze" designation

as a "bicycle friendly community." Santa Clarita was picked to be the end of Stage 6 in the AMGEN Tour in Calif.

 Score: SC 2  Boulder: 1

Okay.. Some quicker comparisons:

Collegiate Sports:

Boulder has a BIG school, and football team. CU.

SC only  has College of the Canyons.

Point: Boulder. Score 2-2 (Incidentally, that was probably the score at the last CU game...)

Nightlife: 

Boulder has The Hill, and Pearl Street Mall.

Santa Clarita has Old Town Newhall and Valencia Town Center.

Point: Boulder... Pearl Street is a thing of beauty.. 

Score: Boulder: 3 SC: 2

Housing:

Boulder: Estimated median house or condo value in 2012: $477,200 

Santa C: Estimated median house or condo value in 2012: $360,600

Point SC.. We know both towns have gone UP since then.

Boulder has a STRICT slow growth policy that drives up the price of housing.

Score 3-3.

Income:

SC Estimated median household income in 2012: $78,894 

Boulder Estimated median household income in 2012: $56,274

Score: SC: 4  Boulder: 3

Education:

Santa Clarita: 

Bachelor's degree or higher: 32.8%

Graduate or professional degree: 10.5%

Boulder:

Bachelor's degree or higher: 71.6%

Graduate or professional degree: 36.7%

Point: Boulder.. Score Tied 4-4

Famous Townsfolk

Santa Clarita:

Taylor Lautner (Twilight Trilogy)

Shane Vareen (New England Patriots)

Naya Rivera (Glee)  all attended Valencia High School.

Tim Burton: Film director

Dee Dee Myers: Former White House Press Secretary

Ashley Tisdale: Actress

Boulder:

Dick Anderson (former Miami Dolphins )

Steve Ells, founder and CEO of the Chipotle restaurant chain

Joan Van Ark  (Knots Landing)

Hale Irwin (Golfer)

Point: Boulder (I hated the Twilight hoopla)  
Score: Boulder: 5  SC:4

Industry

The Boulder MSA had a gross metropolitan product of $18.3 billion in 2010,
the 110th largest metropolitan economy in the United States.

In 2007, Boulder became the first city in the USA to levy a carbon tax. (Boo!!)

In 2013, Boulder appeared on Forbes magazine's list of Best Places for Business and Careers.

Santa Clarita is home to over 20 soundstages, approximately a dozen movie ranch/backlots, and numerous production-related businesses that generate dozens of movies, music videos, television shows and commercials annually. In 2006 CNN/Money Magazine rated Santa Clarita the number one best place to live in California and number 18 nationally. Santa Clarita has an estimated gross metro product around $12 billion. It is home to Six Flags Magic Mountian, and Princess Cruises, the 2 largest private employers in the city.
Score: Boulder 6  SC: 4

Crime
Crime Index for Boulder 189.4
Crime Index for Santa Clarita 140.0
(Santa Clarita ranked 3rd safest in COUNTRY)
U.S. Avg. 301.1
Score: Boulder: 6  SC: 5

Wallethub Ranking Based on These Factors:
Median Income, Housing Affordability, Job Growth, Economic Progress, Commute Times, Credit Scores, Reported 'Well-Bieng'
Santa Clarita: 28
Boulder : Not Ranked  (Denver ranked 31)
Score Tied.. 6-6

Distance to the Ocean: 
Santa Clarita: Approx.30 miles -  1 hour by car.
Boulder: 1030 miles - 2 DAYS by car.
Score: SC: 7  Boulder: 6

Distance To Decent Ski Slopes:
Santa Clarita: 80 Mins by car (Snow Summit)
Boulder: 50 Mins by car ( Lake Eldora)
Score: Tied 7-7

Prestigious Universities:
Santa Clarita:
In 2011, Newsweek ranked CalArts as the nation's number one college for students in the arts.
The L.A. Times called CalArts:
 "The Harvard Business School of Animation".

Boulder:
 Eleven Nobel Laureates, nine MacArthur Fellows, and 18 astronauts have been affiliated
 with CU-Boulder as students, researchers, or faculty members in its history.

Score: Remains Tied 7-7

Another aggregator of factoids, livability.com has been enlisted to break this tie......

Santa Clarita is the winner!!

I kinda knew it all along, the day that I looked around on my hike and thought

"This is where I want to be."