Aurora : Colorado

Aurora is a very large suburb east of Denver with a population of 325,078. It is the third largest city in Colorado. Residents here enjoy proximity to Denver's cultural scene and access to outdoor recreation venues.  Picture of Buckley Air Force Base courtesy of Wikipedia and Recondog.

There are a large number of new housing developments, particularly in the southeastern area of town and surrounding suburbs such as Centennial. Many are active adult, while others are open to people of all ages. See active communities link at right. The median selling price of a home in Aurora was about $260,000 in late 2014, according to City-data.com.  Zillow reports the median price to be lower at $238,600 in late 2015.

Aurora's convenient proximity to Denver is one of its major draws. The availability of affordable housing is its other best feature as well as its proximity to Denver International Airport.

As a bedroom community for Denver, Aurora is not exactly a world-class dining or tourist attraction. Comprised mainly of unattractive strip malls, unchecked suburban sprawl, and drab, uninspired civic architecture, it is a repository for all things mediocre and unappealing that you would expect to find in such a setting.

Anyone who enjoys outdoors sports, particularly snow sports, would enjoy retiring in Aurora. It has many nice housing developments, particularly in the SE part of town. The Philip Anschutz Medical Complex in North Aurora is a well-intentioned effort to improve that area of town; however, it would be fair to say that north Aurora is still not suitable for retirees except for the burgeoning communities of Northfield and Stapleton that are good examples of the effort towards community revival and redevelopment in that area. The SE part of town offers a more country atmosphere with many newer developments with horse property attached and zoning requirements to match.

The local economy is primarily driven by Buckley Air Force Base, Raytheon Corporation, and the Anschutz Medical Complex, are major area employers. The nearby Denver Tech Center is also home to major employers in the broadcast media industry such as Comcast, DirectTV, Dish Satellite, and Starz Entertaiment.

Aurora sits on the eastern plain at an altitude slightly higher than Denver. As such, it is prone to violent summer thunderstorms, winter blizzards, and the occasional funnel cloud, weather phenomena that are more common farther east in Kansas and Nebraska. Winter temperatures rarely drop below zero degrees. Summer temperatures can be very hot with stretches of 90+ or 100+ degrees, but the excessive heat is usually mitigated by afternoon clouds and thunderstorms. Winds can be fierce and strong, especially during the spring snow season, creating blizzard-like conditions, but this is not a frequent occurrence.

Dominated by fast food and national restaurant chains.