Cortez was ranked No. 8 in a Top 10 list of the worst places to live in Colorado, according to Durham, N.C.-based \u201cinfotainment\u201d Roadsnacks.net.<\/p>\n
The website, which claims it \u201cused science to determine which cities in Colorado are the real pits,\u201d ranked Pueblo as the worst, followed by Delta, Alamosa, Montrose, Trinidad, Grand Junction, Stratmoor, Cortez, La Junta and Greeley.<\/p>\n
Roadsnacks analyzed 103 cities in Colorado with a population over 5,000, using census data, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Sperling\u2019s Best Places and FBI data. The site then analyzed population density, unemployment, home values, adjusted median income and education to rank the cities.<\/p>\n
The author cited 6.8 percent unemployment and $34,000 median income as two compelling reasons to list Cortez.<\/p>\n
\u201cCortez has a Walmart Supercenter and an airport, but that\u2019s where the excitement level ends. It\u2019s out in the middle of nowhere in southwest Colorado. So even if Cortez residents had disposable incomes, there wouldn\u2019t be much for them to spend their money on. Except weed maybe?\u201d wrote the author, Nick Johnson.<\/p>\n
The post raised the ire of several online commenters who bashed its \u201cscientific\u201d methodology and wrote that the data don\u2019t paint the whole picture.<\/p>\n
\u201cCortez CO my home for the last 20+ years. Yes, rural, but a slice of heaven. \u2026 We are home to Mesa Verde National Park, Canyon of the Ancients. We are very rich with our cultural area that draws people from all over the world. A short drive from downtown Cortez, you can be high on the top of mountains or go a short in a different direction and you are in the desert southwest,\u201d said one.<\/p>\n
The site named Stonegate, Columbine, Highlands Ranch, Castle Pines, Louisville, Superior, Ken Caryl, Erie, Parker and Eagle as the best places to live.<\/p>\n
\u201cWestern Colorado is uniquely Western Colorado, and I don\u2019t think you can compare this region to the metropolitan areas to our east,\u201d said Kinsey Ertel, president of Cortez Chamber of Commerce board.<\/p>\n
\u201cCortez holds many treasures for those that are lured to the outdoors; we don\u2019t have traffic issues, and Cortez is a safe place to live and raise a family,\u201d Ertel said. \u201cThe joys of living here are a simple, easy and less stress-filled life. There\u2019s no place I\u2019d rather live.\u201d<\/p>\n
To view the rankings, visit: roadsnacks.net\/worst-places-to-live-in-colorado\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cortez makes list of Colorado\u2019s least desirable towns<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[13],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-111106","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111106","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111106"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=111106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}