I retired here from socal 5 years ago and used to go up to central cal and the Bay Area frequently for work. I usually drove so, I'm somewhat familiar with your area in a general sense. I'm located up the pass from Colorado Springs in the Rockies. Housing in Colorado is not unlike it is in many states, the closer you are to a large metro area, the more costly housing in. I'm down in the Springs several times a week and up to Denver several teams me a month. Traffic in Denver is not nearly as bad socal but will be considerably more than you are used to. Are you locked in to living in the Denver metro area or are you willing to commute at all. The further south you go, the cheaper housing will be. Considerable more house for the money can be had in Castle Rock, Monument and The northern end of Colorado Springs. Same goes for rents. Commuting vs affordable housing is individual choice but, I suggest you at least take it into consideration. Not to get into politics per se, Denver metro is much more liberal, as you go south or, outside the Denver metro, its more considerably more conservative. Colorado is a low service, low tax state compared to CA. State income tax is a flat tax around 4.6%. A good site to help compare costs to your current home is Sperling's. You plug in the cities and you can find all sorts of comparative info. Hope this helps. /end wall of words