&gt; The issue I have with it is the 3 hour drive to a city of any size.<p>Yeah, that&#x27;s a dealbreaker for some people.  I don&#x27;t mind much - my wife wouldn&#x27;t mind being a bit closer to somewhere larger.<p>On the other hand, I live 10 minutes by bike from work and pay 1000 less a month than I would have for something further out from downtown Boulder.  So we only have one car, rather than two, resulting in more savings.<p>I could easily imagine living in Boulder if I were younger and wanted a more outdoorsy alternative to the bay area - there is a <i>lot</i> of tech stuff going on there.