I lived in Aurora, CO for 4 years...loved it. Littleton and Aurora are suburbs just south of Denver. The climate there is great, sunny probably 300 days of the year, even when it's snowing The summers are hot, but not steamy, rather dry. And, the saying goes...if you don't like the weather when you wake up, give it a few hours, cause it'll probably change. The mountains are beautiful. I didn't find it any more or less expensive than any of the other big cities I've lived in (Toronto, Tampa). When we lived there, (late 90's)we lived on just my husband's salary (mid-30's). I'm sure it's probably cheaper to live outside the "city". It's not about how much money you make, it's what you do with it!