Yes.
Thank you for reading.
Just kidding, but that’s my view, and the view of tens of thousands of others who feel that our combination of sunny weather, safe streets, outdoor recreation opportunities, relatively affordable housing, a good economy, and lack of natural disasters make Grand Junction, Colorado a great place to live.
I’ve lived here since the 80’s, so I’m biased, but here I’ll give you the good (and bad), about living here in Grand Junction, and why you may eventually think so too.
Living in Grand Junction
If you value open spaces, an outdoor lifestyle, a friendly smaller-city vibe, and generally lower housing costs than the front range (Denver/Boulder/Colorado Springs/Ft. Collings), Grand Junction offers you a great opportunity to relocate to a place that is still a little under the radar.
We don’t make national news much, and most of those “Best Places to Live” rankings you’ll find in East Coast based magazines leave us out.
And we’re perfectly fine with that.
A Quick Introduction to the Place
Grand Junction is located in the far western part of Colorado’s Western Slope, just around 30 miles from the Utah border. We have just over 71,000 residents in town, but 132,000 thousand people when counting adjoining towns of Fruita and Palisade, which are all sort of connected.
We’re the population and economic hub of Mesa County and we serve as the gateway to the Grand Mesa, Colorado National Monument, and countless outdoor activities. People wanting to visit everything from Aspen to Canyonlands National Park often fly in to Grand Junction Regional Airport to start their travels.
The city mixes small-city convenience with easy access to big outdoor playgrounds — the arches in Moab and slopes of Vail are both under two hours away.
Things people love about living in Grand Junction
Outdoor opportunities
They are hard to beat, and it’s hard to imagine any other place offering more variety. You can glance to your right and see the bright red rocks of the Colorado National Monument and picture yourself in a hot desert, but then glance to your left and see snow atop a 10,000 foot mesa.
You can be riding on a singletrack, or soaring down a black diamond ski run, rafting on a river, or taking in a beautiful desert hike, all within minutes of town. The dry climate and lots of sunshine make year-round outdoor plans realistic. I’ve played golf every month of the year. And have hit a neighboring house with my sliced drive, every month of the year.
Some here in town talk about the fun challenge of skiing in the morning, and playing golf in the afternoon. You can do that here in Grand Junction.
Lower cost of living
Groceries, gas, utilities and more all seem reasonable, when compared to larger cities elsewhere. Whenever my family and I travel somewhere, I also get a little sticker shock at prices elsewhere, especially when seeing California gas prices.
Colorado housing prices are significantly higher than national averages, but compared to Front Range metro areas, Grand Junction’s median home prices and rents have always been lower than Denver, Boulder and other Front Range cities.
As a former Realtor, I’ve had many clients who were able to sell their pricey home in Denver, or California, and then pay cash for something more affordable here.
Community & Events.
I realize every single town in the United States has local events, but it seems obligatory to post ours here as a selling point. Besides, nobody else has a festival that honors a headless chicken. And no, I am not making that up.
Grand Junction has a lively calendar of local events that give the city a small-town, neighborly feel and ensure there’s no excuse for you to be bored.
Like the weekly farmers markets, for example. All three communities, (GJ, Fruita and Palisade) host them seasonally.
Bigger events include the annual Junior College World Series of Baseball, the Colorado Mountain Winefest in September, the Palisade Peach Fest, the aforementioned Mike the Headless Chicken Festival, the Grand Junction Parade of Lights in December, along with concerts, theater, and football/basketball/baseball games at our hometown college, Colorado Mesa University.
Weather
Grand Junction has a semi-arid climate: lots of sunny days, hot, dry summers, and winters that are shorter and milder than our mountain town neighbors to the east (Vail, Telluride, etc.).
Sure, there are parts of January that are bleak and gray and seem to go on forever, (the average high temperature is 38 degrees), but overall we have mild temperatures and the oft-quoted 300 days of sunshine per year, although other sources state it at 250 days.
Annual precipitation is low (around nine inches on average) and snowfall is modest compared to mountain towns. The snow we do get, usually doesn’t stay around too long, (sometimes melting by the afternoon).
(Related: Elevation of Palisade, Colorado)
You can expect hot summer days (sometimes a string of 100 degree days), and cool desert nights. We’re the anti-Seattle: lots of sun, not much rain, and minimal gray.
Safety & Crime
FBI statistics show what Grand Junction ranks lower than national averages in car thefts, and burglary. However we are above national medians in overall violent crime.
The assaults, beatings and few killings we do have most often seem to involve drug-related cases, and/or homeless people, which may skew the results. Crime stat websites do not break-down crime results involving employed, non-drug-using, people with homes, who do not party at 2:52 AM in strange areas, but I imagine it’s statistically negligible.
I’ve lived here forever and feel safe walking anywhere. In the past five years we’ve had 3 murders that were committed by a perpetrator who did not know the victim (and one of these involved a homeless person). So historically, your odds of being the victim of a random crime in Grand Junction are extremely low.
Housing
Housing is affordable here, says the guy with the 2.75% mortgage he got years ago.
While rents on some apartments here shock me with their monthly costs, we’re a pro-development community, with a seemingly constant stream of new apartments, townhomes and homes sprouting up – all of which help increase inventory and keep home prices and rents lower than other parts of Colorado.
According to an report aired on KKCO, Grand Junction ranks 11th in the United States, for affordable housing in the category of small metro areas.
Per late 2025 reports from the Colorado Association of Realtors, the median sales price for a single family home in Mesa County is $435,000. For a condo/townhome, it’s $310,000. Listings from the Grand Junction Area Realtor Association show median list prices in the mid-$400k range as well.
Over the years Grand Junction has seen steady appreciation in home values, meaning a home purchase here has traditionally been an excellent investment.
Looking to rent instead? Zillow’s latest shows the average rent for an apartment or condo in Grand Junction to be $1,471 per month.
Traffic
Or lack thereof.
Whenever I visit Denver, it makes me appreciate the ease of driving in Grand Junction.
Although we are growing, it’s easy to get almost anywhere in town with 10 to 15 minutes.
Natural Disasters
We’re one of the safest towns in the United States.
You may think I’m just trying to sell you on the place, however a few years ago, Sperling’s Best Places to live ranked Grand Junction as the 5th (out of 379 towns in the U.S.), safest place in terms of weather and natural disasters.
We don’t make it on the Weather Channel. To my knowledge, (living here since 1982), we’ve never had tornado damage or deaths. We’ve never had an earthquake (that caused damage). We obviously never have to deal with hurricanes.
The only weather/natural disaster risks ever mentioned about Grand Junction revolve around flooding and wildfires, however we really don’t have any homes near the river, nor do homes border a forest.
In terms of natural disasters, I can’t imagine a safer place than Western Colorado.
Jobs and economy
Grand Junction’s economy is pretty diversified, with the major employers being the school district, Colorado Mesa University, other government agencies, along with our two big regional hospitals. Gas and oil development aren’t as big as they once were, but still employ many, as do services related to agriculture (grapes and peaches especially), our airport and tourism.
Schools & Families
Mesa County schools include a mix of district and charter options, including some private Christian schools.
As with every other town in the country, school quality varies by neighborhood. If a high-ranking school for your child is a priority, you’ll find it. We have four public high schools in the Grand Valley, and other charter high school.
The city’s family-oriented events, sports leagues, parks, and recreation departments (we’re getting a huge new community rec center in 2026), are a plus for families.
Reasons Why Grand Junction is Not a Good Place to Live
If you move here, it will cause more traffic and will take longer for me to pick up my son from little league practice.
More seriously, we have very hot summers and drug-related crime in some bad parts of Clifton (the unincorporated town just east of Grand Junction).
Another downside for some people is our isolation.
If you want the big city experience of national touring Broadway shows, big shopping malls or sporting events, it’s a four hour drive across the Continental Divide to Denver, (and around a four hour drive west to Salt Lake City). Your friends and family from big towns will accuse you of living “in the middle of nowhere.” They will be right.
Bottom line
Grand Junction, Colorado is a Nice Place to Live
It’s just one opinion, but USA Today Homefront says that out of the 22 Colorado towns they reviewed, Grand Junction is the best place to relocate (source: Axios).
My uncle has always said that Grand Junction is in between a small town and big city, with enough to do to not get bored, but not too big to be stressful. And as a long time local, I’d have to agree.
(By Steve Beauregard. Photos copyright GJFruita.com)