Denver is a hip, booming, picture-perfect metropolis which truly has it all! Not only are the majestic Rocky Mountains at our fingertips, but we’ve also got a burgeoning food scene, incredible nightlife, successful sports teams, amazing parks, and fascinating attractions that keep us entertained year-round. When it comes to beauty, affordability, the job market, and quality of life, the Mile High City is simply crushing it! Here are 20 (more) reasons you should be proud of Denver!

1. Denver ranked #1 on Forbes' 2015 List of the Best Places for Businesses and Careers.
Flickr/Thomas Hawk
Forbes called Denver a "distribution hub for the American West, while also supporting a number of growing industries in technology and telecommunications." We also ranked #16 in Job Growth and #20 in Education, with an unemployment rate of only 3.8%. Onward and upward, Denverites!
2. According to Forbes, "Denver has gained a reputation as being a very active, outdoor oriented city."
Flickr/Zach Dischner
I concur. For many (or most) of us, it's why we live here. As Thoreau said, "I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life!"
3. We've got a rich cultural history that began with our founding in 1858 during the Pike's Peak Gold Rush.
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia
Pictured here are prospectors in what was then the "Pike's Peak" region of western Kansas Territory, which is now the state of Colorado. (ca. 1858)
4. We've always been proud of our frontier roots, as made evident by this image of the infamous "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" show circa 1890.
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia
5. And we continue to celebrate our legendary Old West heritage with the annual National Western Stock Show, Rodeo, and Parade.
Flickr/reid.neureiter
The National Western Stock Show is one of the world's premier spectacles celebrating the history and culture of the West. For more than 100 years, visitors from across the country have flocked to Denver to see over 15,000 animals, rodeo performances, bull-riding competitions, barrel racing, and more. This year's stock show marked the second-highest attendance in history with 686,745 visitors!
6. Denver's independent art and music scene is hands-down one of the best in the country and has been thriving since cowboys picked tunes around the campfire.
Flickr/duluoz cats
7. Seriously though...we were country, when country wasn't cool.
Flickr/Max Sparber
Pictured is the album cover from Timothy P. and Rural Route 3's "Hot on the Trail," recorded in Denver in 1981.
8. We Denverites have always marched to the beat of our own drum.
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia
Denver native Neal Cassady, a legendary hero of the Beat Generation, and cronies Jack Kerouac (seen here) and Allen Ginsberg used to frequent Mile High haunts like My Brother's Bar, where you can still eat and drink in the very same spot where they notoriously shattered cultural ta-booze.
9. The quality of life in Denver is unmatched, but chances are, on the weekends you'll find us in the mountains of the Front Range...
Flickr/Andrew Magill
10. Ahhh, mountains...
Flickr/Zach Dischner

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11. Or biking the canyonlands of Moab...
Flickr/Zach Dischner
12. Or climbing the Via Ferrata in Telluride...
Photo by Reid Phillips
13. Or just lolling about right here at home in the magnificent Mile High City
Flickr/Matt Santodemarco
"When you're alone and life is making you lonely. You can always go downtown."
14. Speaking of mile high: Our State Capitol is better than yours!
Flickr/David Grant
The Colorado State Capitol sits exactly one mile high, was constructed in the 1890s using Colorado white granite, and has a dome which contains a fresh gold-leafing with "65 ounces of .999 pure gold that was mined in Colorado, hammered into gold leaf in Florence, Italy, and applied in 2013."
15. And the building is just as marvelous from the inside, with its breathtaking rotunda dome, rare Colorado rose onyx, and white yule marble from Colorado quarries.
Flickr/Photo Phiend
16. Did you know the Denver Performing Arts Complex is the 2nd largest performing arts center in the nation after NYC's Lincoln Center? Culture game strong!
Flickr/Geoff Livingston
17. What was it we were saying about quality of life?
Flickr/Matt Santomarco
18. Oh, that's right, Denver ranked #1 on U.S. News and World Report's 2016 Best Places to Live!
Flickr/Larry Johnson
19. Yep, we live out loud and in color.
Flickr/Casey Reynolds
20. "Now if you're wonderin', what I think of it all...
Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia
...Just read the back of this postcard."

I’m sure happy to call the Mile High home! Now we want to hear from you! Tell us all of the reasons you’re proud of Denver in the comments below.

 

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