NEW YORK (MONEY Magazine) - Denver was born during the Gold Rush in 1859 -- flakes of the precious metal were discovered in 1858 near where midtown is today -- and boomed again during the telecom gold rush of the 1990s.

Best places to live around Denver Washington Park Lakewood Colorado Springs City stats Denver

During those years, the city went from sleepy to enormous: Its population has grown by 22 percent since 1990, and the surrounding suburbs have expanded even more rapidly. Yet when you're in Denver, it's still easy to feel that you're in a small town. It's a casual city, in attitude as well as apparel, with 650 miles of bike paths.

Historic Larimer Street

Washington Park, a favorite neighborhood for young professionals, is surrounded by Victorian homes and Craftsman bungalows, many of which retain their original look.

"In some neighborhoods, the bungalows are 'pop-tops'," says lifelong Denver resident Kevin McCorry, referring to houses whose original roofs have been removed to add a new floor. McCorry just bought a Washington Park home, complete with its original tiger oak flooring, for $433,000. "Here people want to preserve the architecture," he says. Washington Park is just two miles from Lower Downtown (LoDo), a district packed with restaurants, clubs and microbreweries.

Outside city limits, the choicest spots depend on a) where you work and b) how much you love skiing. Skiers want to live west of Denver so they don't have to brave city traffic to hit the slopes. That's one reason why consultant Bill Decker chose Lakewood over better-known suburbs like Littleton.

The other: Unlike much of the rapidly expanding Denver area, Decker says, older parts of Lakewood have winding streets and mature trees, plus a high water table that's conducive to green vegetation, a major plus in arid Colorado. A three-bedroom home averages about $225,000.

Colorado Springs, a city that itself ranks No. 10 on our popularity table, isn't exactly part of suburban Denver. (It's just over an hour south when Interstate 25 is clear.) But it has largely shared in Denver's telecom- and tech-driven economic fate.

Recent layoffs in those sectors have weakened high-end real estate prices; but the city is also home to an Olympic Training Center as well as military and aerospace facilities, and financial services firms have started to move into the rejuvenated downtown.

The best neighborhoods tend to be in the north, like Briargate, a large community developed in the '70s. Part of Colorado Springs' prestigious School District 20, Briargate's houses range from $165,000 to $400,000.