Best climbing cities for work, owning a house, and skiing?

Howdy folks. Wife and I are making a decision matrix for where to move next. As an engineer, I've got a good handle on making cold-hearted, quantitative decisions. Currently live in Tucson, AZ. Love the climbing and COL (including the cost of the house we bought), but the job market, summers, and lack of skiing here aren't great. Below is the decision matrix so far:

From you folks, I'm looking for more cities to add to the matrix that have great weather, climbing, and skiing, and lots of decent paying civil engineering jobs and cheap houses. 

Thanks everybody

Colorado

You are pretty spot on. A few notes on ABQ. The skiing is a bit generous at 3, unless you drive at minimum to Santa Fe. Sandia Ski is not even opening this year. The housing is the cheapest of any of your locations listed, and the job market for engineers should be pretty decent.
As for GJ, I’d say that proximity to Moab, Rifle and the Roaring Fork make it way better than a 2. 

While I understand the ratings are all personal preference, if I were to rank these same places I find it hard to believe Colorado Springs would be second    Some of your rankings I (personally) believe are completely opposite of what you've ranked them as (depending on your preference for type of climbing and weather I suppose, i.e. Vegas would be a 4/5 on weather and 5/5 on climbing for me).

To actually be helpful here, some other places you should consider in your ranking are Central Oregon (Bend, Redmond, maybe others); Flagstaff, Arizona; and perhaps some places in Montana might score high for you (Missoula, Bozeman).

If you trad climb, Vegas should be a 5 for climbing. Reno probably needs a bump as well. Both have much better climbing access than Colorado Springs. Grand Junction is also way better than a 2 and arguably better than Colorado Springs depending on what you climb.

Duluth skiing is definitely not on the same level as SLC, I'd say Reno is. You don't have to go all the way to South Lake Tahoe or Truckee to ski.

I feel like the inversions in SLC should knock the weather score down a bit.

SLC, no question, if you can deal with the cost of living and crowds. I'd also second the Flag recommendation. 

Otherwise, WTF is behind your ski ranking?? You ranked Duluth higher than Reno? I had a long response typed out, but I can't wrap my head around this. An explanation is needed.

SLC is polluted and crowded and expensive. Did I mention polluted? Don't fall for the "oh it's only a few weeks in winter" line. It's ozone in the summer, smog in the winter, and particulates year round. I lived there 27 years but had to bail. No regrets. But then, I'm an old dog and don't climb at the level I once did.

Boise or Spokane.  Hands down

climbs sometimes wrote:

agree especially if it’s duluth Minnesota. maybe it’s ranked proximity to skiing?

Yeah, I’d peg Duluth as more of a 2 for skiing but also a bit higher for climbing. The good stuff is ~an hour away, but it’s there.

Edit: if XC skiing is included this probably makes more sense

How is Bend not on that list?

Seattle or Portland Oregon deserve a mention, or outlying suburbs.

golden Colorado?

ogden Utah?

mountains are small in Duluth.

Old lady H wrote:

Colorado

Now that’s a big city…

Housing in C-Springs is laughable at 5, it’s definitely not in the same realm as Duluth, Tucson, or Vegas….climbing is also arguably not a 4 depending on what you do or how far you’re willing to drive. Skiing is higher than 2 but I think we need more details in order to properly criticize critique. 

Have you skied in SLC on a powder weekend before? And stayed up there until 4pm?

I'd suggest doing that first to get a feel of what's hell like.

Go Back to Super Topo wrote:

Housing in C-Springs is laughable at 5, it’s definitely not in the same realm as Duluth, Tucson, or Vegas….climbing is also arguably not a 4 depending on what you do or how far you’re willing to drive. Skiing is higher than 2 but I think we need more details in order to properly criticize critique. 

I live in the Springs and agree with skiing at a 2... it is just too far away and too much traffic, there needs to be a Breckenridge town bypass

I usually don’t recommend Los Alamos on where should I move threads but the fact you created that table and even included a weighted score makes me think it might be the perfect fit!  The lab is hiring like crazy and pays well.  

Agreed that Salt Lake City is a polluted urban hell, and the Wasatch isn't much better. The Wasatch is over-developed with infrastructure everywhere, too many people in the resorts, arcane rules, and traffic going up into the canyons and coming back. The only good part of Salt Lake City is that it's somewhat close to the Uintas, Moab, the Tetons, etc. And, in the valley, there are too many Mormons and people in stupid cults -- must be the smog infecting their minds. I've seen people walking around home depots trying to indoctrinate people into their cults or pyramid schemes. 

If you're willing to stick with okay rock with lots of mosquitos in exchange for world-class ice climbing and backcountry skiing, then there's Anchorage. 

Also, consider Santa Fe, NM -- Durango, CO -- and Wenatchee, WA. 

Backcountry skiing around Reno & Tahoe are grand & Eastern Sierra & Yosemite have great climbing .

Don't make me tap the sign:

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/122908344/climbing-memes-50?page=18#ForumMessage-123190416

I'm really just scratching my head at OP's scores for some of those cities. A lot of those rankings don't make much sense to me. Vegas ranked lower than C Springs for climbing? And various other nitpicks mentioned by folks above. Generally more research needed there by OP.  This sort of engineering exercise is only as good as the assumptions you feed into it.

Also the weather scores are funny. Duluth a 4 and Vegas a 1? Haha I guess you like the cold! No criticism; just it's funny seeing personal preferences.

Steve Williams wrote:

Boise or Spokane.  Hands down

Can’t speak for Spokane, but homes in Boise are grossly overpriced. Unless you want to live out in the far reaches of The Valley and basically be an hour from everything.
if you’ve never been here, you should know that it’s not a “mountain town” at all. It’s desert living with extremely hot, dry summers. Also, although there’s a local ski hill (Bogus Basin), you’ll end up driving at least few hours (to Sun Valley or Targhee) for anything more than mediocre skiing.

Same could be said for climbing. Unless you drive the few hours to City of Rocks or Fins, you’ve got some local basalt crags that no-one would really consider destination climbing. Not bad, but nothing special either.

What else? One of the highest priced gasoline states, a hospital/health system that can’t keep up with growth, and did I mention that housing is grossly overpriced…

Also, you’ve got to be OK with living in a deep, deep red state. Could be a deal breaker for some,

EDIT: On the positive, I should say that MTN Biking is excellent, there are a couple great climbing bums, and if you fish/hunt you’ll be in heaven.