I live in Steamboat, been here two years now
If you want to spend your time in the mountains , don't move to the front range. Durango is an incredible place, but quite isolated. You're almost as close to Albuquerque as you are to Denver.
If you want to street skate, I'd move closer to Denver, but if you want to spend more time in the mountains, I'd look into finding work within a mountain town. Frisco,Silverthorne,Breck area in Summit county is smack in the mountains but also has some really good parks to skate (Team Pain). You are close to Copper/Woodward, Leadville, etc.
Boulder is way too crowded/expensive for what you get.
Do you snowboard? Winter is pretty serious here and you'll want to entertain taking up some winter activities to get your thru the winter/long spring/short fall.