We had a swamp cooler when we lived in Pueblo, CO. We had a small ranch, so we installed it on the north side of the house and cracked the windows where we wanted the cool air to go, and it cooled the whole house very well. I never noticed its impact on the electric bill.
Now we live in a ranch in North suburban Denver, and we haven't installed a swamp cooler yet. We have a room air conditioner in the main room of the house (combined kitchen/living room). My hyper-moustachian husband cut a hole in the house and installed the a/c unit permanently in the wall, then built an insulated fiberglass cover for the winter.
Our house gets a lot of shade in the summer, and no sunshine in the windows in the summer, because the windows are facing south or north. We sleep in the finished basement during the summer and crack the windows at night and run an exhaust fan. We close the windows and the shades when it warms up during the day, and start running the a/c about 4:00 most days. We just got through the hottest July on record with electric usage of about 400 kWhrs, about 150 more than our base usage.
Both of us grew up without central air. I definitely consider it optional in Colorado. Oh, also, we avoid using the oven when it is hot. We have a small toaster oven we put out on the patio.