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These three cities - Albuquerque, El Paso, and Tucson - have always struck me as having many more regional similarities than differences. All are desert cities (Albuquerque and El Paso in the Chihuahuan Desert; Tucson in the Sonoran Desert). All are military towns (Albuquerque and Tucson Air Force; El Paso Army). All have a topography dominated by its surrounding mountain range (Albuquerque - Sandias; Tucson - Mount Lemon; El Paso - Franklins).
In fact, while I have spent by far the least amount of time of these three in Tucson, I have always heard of Tucson being compared very closely with Albuquerque in terms of its size and layout.
All three are great sized cities - big enough for most amenities but not too big to the point of over-congestion/traffic/crowding.
Tucson obviously has the warmest climate, El Paso in the middle, and Albuquerque the coolest climate (one of the only times you'd see ABQ's climate listed as "cool"). Climate-wise, these are my three favorite climates of big cities in the US. All are very sunny (between 75% to 90% average sunny days annually) and are very arid (less than 10 inches of average yearly rainfall) with a majority of precipitation on average coming during the summer monsoon months.
Albuquerque and Tucson have very reasonable property tax rates; El Paso's property tax rates are much higher, however, Texas has no personal income tax which tends to level the tax playing field.
Albuquerque and El Paso you can get away with using evaporative cooling for much of the year which means lower utility bills; Tucson you'd really need A/C unless you are a very big fan of warm temps. All three require heating during the winter nights.
I could have posted this survey in any of the three respective town's C-D forums, however, I am most familiar with the Albuquerque forums as Albuquerque is the one of the three I have resided in and spent the most time in.
I expect - being the Albuquerque forum - that Albuquerque will win out, however, I trust the Albuquerque forum posters to be fair and objective in their "voting" and analysis.
I have spent time in all three cities, however, feel like I haven't spent enough time in Tucson to be completely fair in my analysis of Tucson, so I would love commentary from folks that have spent decent time in all three cities.
What say you - what is your favorite of these three...and why?
In my opinion Tucson seems like it's the most "cosmopolitan" of the three. I've never been to ABQ and only made a small stop in EP, my take on EP was that there wasn't much going on, it was hot dry and looked run down from what I saw on the freeway and the stop I made little impact on me. No offense to EP folks.
I'm planning on doing a scouting trip to ABQ in the winter this year to check it out. My buddy is a long distance truck driver and drives the 40 across country and he frequently stops in ABQ and he's told me repeatedly that ABQ is quote a "crap hole" that looks like crap to him.
In all fairness a city should be judged by more than driving through the highway and hitting up truck stops. I've told this to him and he said he's seen more of the area than just truck stops and still insists that it's a craphole.
LOL, not sure what to make of that comment. I still wanna check it out for myself though.
I would never live in TX -- anywhere -- for political reasons. Tucson is great but it's way too hot for me. I love ABQ -- I've been here 11 years, and I can't imagine living any place else. We're having state budget problems right now; I think our utility bills are outrageous -- just my personal opinion, having spent many decades in Southern CA; you might have a hard time finding a decent job here; and our medical care is not the best (altho' UNMH is very good, we have one of the top ten cancer centers in The US, and our heart hospital isn't bad). Oh -- and we're the auto-theft capital of the world. But the people are nice here, NM is drop-dead gorgeous no matter where you look, the COL is very good, I love the mild change of seasons, and it is THE BEST city in The US to grow old -- seriously (so if you're heading into your 60s, check out Albuquerque's Department of Senior Affairs -- https://www.cabq.gov/seniors).
NM is drop-dead gorgeous no matter where you look, the COL is very good, I love the mild change of seasons, and it is THE BEST city in The US to grow old -- seriously (so if you're heading into your 60s, check out Albuquerque's Department of Senior Affairs -- https://www.cabq.gov/seniors).
Stretching the truth a bit? Or is that just your opinion? Albuquerque's Department of Senior Affairs is a fine organization. But so is the Rio Rancho Division of Senior Services. However I do not believe your claim of "THE BEST city in The US to grow old"
I would never live in TX -- anywhere -- for political reasons. Tucson is great but it's way too hot for me. I love ABQ -- I've been here 11 years, and I can't imagine living any place else. We're having state budget problems right now; I think our utility bills are outrageous -- just my personal opinion, having spent many decades in Southern CA; you might have a hard time finding a decent job here; and our medical care is not the best (altho' UNMH is very good, we have one of the top ten cancer centers in The US, and our heart hospital isn't bad). Oh -- and we're the auto-theft capital of the world. But the people are nice here, NM is drop-dead gorgeous no matter where you look, the COL is very good, I love the mild change of seasons, and it is THE BEST city in The US to grow old -- seriously (so if you're heading into your 60s, check out Albuquerque's Department of Senior Affairs -- https://www.cabq.gov/seniors).
If you write this because you think that Texas is too conservative, as a whole, I would have to counter that El Paso is one of the most liberal cities, in the sense that Democrats are elected across the board, every election cycle. The town council and the county commissioners are almost entirely Democrats, across the board. In the presidential election even W. Bush didn't carry El Paso.
Of the three, Albuquerque is easily my favorite, Tucson second and El Paso third. I say this based on the downtown experience, as well as surrounding areas. I love Albuquerque's proximity to Sandia Mountains, I find Old Town in Albuquerque to be a huge draw, and I think Nob Hill is an ascending area of the city with a lots of appeal. I cannot think of a comparable neighborhood in El Paso. Also, lately I am becoming more fond of greenery, and Albuquerque, while not Seattle, is more lush than Tucson and El Paso.
The only drawback of Albuquerque is winter, as it is too cold for me. I can't stand winter, and there is a big difference in winter in Albuquerque versus El Paso and Tucson.
Stretching the truth a bit? Or is that just your opinion? Albuquerque's Department of Senior Affairs is a fine organization. But so is the Rio Rancho Division of Senior Services. However I do not believe your claim of "THE BEST city in The US to grow old"
You don't have to believe me. No other city in the whole world offers what ABQ does to it senior citizens. I know this because I spent years researching it: every major city in The US and in every developed country in the world. ABQ is the best -- by far.
My buddy is a long distance truck driver and drives the 40 across country and he frequently stops in ABQ and he's told me repeatedly that ABQ is quote a "crap hole" that looks like crap to him.
Sounds like a real classy guy.
If your buddy doesn't like great hiking, mountain biking, North America's longest aerial tramway (Sandia Peak Tramway), some of the country's top breweries, the largest percentage of park lands per square mile of any US city (outside Alaska), an historic Old Town dating to 1709, the cultural mix of Spanish-Anglo-Native American, a national monument (Petroglyph National Monument), easy access to winter sports, a great four-season climate with lots of sunshine ... I could go on ... then yeah, he probably thinks Albuquerque is a "crap hole."
You don't have to believe me. No other city in the whole world offers what ABQ does to it senior citizens. I know this because I spent years researching it: every major city in The US and in every developed country in the world. ABQ is the best -- by far.
I don't have sufficient experience with Tucson or El Paso to weigh in on the initial question. Friends that lived in Tucson say it is very much like Albuquerque. I've only driven through El Paso and it seems very spread out but much of it is across the border. I have heard great stories about Albuquerque senior services and what they do. As a retiree in Rio Rancho I haven't heard any complaints or negative reviews of Rio Rancho senior services but haven't used them. The local area does certain things very well including senior services and libraries-- and some things not very well.
You don't have to believe me. No other city in the whole world offers what ABQ does to it senior citizens. I know this because I spent years researching it: every major city in The US and in every developed country in the world. ABQ is the best -- by far.
I don't... I do not believe you.
I spent years observing it. I lived in Asia, Caribbean and Europe for 7+ years...
Out of all the places in the world, people residing in Switzerland may be able to make the best of their golden years — that’s the verdict handed down by this year’s Global AgeWatch Index, a joint project by HelpAge International and the University of Southhampton to definitively rank how well countries secure the wellbeing of their older citizens.
Evaluating 96 countries on dimensions of health care access, income security, and life expectancy, among others, the project’s authors concluded that Switzerland ranked first overall, followed by Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Canada respectively. The United States dropped to 9th overall,
I would never live in TX -- anywhere -- for political reasons. Tucson is great but it's way too hot for me. I love ABQ -- I've been here 11 years, and I can't imagine living any place else. We're having state budget problems right now; I think our utility bills are outrageous -- just my personal opinion, having spent many decades in Southern CA; you might have a hard time finding a decent job here; and our medical care is not the best (altho' UNMH is very good, we have one of the top ten cancer centers in The US, and our heart hospital isn't bad). Oh -- and we're the auto-theft capital of the world. But the people are nice here, NM is drop-dead gorgeous no matter where you look, the COL is very good, I love the mild change of seasons, and it is THE BEST city in The US to grow old -- seriously (so if you're heading into your 60s, check out Albuquerque's Department of Senior Affairs -- https://www.cabq.gov/seniors).
wow,
budget crisis
high utility bills
no jobs
no access to great healthcare
theft
but the view is great and the people are nice.... hmmm
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