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I am currently living in Cleveland Ohio, but within the next year or so I plan on heading West. I've read a lot of threads and done a lot of research, and I've narrowed my choiceas down to Albuquerque NM, Santa Fe NM, Tucson AZ, and Colorado Springs CO. I'm am having a very hard time making my choice. I'm a single guy in his late 20's looking to rent (I'll be making around 35k), and I'm really looking for:
1. A GREAT outdoors city (hiking, biking, scenic, etc,) This is a must
2. A city with a decent arts scene
3 Fairly friendly, open minded people
4. A city thats a little smaller (therefore less impersonal) than the average us city.
5. Would be nice to find a good city for singles, but not an absolute must.
Having lived in cleveland my whole life, I'm accustomed to high crime, city corruption, rotten weather, and horrible school systems, and I have a hard time believing any of my choice cities above can match the garbage I've lived in for most of my life. I'm leaning heavily towards Albuquerque, and I know that every city these days has its warts, and I'd like to know your thoughts on the four cities I have listed above, as well as any other Southwest city I may have missed. Thanks!
I think you got a good list of 4 cities there, but my choice would be ABQ.
Santa Fe is too expensive,Tucson is too hot and Colorado Springs is too cold.
I moved from Cleveland to CoS in 2004. I am currently looking at relocating to ABQ. CoS is a beautiful little sleepy town. Friendly people, but too generally conservative/right wing for my taste. Very nice people though. Tends to be monocultural. Great connection to the outdoors, but yes, colder than the others. A breeze, however compared to Cleveland. Lots of ohioans here. You will experience quite a sticker shock, prices are higher on everything, it seems. Restaurants aren't great. restrictive liquor laws (getting better), lenient marijuana laws.
ABQ, more diverse, a big college, lush and rural riverside parts of town. Small mountains outside of town. Mostly flat, but still at altitude compared to Cleve. Only an hour from Santa Fe! Affordable. Lenient liquor laws, more restrictive marijuana laws, good food, things to do. Much bigger than CoS. Sprawling.
CoS is so much more beautiful than ABQ to me. I'm a cyclist, hiker, horseback rider, dog owner. But I'm bored here. I love the Bosque and adobes. I think the semi-arid (CoS) and the arid (ABQ) locales might take some time to get used to, and perhaps that's why I link CoS is so much more beautiful, but that may change. (Oh! but the pine bark beeetles may really do a disfiguring number on CoS, they are coming for sure!) There's a little art scene. Prolly smaller scene than cleveland: but I was a Tremonster.
Whether you move to ABQ or CoS or Santa Fe or Tucson or where ever, you will definately get spoiled by the dry weather and glorious sunshine.
I moved from Cleveland to CoS in 2004. I am currently looking at relocating to ABQ. CoS is a beautiful little sleepy town. Friendly people, but too generally conservative/right wing for my taste. Very nice people though. Tends to be monocultural. Great connection to the outdoors, but yes, colder than the others. A breeze, however compared to Cleveland. Lots of ohioans here. You will experience quite a sticker shock, prices are higher on everything, it seems. Restaurants aren't great. restrictive liquor laws (getting better), lenient marijuana laws.
ABQ, more diverse, a big college, lush and rural riverside parts of town. Small mountains outside of town. Mostly flat, but still at altitude compared to Cleve. Only an hour from Santa Fe! Affordable. Lenient liquor laws, more restrictive marijuana laws, good food, things to do. Much bigger than CoS. Sprawling.
CoS is so much more beautiful than ABQ to me. I'm a cyclist, hiker, horseback rider, dog owner. But I'm bored here. I love the Bosque and adobes. I think the semi-arid (CoS) and the arid (ABQ) locales might take some time to get used to, and perhaps that's why I link CoS is so much more beautiful, but that may change. (Oh! but the pine bark beeetles may really do a disfiguring number on CoS, they are coming for sure!) There's a little art scene. Prolly smaller scene than cleveland: but I was a Tremonster.
Whether you move to ABQ or CoS or Santa Fe or Tucson or where ever, you will definately get spoiled by the dry weather and glorious sunshine.
Great post and very fair assessment! I'm a native Albuquerquean and I would have to agree that CoS is more beautiful, but the weather here is far superior. If you love cycling, the Sandia's are a great mountain to ride and you can get your green fix on that side of the mountain. The other positive is while Santa Fe is wonderful, it is very expensive, living in ABQ you're just 45-50 minutes south. My wife and I get up there frequently.
your salary would suggest Albuquerque to me. Life in Santa Fe would strain that salary.
Albuquerque is a little behind the times, but that can be a good thing when it comes to cost of living. Car Ins is a little high in ABQ and so are groceries. I suspect that is true in all New Mexico. Weather wise is think ABQ has the rest beat. Colorado Springs is a nice place, completely different weather however.
JoeJohn27, take it from a guy who was born an raised in Pittsburgh, Colorado Springs is your best bet. The whole state of NM is downright depressing to me. ABQ is right up there with one of the BIGGEST let downs as far as cities that I thought would be nice. Sante fe is out of your price range (who really cares though). Tucson is another dumpy looking city. I've been to all the cities you just listed, Colorado Springs is a beautiful little city. Plus you aint too far from Denver if you get in the mood for some big city action. NM is such an isolated area, just thinking about that place right now is depressing me. There's alot of poverty there too. Dont let people fool you about that weather either in Colorado Springs. It's like high desert there. Very dry climate with alot of sunshine. You will get snow there though.
P.S. The comment about "every city has it's warts", ABQ is one BIG wart! I'm telling you! Fly to Colorado Springs and spend a week. Then fly to ABQ and spend a week. I bet I already know what city You will end up choosing. ABQ is alot different than you are imagining. I couldn't believe what a dump of a city it was. Stay clear of that WHOLE state in fact. If I would've had a travel agent talk me into or suggest I take a vacation there, when I got back, I'd have gone and punch him in the mouth! I aint kidding, it's that "WART LIKE"! Some of them people out there in ABQ looked like they just stepped out of the 'twilight zone' too! It almost feels like a 'time warp' there or something. Take a vacation there before you move there, I'm telling you!
welder, isn't it funny how we are all so different?
I have spent time in Colorado Springs and lots of time in ABQ .... Colorado Springs is a nice city, but has nowhere near the attraction that ABQ has for me. I would have to extend that to the states as well -- I like to visit Colorado but to me it has nowhere near the appeal and the charm that the state of New Mexico does.
In choosing between the two states to live ... well, for me there would be no choice at all -- New Mexico wins, hands down.
Of course, what do I know? My first choice on JoeJohn's list is Santa Fe where I choose to live, and which I do not find all that expensive if you don't hang out in restaurants, bars, art galleries and gift shops on the plaza. The only cost which was higher than other places was the cost of our house...which we saved and invested for YEARS in order to afford, and a young person moving to Santa Fe would not have had time to accumulate a nest egg llike we did. Otherwise, we bargain shop and are frugal with our money and so far Santa Fe has been quite affordable for us.
For JoeJohn though, I would vote for ABQ as the place to put at the top of his list.
I beg to differ, me an JoeJohn27 grew up in cities that are like 120 miles apart. Him coming from Cleveland, Colorado Springs will be more up his alley than anything the state of NM has to offer. NM dont even have any pro sports teams. You're talking a big culture shock in NM. Maybe's he's been there an liked it, I doubt it though. Atleast in Colorado Springs he has access to Denver. He could even go to watch the 'Browns' play when their in town. Downsizing cities aint as easy as people think it is. It dont take long to miss the action. Even if you think you've had enough of big city life. People would be surprised what they would miss when leaving a city they think they dont like anymore.
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