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I know these cities are hard to compare given that the Denver area is 3 times bigger, but let me explain my situation. I moved to Denver in the middle of 2009, and have lived around the Denver area ever since. Right now I live in arguably the "nicest" part of the downtown area.
In any case, I'm thinking of moving to Albuquerque. New Mexico seems like an incredibly relaxing place to live. Overall, it's pretty safe. It also has a low cost of living, and the people there still exhibit some sort of "community" in the way they experience the world. I'm not particularly happy working in the Oil and Gas Industry here. It pays well, but I don't know how long the jobs are going to be around, whether this whole fracking thing is just a bubble, and I'm also worried about the fact that just about everyone in my department is doing glorified administrative work and would have trouble finding a job in a different industry.
New Mexico's best school, New Mexico Tech, is $6,000 a year and has very generous student aid. Colorado's best school, which is only marginally better, is $18,000 a year and gives virtually no student aid, and is also in a much more expensive city in Golden.
So, I'd be able to go back to school, get a degree in Mechanical Engineering, which I'd hope would aid me in my quest for stable, decently-paying employment that requires real skills and knowledge.
I'd be interested in hearing from people who know about both cities, but especially about Albuquerque.
- Is there an intellectual side to Albuquerque, or are people generally blue-collar and not into honest discussion?
- Overall, how is the nightlife, the restaurants, the culture, the spirit? I come from a small-ish city in Wisconsin originally - and the one thing I can never live around again is such a lack of wonder for the world and for life. Do people in Abq seem like they just gave up?
- Is it a decent place to spend the last year of your 20's, and your early 30's?
- Is it getting better, healthier, and growing? How do people there seem to feel about the city?
You have got to be krazy if you want to move to Albukrazy from Denver.
Not taking away from Albuquerque, it's a nice city, but its more of a city that would rank between Denver and Colorado Springs, probably leaning closer to the side of Colorado Springs in the terms of amenities, opportunity, and overall things to do.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
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I'll copy a post I made a year into living here. It sums up what I like and dislike about Albuquerque. My career is unexpectedly doing well in Albuquerque so I'll be around for a while, but I don't intend to put down any roots here. I understand where the OP is coming from. I did the ratrace commute and played the corporate game working office jobs for years in the Boston area. I had enough and came out here to get away from the ratrace, it was taking a toll on me. I got my wish, but Albuquerque's laid back isolated environment can be both a blessing and a curse. ......
Quote:
Originally Posted by intothelight
1. What do you like most about ABQ or living in ABQ?
- First and foremost the climate. For me it's nearly perfect, I appreciate seasonal changes but can't stand lots of cloudy days. ABQ has 300+ sunny days (love all the vitamin D coming from Boston and Seattle before then, makes a huge difference), short winters with only occasional snow dustings, long summers with t shirt andshorts kind of weather between April and October but not oppressively hot. Albuquerque in my opinion has a great abundance of "nice" days in terms of weather in just about any season.
- Casual, laid back, and friendly. This is a pretty easy city to live in. Your less likely to encounter people who want to engage in pissing contests.
- Food is pretty good: I love New Mexican food and green chiles, New Mexican home cooking or potlucks are fabulous! I've adopted New Mexican food to the point where I don't have any desire to have Mexican food anywhere else. Albuquerque is also big enough city to find most every kind of food be it ethnic or creative culinary. I just won't do seafood here.
- Plenty of elbow room: I really appreciate the daily views I get with the expansive horizons here and all the open space in and around the city. I love the open feeling of the place and the blue skies in the high desert are simply stellar.
- The Sandia Mountains: I think it's fantastic that on my commute home as I drive up the hill on Academy Rd. I'm approaching a big wall of mountains. I never grow tired of it. I also love having the foothill trails a mere 10 minute drive away combined with all the ammenities of a medium sized city I could ever need at my doorstep.
- Roadtrips!: Albuquerque is an excellent base for some amazing road trips all over the Southwest. Some of the country's best mountains, canyons, rock formations, national parks, and exceptional hiking and recreational destinations are all within a day's drive. My favorites have been White Sands, Tent Rocks, Taos/Rio Grande Gorge, SW Colorado (San Juan Mountains/Durango/Tellruride), and Northern Arizona (Sedona/Flagstaff/Grand Canyon). I also enjoy soaking in the local hot springs resorts, it's my favorite thing to do here in winter. Riverbend down Truth or Consequences is amazing.
- Santa Fe is only an hour away: Sometimes I need to get out of Albuquerque on a day off and just be someplace close but very different. The charm, artistry, history, architecture, excellent dining, and atmosphere of Santa Fe are all nearby and I enjoy the drive up.
- Driving here is easy. Others will certainly beg to differ, and yes there are a lot of lunatic drivers here causing accidents, but the layout of the city is easy to get around, the freeways are modern and they did a great job on the Big I (Junction I-25/I-40) and it's aesthetically nice to look at. There are some flaws like not enough bridge crossings across the Rio Grande but traffic are not really bad at all compared to many other cities, even of similar size. Traffic here in my opinion is pretty light and I rarely encounter it.
- Biking: Albuquerque is bar none one of the best biking cities in the US. There are several paved separated bicycle trails around the city, with an exceptionally long one through the beautiful bosque forest along the Rio Grande, and awesome mountain biking trails in the foothills of the mountains.
Quote:
Originally Posted by intothelight
2. What do you dislike most about ABQ or living in ABQ?
- Airfare and flights: ABQ has easy access to anywhere in the West, but flying back East is a pain in the *** with connections and expensive airfares.
- Low esteem: It hasn't realized its potential, and it feels a long way from achieving its potential. There is some local pride here in Albuquerque regarding its heritage and character, but this is not a very esteemed kind of city. Even a lot of locals and natives are cynical and complain a lot about the city and many downright diss it. Albuquerque needs a healthy does of civic pride.
- Lack of urban vibrancy downtown: Downtown Albuquerque is very lackluster and quite frankly dirty (like tagged vandalism and needles on the street kind of dirty). I get down there every now for few restaurants that I like but I don't care for the atmosphere in downtown. There are signs of improvement with some interesting small businesses and restaurants but there is so much vacancy there. Some blocks feel vibrant and the next block over can feel derelict. Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods really need a lot more TLC. There are historic neighborhoods on the edges of downtown that have quality craftsman homes and interesting architecture but they are not very well kept.
There is more vibrancy and eclectic options down the road on Central Ave in Nob Hill and around the UNM campus. I know many others have seen the city's potential in having a vibrant urban corridor between Old Town, Downtown, UNM, Nob Hill, and Uptown. However anytime some sort of suggestion of improvement (such as light rail/streetcar) to enhance the cohesiveness of the urban nodes in this city to connect it all into a unique and vibrant urban corridor that only Albuquerque could have usually get lupe warm responses to downright rejection. It will take a lot of time for any true prosperous urban development to get going, especially downtown. Again, there are noticable improvements and steps such as a new grocery store downtown, but overall downtown's urban vibe is rather lame when it has the potential to be so much more.
I wish developers would focus more on the unique linear urban corridor that we have on Central Ave rather new developments like Mesa Del Sol or Rio Rancho outside of town. Albuquerque has desirable outer neighborhoods, that I admit I'd would rather live in myself (and I do) for the proximity to mountains and employment but it would be nice to have more options to walk around town a bit and not be discouraged by all the gaps with all the vacant blocks in between the good ones. The neighborhoods in this city feel very checker board between the good and the bad. This city already has a lot of unique local character, it just needs to a big boost to kick it up several notches.
I grew up in Albuquerque (13 years of my life) and i currently live in Denver and much prefer the Mile High City. Albuquerque is actually not as safe as you may think it is, it has always been gang infested and i really dislike their mind set there, they seem to get off on the gang situation there. The show "Breaking Bad" is a good depiction of Albuquerque. It is brown, flat and there isn't nearly as much to do there compared to Denver.
Time seems to stand still in New Mexico, it is a slow paced and tranquil place with awesome sunsets and the Sandia Mountain range is dramatic and beautiful. The annual Balloon Fiesta is great each October and the city has its share of character, visit Old Town sometime, more than three hundred years old. The city is growing at incredible pace like Denver and the weather is nice year round, but i find that ABQ gets boring real fast.
You have got to be krazy if you want to move to Albukrazy from Denver.
Not taking away from Albuquerque, it's a nice city, but its more of a city that would rank between Denver and Colorado Springs, probably leaning closer to the side of Colorado Springs in the terms of amenities, opportunity, and overall things to do.
Thats kind of judgemental. Theres a ton of appeal to live in Albuquerque. Sure Denver is definitely bigger, with more amenities, much more job opportunity, but New Mexico is so unique with all its Spanish and Native american culture and history with all its museums, unique cuisine, etc. I personally love New Mexico. But yeah, economically it doesn't have the most opportunity.
Its not like the person is moving to some small town of under 10,000.
And Colorado Springs I would never move to. Way to conservative, with the huge military presence and all the evangelical culture. Even people I have known from Colorado Springs that are not at all conservative are still judgmental and sanctimonious
And Colorado Springs I would never move to. Way to conservative, with the huge military presence and all the evangelical culture. Even people I have known from Colorado Springs that are not at all conservative are still judgmental and sanctimonious
You've obviously never lived here or been here for that matter. Talk about judgmental and sanctimonious, you should move to Denver if you haven't already. EVERYTHING you just stated about Colorado Springs, sans military, is completely false. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'll take the Spring's "conservative" leanings (60%-40%) than Denver/Boulder's 80%+ liberal democrat (non-judgmental of course) environment any day. And I'm a native Denverite.
Religion statistics for Colorado Springs city (based on El Paso County data)
Percentage of population affiliated with a religious congregations: 37.10%
Here 37.1%
USA 50.2%
You've obviously never lived here or been here for that matter. Talk about judgmental and sanctimonious, you should move to Denver if you haven't already. EVERYTHING you just stated about Colorado Springs, sans military, is completely false. As I've mentioned in previous posts, I'll take the Spring's "conservative" leanings (60%-40%) than Denver/Boulder's 80%+ liberal democrat (non-judgmental of course) environment any day. And I'm a native Denverite.
Religion statistics for Colorado Springs city (based on El Paso County data)
Percentage of population affiliated with a religious congregations: 37.10%
Here 37.1%
USA 50.2%
I have been to Colorado Springs multiple times on family vacations. Its beautiful. However, when I was going to school in a college town north of Denver, I found that the people I knew from Colorado Springs were difficult for me personally to handle. They weren't bad people at all, they weren't even stereotypical Colorado Springs types at all.
In fact I am a practicing Catholic myself, albeit a "cafeteria" one, and they did not have a religious affiliation. Yet, the still had a judgmental attitude, and looked at me as if I were an "easterner" newbie. They were actually friendly and welcoming, but the attitude communicated was more like
"the fact that you went to Colorado a few times on family road trips doesn't impress us, you really don't know anything about mountains and public land, you're from east of the Mississippi, and Chicago on top of that. We'll turn to you when we have questions about Italian american culture, the mafia, and tall buildings."
another time with the same person I commented how I prefer an urban area, because I have found that it is easier to strike up conversations with women, getting their numbers, etc. whereas small town girls are a little more shy and reserved around people they don't know.
And her reaction was "that's because women in cities tend to be a little on the slutty side" Keep in mind this was someone who did NOT LIKE the conservative environment of Colorado Springs, was socially liberal, and did not have a religious affiliation.
Another similar person I knew (a guy that was politically conservative, actually quite religious, but didn't agree with church views on sex, and heard through the grapevine that he actually DID sleep around).
I know I shouldn't generalize about a city based on a couple people I met, but you have to understand that a couple people can really turn you off to a place.
New Mexico Tech in Socorro is a pretty stout commute from Alb if you don't live in the southern parts of town.
That being said, New Mexico Tech has world class programs in some areas of science and engineering.
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