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Population of Portland, OR 593,820
Population of Albuquerque, NM 552,804
(source 2011 US Census)
Obviously, both core cities are comparible in size.Both cities have their "hip" neighborhoods as well as family oriented neighborhoods. Both cities tend to be very attractive to artists, especially photographers. I think smart growth is a concern to both cities. More so than climate, demographics becomes the biggest divergence between both cities. I think the average American would opt for Portland over Albuquerque due to the fact that Portland is much greener, and tends to receive a bit more positive press than Albuquerque.
But that's looking only at the population of the city proper. It's the metropolitan area that shows the huge difference:
Actually, the square mileage for the metros are:
Albuquerque 9288
Portland 6684
Portland's includes 7 counties: Multnomah, Clackamas, Columbia, Washington, Yamhill in OR, and Clark & Skamania counties in WA
Albuquerque's includes 4 counties: Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance, Valencia
And (just because it amuses me), there is an additional 10 square miles that are water in Albuquerque and 134 in Portland that are not included in the above total.
Population within the city limits is fairly even, but again the sizes different, but about the same ratio: Albuquerque is 181 square miles and Portland is 133.
Actually, the square mileage for the metros are:
Albuquerque 9288
Portland 6684
Portland's includes 7 counties: Multnomah, Clackamas, Columbia, Washington, Yamhill in OR, and Clark & Skamania counties in WA
Albuquerque's includes 4 counties: Bernalillo, Sandoval, Torrance, Valencia
And (just because it amuses me), there is an additional 10 square miles that are water in Albuquerque and 134 in Portland that are not included in the above total.
Population within the city limits is fairly even, but again the sizes different, but about the same ratio: Albuquerque is 181 square miles and Portland is 133.
I live in Portland currently but the rain is wearing me down too. Albuquerque is on my short list of cities to move to.
How far away is the skiing?
How far is the hiking?
Temps in the 90's for 4-5 months? Do people get outside or hunker down with the A/C?
Any lakes nearby big enough to put a kayak or windsurfer on?
Thai restaurants?
Beer micro-breweries and pubs?
Bookstores?
What do people do for fun?
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,753 posts, read 23,828,256 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by observe
Wow considering the population difference, the footprint of both metro areas are pretty much the same size.
That's if you consider huge swaths of vacant Native American pueblo land in the high desert an urban footprint. Albuquerque is one of those cities that the sprawl ends abruptly at the city limits. It's bordered by pueblo land to the north, west, and south with mountains at the eastern edge of the city.
Location: northern Vermont - previously NM, WA, & MA
10,753 posts, read 23,828,256 times
Reputation: 14670
Quote:
Originally Posted by BeantownJoe
I live in Portland currently but the rain is wearing me down too. Albuquerque is on my short list of cities to move to.
How far away is the skiing?
How far is the hiking?
Temps in the 90's for 4-5 months? Do people get outside or hunker down with the A/C?
Any lakes nearby big enough to put a kayak or windsurfer on?
Thai restaurants?
Beer micro-breweries and pubs?
Bookstores?
What do people do for fun?
How far away is the skiing? From Tramway Blvd in the city you can take the tram up to the 10.600 foot summit of Sandia Peak, though it's a small ski area. It gets decent up at Ski Santa Fe about 1.5 hours away. Taos is the best in NM which is about 2.5 hours away. Then you got the San Juan range in Colorado about a 4-5 drive away which is absolutely stunningly kicking ass fantastic skiing. Telluride is awwwwwwessssome!
How far is the hiking? About 10 minutes from where I live in the NE Heights of ABQ are the foothill trails to the Sandia mountains which has excellent mountain biking. It's always sunny here so we get a lot of good hiking days. There are better trails a 35 minute drive away on the back side of the mountain for access to trails in Ponderosa Pine covered forest (as a contrast to ABQ's high desert valley) giving shade up to the summit where there are aspen groves and rocky ledges. Also NM and nearby Colorado has a plethora of world class hiking. Put Ghost Ranch on your NM hiking bucket list.
Temps in the 90's for 4-5 months? Do people get outside or hunker down with the A/C? Find a place with a pool and a grill you'll be outside more. It cools down nicely once the sun goes down here. Living somewhere with a pool tends to conveniently draw new friends. There the hunker down by the AC days, June seems to be the hottest month where it can push the 100 degree mark. In my opinion being trapped indoors with natural light coming through the windows is better than being trapped indoors on a cold and gloomy day.
Any lakes nearby big enough to put a kayak or windsurfer on? Not really, NM has less surface water than any other state. There's Elephant Butt lake which is the Rio Grande dammed up and it leaves a lot to be desired. There's Abiquiu Lake up north but it's not anything like the nicer lakes in the Northern tier of the US.
Thai restaurants? Yes, there is an abundance of all kinds of Asian food along Central Ave, particularly Nob Hill. That said your selection in Portland is probably 20 times better.
Beer micro-breweries and pubs? Oh Yes! Marble Brewery, Kelly's, and O'Neil's are good pubs to put you beer drinking cap on.
Bookstores? Go up to Santa Fe for that. They have the kind of bookstore/coffee shop scene that you're apt to find in Portland.
What do people do for fun? If your not into the outdoors and you want a good dose of urban stimulation ABQ might be bit of a letdown. The most vibrant area is Nob Hill/UNM campus area along Central. Downtown is mediocre, though Old Town is cute. Most of the city is quite sprawly. There is a tremendous amount of open space in and around the city, the skies are bigger here and so are the horizons, making for absolutely stellar sunsets.
Albuquerque does make a good launching point if you're a roadtrip person. Within a 6 hour drive one can reach the Grand Canyon, Sedona, Saguaro National Park, the San Juan mountains of Colorado, Utah National Parks, Carlsbad Caverns, White Sands, Tucson, Phoenix, Denver and El Paso with the wide open road in between.
Santa Fe is only an hour away so that does add a nice cultural option, it's a good foodie town, decent museums, tons of artistry and galleries. One really needs to be an outdoorsy nature enthusiast to fully appreciate Albuquerque.
Last edited by Champ le monstre du lac; 12-30-2013 at 09:48 PM..
On the subject of Thai restaurants in Albuquerque: I have yet to find one here that really satisfies me. When I was in Philadelphia I used to hear people say that the Thai restaurants there were really weak compared to the ones in New York or San Francisco (etc.). I kind of feel the same way about the Thai restaurants here compared to the ones in Philly. Maybe I just need to try more of them.
On the other hand, there are lots of good Vietnamese restaurants around. I didn't eat a lot of Vietnamese food in Philadelphia, so my judgment may not be worth much, but the standard for that seems to be pretty high here, perhaps thanks to the competition.
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There the hunker down by the AC days, June seems to be the hottest month where it can push the 100 degree mark. In my opinion being trapped indoors with natural light coming through the windows is better than being trapped indoors on a cold and gloomy day. 
