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According to City-Data, there are only four cities in NM with more than 70K and only seven cities that fit your other criterion (and all of those are in southeastern NM or in the Four Corners area). So it is difficult to make any suggestions except for the obvious: Albuquerque, Santa Fe, or Las Cruces areas.
I thought that might be the case, but this is somewhat flexible, so if anyone can give me the two "best" in your opinion then I can look into more detail at those. Thanks!
Town must be 16,000 or more or near an area of 70,000 or more.
Pretend that money is no issue, and primary requirements are outdoor activities and a good place for a small family.
I live in Alamogordo and its population is around 37,000. There is a hospital, Zoo, New Mexico Space Museum with an Imax Theater (we just watched the Imax feature called 'Tornado Alley', which was very entertaining) White Sands National Preserve just west about 15 miles, the Trinity site (where the world's first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945), Cloudcroft and Ruidoso nearby (nice resort towns in a beautiful setting in a higher, mountainous altitude), skiing, new 10-screen movie theater, etc.
Las Cruces, about 100,000 population, is where New Mexico State University is located. It's got a lot of stores and good restaurants and is only a little over an hour west of Alamogordo.
Lincoln, where Billy the Kid was jailed, is about 15 miles from Ruidoso, which is only 50 miles NE of Alamogordo. Roswell and all of it's "alien UFO" culture, is about 100 miles east of Alamogordo. Carlsbad Caverns are located about 125 miles SE of Alamogordo.
El Paso, a city of just under a million people, lies 90 miles due south of Alamogordo on Hwy 54 and of course has all the amenities a large city provides. Juarez, Mexico borders El Paso, TX.
Alamogordo can get hot in the summertime but as the locals always tell us "you only need drive east up in to the Sacramento Mountains 15-20 miles and it's cooler". The Sacramento Mountains lie just east of Alamogordo and are the southernmost edge of the Rocky Mountains. Alamogordo has proved to be a good find for my wife and I. I work at Gerald Champion Medical Center in town and I am very glad to have found the job and the town. I would recommend it highly to you for a good place to live, work and raise a family.
As I stated earlier, the oldest zoo in the desert southwest, Alamedo Park Zoo, is located in downtown Alamogordo, NM. It started up in 1898. Good fortune to you and anyone searching out a place to live in New Mexico. Alamogordo, NM, is good living!
Real estate sales and rentals are fairly affordable in Alamogordo, too.
Last edited by elkotronics; 05-31-2013 at 04:53 PM..
I"d pick the spot I'm already inhabiting...Mesilla. It's very small, tiny in fact, historic, a genuine town still very close to it's agricultural roots, but also very near NMSU, Las Cruces, and some very interesting wild country.
Mesilla looks inviting, cosmiccrowbar! I'm feelin' perty blessed ta have found southern New Mexico and to have scored a job down here. Not perfect, but hey, one can find flaws in just about anyone and anywhere and anything if that's their bag. Finding flaws.
Mesilla has that true, unabated, down-home Spanish country, relaxed desert southwest thing going for it. Beautiful!
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