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I am considering moving to New Mexico later this year. I am thinking- Ruidoso or Alamogordo areas.
I no longer ski, plan to work part time. Would welcome comments from anyone that has lived or curently living in these areas. I am from Texas & ready for a change.
Does Alamogordo have dust storms? If so, is it often or just occasionally? I live in the Lubbock area & have had enough of the dust.
Real estate is less expensive in the Alamogordo area versus Ruidoso & I am guessing that gas, groceries would be less expensive also.
The one and only time I ever visited Alamogordo, yes, there was a dust storm. The next day we drove up to Cloudcraft. It was nice up there (and they have real trees). I have never been to Ruidoso, but it looks similar to Cloudcraft on the satellite imagery. Just go visit the area.
Use the search tool on C-D to look at other threads for Alamogordo and Ruidoso.
Two very different places. Alamogordo with heavy military presence, dusty, hot summers. Ruidoso, touristy, Texan retiree mecca, snowier winters and cooler summers with less dust.
What about Las Cruces? It's affordable with more going on than either of those two places.
I am considering moving to New Mexico later this year. I am thinking- Ruidoso or Alamogordo areas.
I no longer ski, plan to work part time. Would welcome comments from anyone that has lived or curently living in these areas. I am from Texas & ready for a change.
I have been to Alamogordo and Ruidoso over the years but not enough to become really acquainted in the area... They are about 50 miles apart. Alamogordo is at an Elevation of 4,336 feet and a population of about 31,300 and Ruidoso is at an Elevation of 6,920 feet and a population of about 7,800. I was in both areas several times while I was in the military, however that was over 25 years ago. The last time we visited the area, and drove through the area was about five years ago.
My wife, son and I live in Alamogordo. Alamogordo has a heavy military influence and a heavy space influence both. And low real estate prices. I work for the hospital in town. The value we got for our 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house with a 2-car garage is incredible. We have a new bowling alley and an updated Aviator Theater, a Ross Dress-For-Less is being built as I type this out. The Chamber of Commerce (of which Ozzy Osbourne is an honorary member) is working to attract businesses here so we don't have to drive to Las Cruces to shop.
It does have times where the White Sands get blown up in to the air and we have a gypsum dust storm. People are friendly here - we've been seeing an influx of more traffic on our streets here, too. I'm thinking that Holloman Air Force Base is on a hiring increase period - Trump continues to ramp up American military forces. Our son just scored a construction job at Holloman AFB. The base employs a lot of contractors - an awful lot of them. There's a Ford dealer here - Vision Ford, there's a Toyota dealer - Desert Sun Toyota. There is a GM - Buick dealer here called Desert Sun General Motors.
El Paso is 90 miles south of us via Highway 54 and Las Cruces is 70 miles west via Highway 70. Las Cruces is better to have than not to our west. The closest large city to us is El Paso. El Paso's airport is small and simple to navigate. There is a bus service here that you can take that will drive you to the Inn of the Mountain Gods in Mescalero, NM, for $1.00. You can also take the same bus service to Las Cruces for only $1.00 ($2.00 round trip fee - now that is cheap!).
Last night my wife and I went to the Space Museum and saw a Chicago cover band called 'Windy City'. Pretty good cover band really - they're from El Paso. Alamogordo has it's broken places - an old, abandoned school house near downtown. The area between White Sands Blvd. to the west and Cuba Avenue to the east, 10th St. on the north to 1st to the south, is pretty broken down. That old school house sits in that large rectangle I just described. Many of the houses are boarded up or in disrepair. There are gems of houses sprinkled in that area, too.
Alamogordo has many, many nice subdivisions with nice, well-kept newer houses. We live in one of those neighborhoods just to the south of Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center. Alamogordo's population was 31,248 in 2017. Many servicepeople live on Holloman Air Force Base that don't count in the 31,248 population number. The weather is hot and sunny much of the year. We are in the monsoon season and that will be true of the next couple of months. It can get real humid and build up until dinner time and then we'll have a influx of cool air blow in and there will be a thunderstorm as a culmination of it all. We had a rare tornado last week in which a couple of structures were destroyed. Tornado's are rare here, though.
Alamogordo has a lot of people that care about it and want it to be a safe place for families. They will not tolerate scrungy people here - there are some - but if you come in with an attitude and get in bar fights and the like, you will be jailed and basically they'll shew you out of town. No kidding - it's part of the military history here. I tend to like that. We've found a gem of a small city to live in and I wouldn't have my good life any other place or any other way.
Last edited by elkotronics; 06-09-2019 at 10:36 AM..
The one and only time I ever visited Alamogordo, yes, there was a dust storm. The next day we drove up to Cloudcraft. It was nice up there (and they have real trees). I have never been to Ruidoso, but it looks similar to Cloudcraft on the satellite imagery. Just go visit the area.
Use the search tool on C-D to look at other threads for Alamogordo and Ruidoso.
Thank you for your input. I have spent time in Ruidoso for many years, stayed in Cloudcroft as well.
I don't know a thing about Alamogordo, but I am planning a trip soon to spend some time there.
My wife, son and I live in Alamogordo. Alamogordo has a heavy military influence and a heavy space influence both. And low real estate prices. I work for the hospital in town. The value we got for our 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house with a 2-car garage is incredible. We have a new bowling alley and an updated Aviator Theater, a Ross Dress-For-Less is being built as I type this out. The Chamber of Commerce (of which Ozzy Osbourne is an honorary member) is working to attract businesses here so we don't have to drive to Las Cruces to shop.
It does have times where the White Sands get blown up in to the air and we have a gypsum dust storm. People are friendly here - we've been seeing an influx of more traffic on our streets here, too. I'm thinking that Holloman Air Force Base is on a hiring increase period - Trump continues to ramp up American military forces. Our son just scored a construction job at Holloman AFB. The base employs a lot of contractors - an awful lot of them. There's a Ford dealer here - Vision Ford, there's a Toyota dealer - Desert Sun Toyota. There is a GM - Buick dealer here called Desert Sun General Motors.
El Paso is 90 miles south of us via Highway 54 and Las Cruces is 70 miles west via Highway 70. Las Cruces is better to have than not to our west. The closest large city to us is El Paso. El Paso's airport is small and simple to navigate. There is a bus service here that you can take that will drive you to the Inn of the Mountain Gods in Mescalero, NM, for $1.00. You can also take the same bus service to Las Cruces for only $1.00 ($2.00 round trip fee - now that is cheap!).
Last night my wife and I went to the Space Museum and saw a Chicago cover band called 'Windy City'. Pretty good cover band really - they're from El Paso. Alamogordo has it's broken places - an old, abandoned school house near downtown. The area between White Sands Blvd. to the west and Cuba Avenue to the east, 10th St. on the north to 1st to the south, is pretty broken down. That old school house sits in that large rectangle I just described. Many of the houses are boarded up or in disrepair. There are gems of houses sprinkled in that area, too.
Alamogordo has many, many nice subdivisions with nice, well-kept newer houses. We live in one of those neighborhoods just to the south of Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center. Alamogordo's population was 31,248 in 2017. Many servicepeople live on Holloman Air Force Base that don't count in the 31,248 population number. The weather is hot and sunny much of the year. We are in the monsoon season and that will be true of the next couple of months. It can get real humid and build up until dinner time and then we'll have a influx of cool air blow in and there will be a thunderstorm as a culmination of it all. We had a rare tornado last week in which a couple of structures were destroyed. Tornado's are rare here, though.
Alamogordo has a lot of people that care about it and want it to be a safe place for families. They will not tolerate scrungy people here - there are some - but if you come in with an attitude and get in bar fights and the like, you will be jailed and basically they'll shew you out of town. No kidding - it's part of the military history here. I tend to like that. We've found a gem of a small city to live in and I wouldn't have my good life any other place or any other way.
Thank you for such detailed data on Alamo. Hearing the pros & cons from someone who lives there is invaluable. I am planning a trip soon to spend some time in Alamo. I have been going to Ruidoso for many years so I know quite a bit about it.
I have been to Alamogordo and Ruidoso over the years but not enough to become really acquainted in the area... They are about 50 miles apart. Alamogordo is at an Elevation of 4,336 feet and a population of about 31,300 and Ruidoso is at an Elevation of 6,920 feet and a population of about 7,800. I was in both areas several times while I was in the military, however that was over 25 years ago. The last time we visited the area, and drove through the area was about five years ago.
Two very different places. Alamogordo with heavy military presence, dusty, hot summers. Ruidoso, touristy, Texan retiree mecca, snowier winters and cooler summers with less dust.
What about Las Cruces? It's affordable with more going on than either of those two places.
Thank you for your input. I haven't thought about LC, guess that would be something to consider. But would the weather in LC be much different than the Alamo?
I had emailed the Alamo chamber a few months ago & asked about weather. She said it was not alot different than Lubbock weather. The wind & sandstorms here are ugly & depressing & often. Wind is one thing; every place has that; but the sandstorms are nasty.
I have been going to Ruidoso for many years & I like the area, but real estate is so much higher than Alamo. And I am not sure about the long cold winters. In Alamo, yes its hot, but I lived near Del Rio, TX for 33 yrs & it couldn't be hotter than that. It sounds like the evenings & mornings are cool.
I am going to make a trip to Alamo soon & spend some time there.
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