What kind of social life is there in Ruidoso, New Mexico? (appointed, how much)
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One of my friend's niece's lives in Ruidoso, she is 9 and plays soccer with her friends and rides horses. Sounds like the typical rural experience imo, nothing very exciting. New Mexico is that black sheep in that not only is it the cheapest state out west but one of the cheapest states to live in the entire nation due to it's high crime rate, population loss, and nobody moving there
People are moving to NM all the time. It's one reason Santa Fe has a higher COL than the rest of the state.
Don't kid yourself. As of 4 years ago people were visiting New Mexico in droves looking for cheap land and houses to buy.
This. Albuquerque has been discovered by LA residents as a cheap place to retire to. (Albeit a cheap place without a beach...) And Santa Fe has been well known as a more expensive place to retire to with lots of cultural amenities, but still way cheaper than NYC, Bay Area, and LA. Taos has always been second-home territory for LA's glitterati, too.
Agreed! I looked at various NM sites regarding growth--
2010--2,064,614
2015--2,115,877
2020--2,117,522
Overall it's growing very slowly. That isn't a bad thing at all, IMO.
It's weird because looking at the population stats you'd think Ruidoso was slowly disappearing... population peaked in 2010, and is down 4.4% from 2010 to 2020. There sure doesn't seem to be a decline in tourism however. And construction and home prices are booming... nearly doubled since 2019. It must be because most of the homes here are 2nd homes?
Overall it's growing very slowly. That isn't a bad thing at all, IMO.
It's weird because looking at the population stats you'd think Ruidoso was slowly disappearing... population peaked in 2010, and is down 4.4% from 2010 to 2020. There sure doesn't seem to be a decline in tourism however. And construction and home prices are booming... nearly doubled since 2019. It must be because most of the homes here are 2nd homes?
I thought it was pretty well known, that Ruidoso is a popular location for second homes for Texans looking to escape the summer heat. Same for Santa Fe, for Texans who want a 2nd home in a town with a less rural feel than Ruidoso, and some "big city" amenities, like the opera, fine dining, etc.
The declining population when the town is booming is the unusual part. Santa Fe has grown 28.8% from 2010-2020.
I checked the county stats, and the population declined a bit there also. Ruidoso is contiguous with Alto and Ruidoso Downs which adds up to ~13.5k population altogether, and are about 70% of the county.
I'd love to live in a place like Ruidoso if it were closer to specialty health care. learned from living in and near Las Vegas New Mexico that I have to be near quality health care. Still, if I found a doc who would help me keep up with my prescriptions effectively, I could probably still do something like that. Ruidoso looks like a pretty sweet little town.
Hopefully if my mortgage goes through, I will be relocating to Ruidoso from Austin, TX. Very big right now for me is some sort of social life. I am moving to get better affordable views with my dog. I see there is a dog park in the middle of town. Is it the only one? Is it any good? Favorite place for locals to hang out?
Check out Dave Millsap, a really, really good musician. He plays at Sacred Grounds sometimes.
From Texas.
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People are moving to NM all the time. It's one reason Santa Fe has a higher COL than the rest of the state.
Overall it's growing very slowly. That isn't a bad thing at all, IMO. 
