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Hello,
I would like to have information from the nice folks in NM. I heard and read good things about NM. We plan on moving there soon. Can anyone tell me where about the towns in NM, small city. I come from NH and can't wait to get out of NH, too darn cold for us.
I am going to move your question to the general New Mexico forum, as it sounds like you are interested in information from small towns all over the state, rather than just Santa Fe.
Hello,
I would like to have information from the nice folks in NM. I heard and read good things about NM. We plan on moving there soon. Can anyone tell me where about the towns in NM, small city. I come from NH and can't wait to get out of NH, too darn cold for us.
What are you looking for in a town? Just let us know and we will help you out.
I live 40 mins. North of Santa Fe and we're moving. We've just started looking into New Hampshire. What a small world (: Maybe we could swap houses! HA!
Just some general comments on small NM towns.
-The small NM towns are going to be relatively spread out from each other. We lived in PA. and each of hte "small" towns was really part of a big statewide sprawl. You can drive for many hours in the state and not come to any towns.
-NM is geographically very diverse. We have mountains and deserts. I prefer the mountain areas because it's not as glaringly sunny (imagine an old western movie), nor as windy. All of NM can be Very windy.
-NM small towns can be very "small town" in the idea that there is generational poverty, very little moving out or in of populations, and the "thing to do" for kids is bonfire drunken parties out of town and for the adults a small honky tonk kind of local bar.
-There are a lot of small towns that I may have never even heard of and I've lived here more or less my whole life and do a lot of traveling w/in the state. I recently passed through the "town" of Coyote, NM. I'm guessing the population is about 40 people.
-With the exception of Silver City, I really prefer the "small" towns that are w/in an hour or so of the bigger cities/towns of Albuquerque and Santa Fe. We also have Las Cruces in the southern part of the state, but that place is just too darn hot and flat for my taste.
-Look on your NM map and you'll see that we really are "spread out" here!
A brief note on a few Specific small towns:
-Aztec: Aztec, NM seems very nice. Old houses and trees. Not as quaint as what I've seen in our NH research, but I don't think you're going to get that anywhere in NM. I do not like Farmington at all.
-Silver city: Down south you've got the small town grouping of Silver City, Deming, Bayard, Santa Clara. This is the Gila National Forest Area. I love Silver City and have spent a lot of time there over my life. In about the past 10 years, it's really changed its character w/ a lot of artists and transplants moving into the downtown. It has a main street that is now coffee shops and the like, instead of the feed store etc. I saw it listed as one of the top 100 artist communities. It's beautiful naturally and has a "hip" "funky" vibe. Bayard and Santa Clara are close by, but nothing like Silver City. Deming is an S-Hole, in my opinion. One of the things that keeps me from moving to Silver City is that it's very isolated from other cities. You have to drive about 4.5 hours to go to the airport or other big city stuff. And the town is very small to rely on it alone.
The Southeastern part of the state is flat and HOT. There's also the "Little Texas" areas of Hobbs and Clovis. I think they're unattractive and everyone speaks w/ a Texas accent. Not a problem w/ that, I lvoe Texas (:
There's Ruidoso. I've only been there a handful of times for skiing. A popular skiing resort mountain town for Texans and Mexicans. Not much there.
The towns of Alamagordo and Cloudcroft are strange in that Alamogordo is one of hte hottest flattest places I've ever been and just aabout 25 minutes or so is Cloudcroft in the moutains which can get snow in October (: I don't know anything about Alamogordo. Cloudcroft is really pretty, but probably a little too cold for people looking to get out of the cold. It's also really small and really just a tourist area, in my opinion, for skiing and snowshoeing.
There are all of the areas that surround Albuquerque. They're getting relatively pricey. There's "edgewood, tijeras, east mountain area". It's getting really built up w/ their own big grocery store, walmart, etc. Close to ABQ. There's moriarity, which is about 45-50 mins. east of ABQ. I lived there many years ago and didn't like it. A little too "small town", as I was discussing above.
There are the towns between ABQ and Santa Fe. Bernalillo is now physically undifferentiated from Rio Rancho. Literally, on one side of the main road is Rio Rancho and the other is Bernalillo. Bernalillo seems to have maintained some of its own character. There's Placitas, which is a weird mix of ultrawealthy and really poor. I don't know much more about it. I know they're also having some kind of water supply problems. There's Cochitti. I don't know much about that, but it's pretty. Then you get to Santa Fe.
North of Santa Fe you have small towns mixed in w/ Indian Reservations. I live between Espanola and Taos. It is so utterly beautiful here. I have views of 2 moutain ranges, the Rio Grande Valley Cottonwood glen and black mesa. Espanola is "blah". It used ot have a really bad reputation, but as the Espanola Valley (gorgeous!) gets "californicated", it's changing a bit. I don't spend much time there, honestly. I go to Walmart, Lowes and a couple of really yum restaurants and that's about all I do there. I spend most of time in Taos, Santa Fe, or Los Alamos--all of which are 40 mins. from here. All three of these towns are very expensive to live in.
Los Alamos is a nice family town in that there's a nice library and community parks and events. Can be quite chilly. It's populated by all of the people who work at Los Alamos national labs. I get kind of weird ju-ju vibe there. People, in my estimation, just aren't very friendly and it's a little too cool for school for my taste. (Some people think this about Los Alamos are put under the "class envy" category. My husband and I both have higher degrees and an uppermiddle class income and we still have this bad vibe from it.)
Taos is in the mountains and can be very very cold. I really like it. It's very expensive. It is quite beautiful, naturally and historically. It's Ultra Liberal. They ahve a nice park there w/ lots of families playing. It's also about 1.5 hours from any good sized town.
I think that we live in the perfect location as far as proximity to "things to do", w/o the expense of living in those places or the congestion issues of LA. and SF.
I nearly forgot about the small towns of Grants and Gallup, which are west of albuquerque. I loathe these towns. Hot, flat and dirty.
If you have questions on particular towns, let us know (:
Good Luck!
Amy
My husband's cousins lived in Santa Fe for about 10 years in the 1990s... and they LEFT to move to New Hampshire. (Of course I think they were crazy to leave NM...)
Adding to Amy's list -- I'll mention Las Vegas. Interesting architecture of a bygone area, some great local businesses have sprung up but also has the shopping and prices offered by Walmart and Walgreens. Some on this board have written of ethnic tension, but I have never noticed it. Seems to be an alternative to Santa Fe, with cheaper real estate, on the other side of the Sangres. I suspect that property here would be a good long-term investment.
LV is about an hour from Santa Fe and starting in December reportedly will be connected by seven daily nonstop buses (currently two) -- so it is not as isolated as some towns. About two hours by car to the Sunport, the ABQ airport.
Of course, a lot depends upon how you feel about heat and cold and snow. If you are just sick of snow and want to see as little as possible, then you would look at lower altitudes -- and these tend to be in the southern part of the state.
I am interested in Socorro because of the university and the lower, hence, warmer climate.
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Las Vegas
