Moving Question Suburb NM Or AZ?? (Phoenix, Tucson: crime rate, hotels, unemployment)

[jayely1]

Hopefully this is the right forum to post on! Anyways Me and my family were looking to move in a couple years to either Rio Rancho (nicer suburb about 20 min. from Albuquerque) Or maybe Scottsdale/Goodyear/Surprise/Avondale AZ. Im only 20 years old and my parents will be retired in 2 years so they want to move somewhere warm thats not extremely busy. So from the research I've done it looks like the pre-mentioned suburbs of Phoenix are far enough away from the hustle and bustle but yet are far from not enough to do. Im trying to convince them to move to AZ but there just worried about the heat. Anyways, I was just wondering what you guys think about Albuquerque and the suburbs of Phoenix I mentioned. They would like to spend under $300,000 as well. Pros/cons of both would be great! Thanks a lot!

[traveljerk123]

about the heat i'd say that you have to experience it first hand in order to get an idea. best way would be to spend at least a week or two during peak summer.. if heat is not an issue i'd say phx > alb
if u can handle 4 months of intense heat the there's nothing like phx. cuz there's a lot to do as compared to alb. ive lived in north phx & would love to move back if a good job opp comes along..
also i feel one shud spend at least a summer there to get acclimatised to the weather. frankly you r indoors mostly during summers and so the heat is almost a non issue. tint your car to the max limit & you'll be just fine. i personally never felt anything about the heat, i just had problems initially due to dry weather.. took about 3-4 months to get used to that since i'd always lived in humid places (east of the rockies).. hotels are very cheap during summers, have yr patents go there for a week or two & you'll know all..

[ABQSunseeker]

There is no "correct" answer in this. It comes down to personal preferences and needs as to which metropolitan area suits you better. Having lived in both places, I can see pluses and minuses in each
.
If you have a real strong aversion to most any temperatures lower than 40 and a tolerance for heat, then Phoenix is the way to go. If you prefer an equable 4 season climate, with occasional cold snaps and the possibility of snow but with very tolerable outdoors weather in the summer, then Albuquerque will make its claim.

If you are looking for a smaller metro area with much less traffic, then it's ABQ. If you want a greater variety of things to do (Phoenix metro is over 5 times the population of ABQ metro) and have a strong interest in professional sports, then it's Phoenix. If you love palm trees, and bougainvillaea, then it's Phoenix. If you want more connections and flights out of an airport, then Phoenix. Etc. I could go on.

If you are talking about Scottsdale as you mention versus Rio Rancho, then Scottsdale is far far prettier and more attractive than Rio Rancho. But Rio Rancho is much cheaper and still presentable.

The best thing to do is have your living objectives strongly in mind and visit both places. Phoenix in the summer and ABQ in the winter may help give you some perspective but neither city is at its best then.

[krock1dk]

The Albuquerque area is better than the Phoenix area. The people are nicer. The cost of living is lower. And dont forget the southern teir of the Rocky Mountains. New Mexico doesnt have nearly the problems AZ does.

[ABQSunseeker]

I didn't bring up the job situation comparisons because you say your timelines are down the road a bit yet. Currently the recession has brought stalled growth and job losses to both Phoenix and Abq. But both cities have unemployment rates less than the national average, with Albuquerque's marginally lower than Phoenix's. All that can change in a brief time. But Albuquerque keeps popping up in various top ten lists as one city most likely to come out of the recession fastest with great potential for growth.

[Ponderosa]

Tough call. I spent a couple years working out of Albuquerque. I always liked the place. ABQ has more of a historical footing than Phoenix - kind of like Tucson does. PHX seems to have popped from nowhere and outgrew itself. The weather in ABQ is cold in winter - at least to me. Phoenix has a string of beautiful days that run mid-Oct to mid-May that is hard to find anywhere. Winter evenings/mornings are too darn cold in ABQ for outdoor life where in PHX they are pretty darn enjoyable.

ABQ has the nearby Sandias and they are delightful. On the other hand, the west side of ABQ is about the ugliest terrain you ever laid eyes on. Much of New Mexico is barren and wind swept. PHX get the nod on natural beauty in my book - not so much PHX itself but the surrounding areas. PHX has large lakes very nearby and more nearby recreational opportunities. Then again, much of that is overrun by the too-large population.

I think that your decision may lie in where you live now. If you are from a smaller place, ABQ is going to fit better. It feels more manageable, if you get my drift. If you want more of the big and growing, sky is the limit kind of feel, then PHX is it.

One caveat - the towns you mention in Phoenix do not have anything approaching a small town feel. There's farms in the middle of Goodyear, but the feel is distinctly Phoenix suburb. There is bustle and construction on every corner and if you go away for a year and return, you wouldn't recognize the place. PHX is like that - everywhere.

The problem with PHX is the people - way too many of them. If we could send the last 3 million or so back where they came from this would once again be the paradise it used to be. But that ain't gonna happen, so for my money, I'd pick cold over people and choose ABQ.

[jayely1]

Thanks for the advise from everyone! Ponderosa, it sounds like you don't really like the Phoenix area very much anymore? How busy are the suburbs of Phoenix that I mentioned? I figured those were kinda like Rio Rancho in the terms of busyness and types of people. My parents didn't mind the traffic in Albuquerque to much. Considering we live in the Quad Cities in Illinois where there are farms everywhere and downtown is considered "busy" from 4-5pm.

[Ponderosa]

Originally Posted by jayely1

Thanks for the advise from everyone! Ponderosa, it sounds like you don't really like the Phoenix area very much anymore? How busy are the suburbs of Phoenix that I mentioned? I figured those were kinda like Rio Rancho in the terms of busyness and types of people. My parents didn't mind the traffic in Albuquerque to much. Considering we live in the Quad Cities in Illinois where there are farms everywhere and downtown is considered "busy" from 4-5pm.

There is no other big city in the US I would consider living in. Phoenix is kind of the "un-city" city. I do like that aspect. Having said that, I do not take advantage of 99.9% of the things a city like this has to offer. I came for the job, stayed for the job, and now that is all behind me, I'd like a smaller place (on a lake LOL).

Anyway, I think you would find Rio Rancho and Goodyear, Surpirse, and the other new burbs to be pretty much the same in most respects.

[jayely1]

Thats good thats what I was hoping for. Because its not insanely busy but yet you wouldn't have to leave town to find things to do from what Im told. Is that correct? WHy wouldn't you want to live in Goodyear/surprise/avondale? THANKS AGAIN

[fcorrales80]

Jay, let's just put it this way, the state of New Mexico has 1.9 million people, the CITY of Phoenix has 1.5 million people alone. That makes a very big difference in every regard and as a first impression. The Phoenix metro area has 4.5 million people and the state is 7.1 million.

If your parents can barely handle the traffic in Albuquerque, then Phoenix may not be the best place for them to retire to if you think you'd be driving around much. I was stationed at three military bases in New Mexico and the military "motto" for the state was "The Land of Entrapment" instead of "The Land of Enchantment" because we could never seem to get orders to move out of the place and it was very sparsely populated, somewhat boring, and very little to do.

The amount of Fall, Winter, Spring, and much less in the summer visitors in Phoenix also dwarf those that visit NM. It will always be busy compared to Albuquerque. However, if you are looking into specific suburbs, I would say look into Estrella Mountain Ranch in Goodyear, Marley Park in Surprise, or Garden Lakes in Avondale.

Another thing to consider is the amount of crime in Albuquerque compared to metro Phoenix. Even though Alb and NM are much smaller in terms of population, the crime rate wouldn't agree...especially compared to the suburbs in Phoenix of Gilbert, Surprise, Scottsdale, Peoria, Litchfield Park, and Peoria. Gilbert was named one of the top 10 safest cities in America for example. Please remember the heat in Phoenix for the months of July and August! These are the peak times of heat in the desert locales.