Which major city of the 4 Corners states do you prefer? (living, best)
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-Economy
-Downtown
-City neighborhoods
-QOL (wealth and employment but also the built environment, physical and mental health, education, recreation and leisure time, and social belonging)
-City ammenities (sports, museums, theater)
-Traffic
-Activities nearby
-Access to other cities
-Weather
-Dining/Shopping
-Live music scene
-Festivals
-Intangibles
Lol yes. Sorry didn’t mean to write capital. Meant major city. Need to ask a mod to title change. Embarrassingly, I’ve been to the state Capitol building in Santa Fe.
I'll give you my take even though I don't know these cities at all. Since becoming old enough to remember much (let's say teenage years) the only city I've been to on this list is Denver, which I passed through in and out on a trip to Boulder. So these are the impressions of an outsider:
SLC seems like a really underrated area. I think it performs well on most metrics, and with its decent light rail system probably would suit my preferences nicely. Only major disadvantage for me is the low diversity.
Denver is a place I think I would live. Safest choice considering I don't know any of these cities well...just go with a major, well-established, and very popular metro.
ABQ is another very intriguing place to visit for me. I just haven't had the opportunity. Being a part of the arts scene, I would love to spend some time there and Santa Fe, but I wouldn't think I could live there without visiting extensively first.
Phoenix is another place I think I could live. Not sure I would like it that much though, but it should have most amenities and the diversity we seek. If they continue to improve on their multimodal infrastructure, it could eventually even be high on our list someday.
But yeah, will have to do much more traveling around this region eventually.
Economy - Denver
Downtown - Denver
City neighborhoods - Denver
QOL - Denver or SLC
City Amenities - Denver or Phoenix
Traffic - Albuquerque
Activities nearby - SLC or Denver
Access to other cities - Phoenix
Weather - Albuquerque
Dining/Shopping - Phoenix
Live music scene - Denver or Phoenix
Festivals - Denver or Phoenix
Denver wins out in most all categories, but I still prefer living in Phoenix. Phoenix has a very weak economy for a city of its size (call centers and the service sector are huge here), its downtown is extremely small and underwhelming, the are few discernible neighborhoods within city limits, the access to recreation is good but not as good as Denver, SLC, or even Albuquerque (the small desert hills within the city do not count).
Phoenix does win out with dining/shopping and access to other cities (Las Vegas, LA, and San Diego). Many people in Phoenix cite the proximity of other cities as a pro to living in Phoenix, despite the fact that they are all a 4.5 - 6 hour drive away. However, that is much closer than Albuquerque, SLC and Denver are to any major cities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ApartmentNomad
None of these cities are in the Four Corners Region:
1. Denver
2. Salt Lake City
3. Albuquerque
4. Phoenix
Denver is my first choice because to me it represents the perfect size for an American city. Which in this case is a metropolitan area that ranges between 3 million people to 6 million people. For the United States that sort of size is ideal. It has enough multi-millions of people to feel hectic enough to sport a "big city vibe" in spots and is smaller and therefore less cluttered and less congested than the larger areas, most of which tend to feel quite out of control. I tend to notice that areas of Denver's size range also tend to have a close to perfect balance on amenities and offerings. They also tend to have just enough foreigners to make the local environment interesting both with regards to culture and the culinary offerings. Airport is a huge factor for me because I am not that much into the United States as a tourist destination anymore due to the fact that I've seen so much of it already with 47 states covered (often multiple times for the majority of them), so any facility that can get me out to as many places as possible across the planet is up there for me as a built-up advantage. Having satellite communities like Boulder and the like is a plus point too, it gives you places to go and see in the greater metropolitan region as a whole. Being on the foothills of the Rockies is a perk as well. At its upper limit, I can see Denver eventually flirting with 6 million people in its metropolitan region in my lifetime. Every American metropolitan region, regardless of how dense their suburbs are, tend to spread out across the horizon in a horizontal and not vertical format, which often makes traveling through them more difficult and time consuming because you have to get through a weed of sprawl to do so. To me, that is what makes the larger metropolises in the United States unappealing and why I prefer the medium sized places more so (save for Miami, which is my exception to the rule with regards to large metropolises).
Salt Lake City has the best natural setting of these four without question in my personal opinion and that is saying something because most of these places have incredible natural settings. The entire city and metropolitan area has an elongated shape, north-to-south orientation, that is nestled between some awesomely rugged and tall mountains on two of its sides and the Great Salt Lake to its northwest. I think of the Great Salt Lake as an inland sea, much like the Caspian Sea or the Sea of Azov or something to that tune. When you look over its horizon it looks and feels endless. I also love the attractions and facilities that they have built either inside the lake (like Saltair) or around the lake and the mountains encircle the lake which add a really cool feature to it too. Salt Lake City as a city has great roadways, has a continually expanding transit system, the city is clean, booming economically, growing at a fast clip, and has ideal quality of life attributes with low crime, stable housing, and a greatly improving downtown. It has a pretty good airport and has professional sports teams in the NBA and MLS. Lots to do there, especially if you love the outdoors. To me it is one of America's most under-the-radar cities, especially on this forum and is culturally pretty live-let-live sort of place. I like the place, I like it a lot. I see people on this forum complain a lot about the "conservative" and "Mormon" culture of Salt Lake City and Utah in general. As someone that is actively apolitical and completely Atheist, I have had zero issues whatsoever, which to me makes complete sense as this forum is a great compilation of exaggerations and generalizations. Sort of a running gag-reel of those two things really. People often tend to go way over and beyond with these things at times and it isn't really fair because it marginalizes and negatively stigmatizes a nice place. Oh and having close access to the Grand Staircase and Zion National Park is without a shred of doubt an awesome feature too.
Albuquerque is a very pretty city, especially when coming from the north into the city. The high desert terrain there is stunning and unique. The city has its own brand of culinary offerings, the New Mexican style of food with red-and-green chile, which is simply marvelous. It is one of my Top 10 favorite food cities in the United States and in my personal opinion the best food city of these four with Phoenix second. The greater metropolitan region has plenty to offer both residents and visitors, Santa Fe, which is the capital of New Mexico is in the area and is a very special and unique city both culturally and architecturally. Lots of cool artsy things to see there and lots of distinguished Native American cultural features to explore in the region as well. I like the culture of New Mexico in general, the people are cool.
Phoenix is the biggest of the four and I expect it to grow into a place of 8 million people (or at least over 7 million people) well within the timeframe of my lifetime. It has plenty of growing pains, technically all four of these places do, but Phoenix more so than the others due to the explosive nature of its growth. That wont stop anytime soon, this place will crash the boards until it becomes a huge American city some decades down the line. That is why I generally tend to prefer Tucson, Albuquerque, and El Paso to it in the Desert Southwest region of the United States. Aside from Miami, I have routinely lost appeal in all of the other large American metropolises, which Phoenix is well on its way towards becoming in quick time. Phoenix has a very good and understated food scene, literally among the rare few American metropolises where you can actually find and eat authentic Native American cuisine. Arizona has its own style of Mexican food as well, just as all 4 of the states that border Mexico do, and it is also very good. Phoenix is increasingly becoming more diverse each passing day and that is an added feature to both its culture and culinary offerings. The natural surroundings to the area awesome. I love the desert scenery and the cacti are awesome too, as are the hiking options. Phoenix is a great jump pad to see areas like Sedona, Flagstaff, Tucson, the Grand Canyon, the Gulf of California, and relatively accessible to San Diego, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. Sky Harbor International Airport is a good facility and after Denver's airport it is the second best among the facilities in these 4 cities but I think it could use more options outside of the United States. Could benefit from expanding its global portfolio and footprint even further.
For what it is worth, I like all four of the "Four Corners" states.
Last edited by Trafalgar Law; 07-08-2018 at 05:40 PM..
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