Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Just curious which city yall believe will have a brighter future? All three cities are around the same size and are desert cities. I can't even choose cause I have no idea.
Texas is booming but El Paso is far from everything in Texas.
Arizona has grown like crazy especially Phoenix area. But what about Tucson?
And New Mexico is loosing population but Albuquerque is a decent city.
Tucson and El Paso seem to be making more and better strides than Albuquerque lately, but Albuquerque still holds fundamental advantages over them to where I don't think you can say it will lag behind forever. Tucson has been building itself up nicely the past few years and El Paso has been doing some of the same and growing at a good rate due mainly to the expansion of Fort Bliss. Albuquerque's been crawling along in recent years but the worst is definitely behind us and we are now on our way back up.
As I said, though, Albuquerque has more fundamental advantages over Tucson and El Paso that will take more than their recent streetcars and high rises (Tucson) and downtown stadiums and population growth (El Paso) to overcome. Albuquerque has quite a bit larger economy than Tucson despite Tucson being the bigger city, and it is much bigger than El Paso's even though El Paso isn't that much smaller population-wise. That means that Albuquerque has a greater economic output per capita than either Tucson or El Paso. Albuquerque is also the wealthiest per capita of the three and has the lowest amount of poverty and the most educated populace as well.
These are big advantages for Albuquerque over Tucson and El Paso and are things which are more ingrained and harder to change than the more superficial advantages that Tucson and El Paso have been enjoying over Albuquerque lately. If Albuquerque can build momentum in its recovery and follows through with its current plans for change (BRT, new infrastructure and jobs initiatives) then I think the city will enjoy a brighter future over both Tucson and El Paso, if for no other reason than the city is coming from a place of advantage currently.
But let's be clear, none of these cities seem to have that bright of an outlook currently. They all must be willing to work to change their faults and current deficiencies to ever have a hope of really having a truly great future to look forward to. Tucson shares the same defeatist and slow-to-change attitude of Albuquerque and El Paso suffers from the same overall reputation and perception issues as Albuquerque. All of them have a propensity to settle for less, go for the cheapest option and accept mediocrity. These are obstacles which I think will prevent any of these cities from ever truly exploding with growth and progress to where any of them will ever be the next Austin, Charlotte or Nashville.
Past threads that compare Tuscon vs. Albuquerque vs. El Paso all put Albuquerque on top. I personally would agree.
Tuscon and Albuquerque in general are more well known and have more appeal, whereas El Paso kind of gets looks like "you mean its a real city?, not just the name of a Marty Robbins song?"
Economically, there is no benefit to being in Tucson when Phoenix is just a couple hours north, not to mention that Phoenix offers everything one could want, in addition to the fact that what Tucson offers Phoenix has better versions of in most cases. I think businesses recognize this and it's why Tucson is the 4th poorest city in the country. Phoenix has absorbed the majority of Tucson's economy ever since Tucson lost it's capital status when we were a territory. I think Tucson could only win this poll if it started to absorb Phoenix's population (i.e. Phoenix grows out that much) and becomes sort of more like a Los Angeles/San Diego dynamic. I think this will happen at some point in time, but not for a long, long time. In other words, I don't vote for Tucson. Otherwise, Tucson would have to become significantly business-friendly in order to steal business from one of the largest metros in the nation and that will be very tough and mainly impossible.
El Paso I don't think any outsider has a positive outlook on. As someone living in a "border city" El Paso to me looks like the worst option when it comes to living near Mexico. It is right next to Juarez after all... and I think this hurts El Paso to be honest. Though Texas seems to be doing very well economically, partially due to the no state income tax, El Paso would take a lot of effort to change. Though it appears it seems to be taking these strides from what I've seen on this thread. Personally I don't keep tabs on El Paso. It also appears, at least from Google Maps, that El Paso seems to be geographically constrained given the mountains and the Mexican border. This might hurt El Paso's growth as well unless El Paso starts to grow UP rather than out, but we all know that's atypical for an American city let alone a Texan city.
Albuquerque I have heard good things about. Ever since Breaking Bad it's gotten a lot of limelight. However New Mexico lost population according to the Census. New Mexico as a whole doesn't seem to be doing well economically, especially considering it neighbors the superstar Texas and Arizona which I would say is average. If New Mexico takes efforts into getting more jobs than I see ABQ being the leader here. New Mexican food is amazing, has its own identity and culture which is a draw for many people who want a "true" Southwestern lifestyle... Not to mention ABQ is the most mild in climate compared to the other two and that's another MAJOR draw.
So I agree with the others and nominate ABQ for first, with El Paso being second and Tucson being third.
Economically, there is no benefit to being in Tucson when Phoenix is just a couple hours north, not to mention that Phoenix offers everything one could want, in addition to the fact that what Tucson offers Phoenix has better versions of in most cases. I think businesses recognize this and it's why Tucson is the 4th poorest city in the country. Phoenix has absorbed the majority of Tucson's economy ever since Tucson lost it's capital status when we were a territory. I think Tucson could only win this poll if it started to absorb Phoenix's population (i.e. Phoenix grows out that much) and becomes sort of more like a Los Angeles/San Diego dynamic. I think this will happen at some point in time, but not for a long, long time. In other words, I don't vote for Tucson. Otherwise, Tucson would have to become significantly business-friendly in order to steal business from one of the largest metros in the nation and that will be very tough and mainly impossible.
El Paso I don't think any outsider has a positive outlook on. As someone living in a "border city" El Paso to me looks like the worst option when it comes to living near Mexico. It is right next to Juarez after all... and I think this hurts El Paso to be honest. Though Texas seems to be doing very well economically, partially due to the no state income tax, El Paso would take a lot of effort to change. Though it appears it seems to be taking these strides from what I've seen on this thread. Personally I don't keep tabs on El Paso. It also appears, at least from Google Maps, that El Paso seems to be geographically constrained given the mountains and the Mexican border. This might hurt El Paso's growth as well unless El Paso starts to grow UP rather than out, but we all know that's atypical for an American city let alone a Texan city.
Albuquerque I have heard good things about. Ever since Breaking Bad it's gotten a lot of limelight. However New Mexico lost population according to the Census. New Mexico as a whole doesn't seem to be doing well economically, especially considering it neighbors the superstar Texas and Arizona which I would say is average. If New Mexico takes efforts into getting more jobs than I see ABQ being the leader here. New Mexican food is amazing, has its own identity and culture which is a draw for many people who want a "true" Southwestern lifestyle... Not to mention ABQ is the most mild in climate compared to the other two and that's another MAJOR draw.
So I agree with the others and nominate ABQ for first, with El Paso being second and Tucson being third.
You really hit it home with your assessment of Tucson vs Phoenix. I keep telling people that the only reason why Tucson doesn't have all the amenities that other cities its size have is because Phoenix as around 1.5/2 hours north, and with phx being the 6th biggest city in the nation I gather that companies would rather invest in the Phoenix area over the Tucson area. If Tucson was the biggest city in its state like ALBQ is or if it was as isolated as El Paso I think that we would have a way different Tuscon then what we currently have.
I'd point out that both Tucson and El Paso have advantages over Albuquerque too, though.
Tucson may suffer under Phoenix's shadow in some ways but it also benefits in others. For one thing, Phoenix's contribution to Arizona's population makes for the University of Arizona being one of the premier and biggest universities in the country. Recently, that has translated into a lot of boons for Tucson. All those new residential high rises downtown and at the university Main Gate for university students and the new university hospital are reflective of a university befitting a state the size of Arizona overall (with Phoenix) and not merely a reflection of Tucson by itself. I doubt we will ever see anything like that in Albuquerque for UNM.
And El Paso benefits from the wealth and size of Texas, most notably in its road infrastructure. All the new interchanges and freeways there could never happen in Albuquerque just because our state is so poor. We went big one time and built a great interchange here but then reality set in and subsequent and similar grand plans for our road infrastructure have been forced to be scaled back in line with the reality of our state's funding capabilities. El Paso may be isolated in Texas but that hasn't seemed to prevent it from eventually benefiting from the state's largesse and propensity to do things in a big way.
You really hit it home with your assessment of Tucson vs Phoenix. I keep telling people that the only reason why Tucson doesn't have all the amenities that other cities its size have is because Phoenix as around 1.5/2 hours north, and with phx being the 6th biggest city in the nation I gather that companies would rather invest in the Phoenix area over the Tucson area. If Tucson was the biggest city in its state like ALBQ is or if it was as isolated as El Paso I think that we would have a way different Tuscon then what we currently have.
Tucson used to be the biggest city in the territory but Phoenix started to grow as an "agricultural oasis" because of the Salt River which is why Phoenix is the way it is rather than Tucson. And besides Phoenix would have an easier time attracting companies solely for employees. Tucson itself has more taxation on businesses in comparison to Phoenix which I think this taxation is the ultimate downfall of the city. Tucson is relatively liberal whereas the Phoenix metro I would say is mostly conservative, and businesses like conservative taxes which is why they love Texas so much! Tucson would have to turn conservative in order to gain a foothold, and I don't think it ever will. Tucson's liberalness is part of its character.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
