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I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure sitting on one's porch or timing bicycle rides is not the priority to most Americans (or companies) on where they move.
I agree.
We’re just talking weather.
I’ve always been pretty flexible with work, purposely coordinated it that way sometimes at the expense of more pay, so while job availability is a big part of the equation, it’s not the only thing.
The two cities are not alike and one can never be like the other so it boils down to personal preference: where would you rather live. I personally prefer Albuquerque and have no real understanding why anyone ever settled in Phoenix in the first place. Albuquerque has 160 years on Phoenix and has much more history and character and fits better in its environment. Phoenix is essentially a scab on the desert. Albuquerque is laid-back and there is an artsy element to the place as well as some complacency that sometimes crosses over into a bit of sloth. Maybe the Goldilocks climate contributes to that as well as a long-standing sense of mañana. Albuquerque is changing a bit over the last few years and has moved away from relying too heavily on government contract work. It is still a relatively small place with a one-million metro population, but has been discovered and has been booming. Post-COVID, the things that attract people and investment will still be here. But Albuquerque cannot grow into a more pleasant Phoenix -- it is hemmed in on three sides and the fourth is desert and mesas. The lifestyles are different. The demographics are different. The politics are different. The states are very different. I have relatives in Chandler who love the Phoenix area but everyone else I have known who moved there have left or else wants to.
At 5300' i'm guessing the sun intensity in Alb. is pretty bad, but I haven't spent enough time in Phoenix to compare the two. I'm sure evenings in Alb. are lovely in the summer but the high elevation sun is no cake walk during afternoon hours. That burning feeling at high elevation makes you not want to be in the sun for more than 15 minutes. I bet a lot of older folks in Alb. are wearing long sleeves in the summer for that reason.
I like pool culture too so I'm leaning towards Phoenix.
One thing that's funny about NM is that a lot of people claim to be of Spanish Heritage when they are really just Mexicans.
Last edited by Denverpro; 02-16-2021 at 11:53 AM..
The two cities are not alike and one can never be like the other so it boils down to personal preference: where would you rather live. I personally prefer Albuquerque and have no real understanding why anyone ever settled in Phoenix in the first place.
Surprised to hear someone in New Mexico has no real understanding of why Phoenix was settled, our histories aren't completely unrelated or different.
The Hohokam initially settled here in 300AD, the canals that transport modern Phoenix's water supply are built on the same network the Hohokam's used, it's actually pretty cool to see that same engineering feat used today. Why was modern Phoenix developed here? For the same reason many cities develop where they are, water. This is the Salt River valley which is a fertile ground for farming and it also became the base of major military presence during WWII.
Directly from Wikipedia for you:
Phoenix was settled in 1867 as an agricultural community near the confluence of the Salt and Gila Rivers and was incorporated as a city in 1881. It became the capital of Arizona Territory in 1889. Its canal system led to a thriving farming community with the original settler's crops remaining important parts of the Phoenix economy for decades, such as alfalfa, cotton, citrus, and hay. Cotton, cattle, citrus, climate, and copper were known locally as the "Five C's" anchoring Phoenix's economy. These remained the driving forces of the city until after World War II, when high-tech companies began to move into the valley and air conditioning made Phoenix's hot summers more bearable.
A town that had just over 65,000 residents in 1940 became America's sixth largest city by 2010, with a population of nearly 1.5 million, and millions more in nearby suburbs. After the war, many of the men who had undergone their training in Arizona returned with their new families. Learning of this large untapped labor pool enticed many large industries to move their operations to the area.In 1948, high-tech industry, which would become a staple of the state's economy, arrived in Phoenix when Motorola chose Phoenix as the site of its new research and development center for military electronics. Seeing the same advantages as Motorola, other high-tech companies, such as Intel and McDonnell Douglas, moved into the valley and opened manufacturing operations.
The two cities are not alike and one can never be like the other so it boils down to personal preference: where would you rather live. I personally prefer Albuquerque and have no real understanding why anyone ever settled in Phoenix in the first place. Albuquerque has 160 years on Phoenix and has much more history and character and fits better in its environment. Phoenix is essentially a scab on the desert. Albuquerque is laid-back and there is an artsy element to the place as well as some complacency that sometimes crosses over into a bit of sloth. Maybe the Goldilocks climate contributes to that as well as a long-standing sense of mañana. Albuquerque is changing a bit over the last few years and has moved away from relying too heavily on government contract work. It is still a relatively small place with a one-million metro population, but has been discovered and has been booming. Post-COVID, the things that attract people and investment will still be here. But Albuquerque cannot grow into a more pleasant Phoenix -- it is hemmed in on three sides and the fourth is desert and mesas. The lifestyles are different. The demographics are different. The politics are different. The states are very different. I have relatives in Chandler who love the Phoenix area but everyone else I have known who moved there have left or else wants to.
ABQ isn't a huge draw like PHX and isn't a huge draw for people from PHX. Part of the problem is that there is no direct freeway link between the two cities and the drive can seem out-of-the-way. Perhaps if ABQ had more to offer, that would change. But, it has a long way to go and its population growth remains anemic by comparison. It would help if the city had more high-paying jobs too (something that would help Tucson as well). I hope both ABQ and Tucson see some significant growth.
Phoenix and ABQ aren't even remotely in the same league, but I think that's understood here. Yes, they are both southwest cities. I think Tucson would be a closer apples to apples comparison. I feel like someone that chooses ABQ doesn't really want the much bigger city characteristics of Phoenix and its metro.
Albuquerque's draw is an actual authentic Southwestern culture. We don't have to fake that or try to sprinkle it in to add some type of flair. Albuquerque has a real sense of place and history. Its local culture is distinct and unlike anywhere else. Other places may try to claim elements of it, but it's the real thing, the originator. Albuquerque draws plenty of people, people who come to experience its culture and uniqueness and people who come to experience the place they saw on TV and in movies. Having hit shows made and set here for the last couple of decades has increased Albuquerque's profile around the world. Look up Albuquerque any day on social media and look at the references to it from people around the world. Albuquerque is doing just fine on all accounts.
As I said, there has never been a better time for Albuquerque, this is it!
At 5300' i'm guessing the sun intensity in Alb. is pretty bad, but I haven't spent enough time in Phoenix to compare the two. I'm sure evenings in Alb. are lovely in the summer but the high elevation sun is no cake walk during afternoon hours. That burning feeling at high elevation makes you not want to be in the sun for more than 15 minutes. I bet a lot of older folks in Alb. are wearing long sleeves in the summer for that reason.
I like pool culture too so I'm leaning towards Phoenix.
One thing that's funny about NM is that a lot of people claim to be of Spanish Heritage when they are really just Mexicans.
One thing that's funny about NM is that a lot of people claim to be of Spanish Heritage when they are really just Mexicans.
The majority of Hispanics in New Mexico are of Mexican descent (about 67 percent), that's due to immigration and birthrates, but there is in fact a significant proportion of the Hispanic population here that are indeed descended directly from the original Spanish settlers and who are not Mexican in any way. The Spanish have been in New Mexico for over 400 years. New Mexico was part of Mexico for a couple of decades out of those hundreds of years. We've been part of the U.S. for over 170 years. The Hispanos in New Mexico are more American than anything, with Spanish Colonial cultural traits leftover. If you ever actually knew anybody in New Mexico who is Hispano you would know the difference between them and people of Mexican descent.
I'd say New Mexico has three distinct Hispanic subcultures. You have the longtime Hispanos, the longtime Mexican-descended population and the more recent Mexican immigrant population. The Hispanos have been here for hundreds of years, the longtime Mexicans have been here or are descended from people who have been here since the early 1900s to the 1940s. The recent Mexicans have been here or are descended from people who have been here since about the 1960s-1970s to today.
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