Santa Fe, New Mexico versus Flagstaff, Arizona? Which city do you prefer? (living, cost)
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Both cities have such underrated beauty, with them being overlooked due to how small both of them are. How I would rank them:
Weather-Flagstaff's weather is the opposite of Tucson's and Phoenix's, with it having extreme winters and very mild summers. Santa Fe has similar winters, with slightly more extreme summers. Since Flagstaff's summer's just a bit too cold for me, Santa Fe surprisingly wins here.
Crime rate-Both are relatively safe cities to live in, but I'd give Flagstaff just a slight edge.
Job situation-This one surprises a ton of people. Santa Fe has one of the highest minimum wage's out of most cities right now, while Flagstaff's is $10 (due to Arizona laws). Santa Fe has an unemployment rate of 4.5% (which is surprisingly low), while Flagstaff's is 3.7%. As for diversity, I originally thought that Santa Fe's wasn't diverse, but I was wrong. Flagstaff's actually seems less diverse, so Santa Fe wins by a slight amount.
Cost of living=Santa Fe has a relative average cost of living, while Flagstaff is starting to become expensive. Santa Fe wins here.
Schools=Flagstaff wins here because it does kind of have a university.
Transit=Santa Fe's transit is very average, while Flagstaff's is kind of underdeveloped. Santa Fe wins here, even though the trains are developed in Flagstaff.
Downtowns=Flagstaff's felt small when I was there, but it did have some noteworthy places there nonetheless that I would go back and visit if I had the chance to. Santa Fe's felt big for a city with just over 80,000 people, with some good restaurants. I'd probably give Santa Fe this one, but it's exceptionally close. I could see how one could prefer the other one.
Scenery=I could write an essay comparing both, but I'll make it brief and just hand it to Santa Fe.
Airports-I wasn't fond of either of them actually. I'll call this one a tie.
Entertainment-I would probably give this one to Flagstaff, but that's only because of some of the scenery that one has easy access to.
Dining: Flagstaff had one astonishing German restaurant, while the rest of them were relatively average. Santa Fe has a very diverse selection of restaurants, with me having several go to ones whenever I visit it (I've visited it quite a few times as well). Santa Fe wins this one.
Overall: I like to refer to both of them as small big cities due to the big city feeling that both small cities give off. Santa Fe wins though.
Santa Fe is a neat place that I like, and I like New Mexico more as a state overall than Arizona. However, I like Flagstaff a little more than Santa Fe.
That said, I think I'd still pick Santa Fe to live in over Flagstaff. Aside from it being in New Mexico and part of its culture, which is rather unique to the West and the U.S., it's also close to Albuquerque. Flagstaff is kind of out there on its own; Phoenix and L.A. are still a long drive from Flagstaff, although they both have more going on than Albuquerque.
Santa Fe, by a million miles. There isn't really anything special about Flag. Its a decent town, but Santa Fe is so much more beautiful, so much more historic, so much more fun.
Both have similar january temps but Santa Fe temps rise quicker,
notice it's sept is almost as warm as Flagstaff's august!
Flagstaff also gets a ton of snow....too much snow....averaging 102 inches
Santa fe gets a more manageable 23 inches of snow per winter on average.
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