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I've been out there for work. I'm not sure how I feel about it. People are fantastic and it is obviously very scenic, but that development down the 25 corridor seems pretty brutal and it seems like traffic sucks to get to Provo, etc. Also, it seems like the housing stock isn't the best. But this is a pretty uninformed opinion, too.
I mean yes there is construction and traffic but the other cities listed will have the same issues if not much worse.
I agree with others that, of these 3, Atlanta checks most of your boxes, but...
Quote:
Originally Posted by khyberpass
- Snow/skiing (<2 hours away)
How important is this? If you're ok with any ski area then the resorts in NC will suffice. If you want high-quality skiing nearby, Atlanta's a very distant 3rd.
Quote:
Originally Posted by khyberpass
Also, I have family in Denver. When I go out there I am not super enamored with the city. Don't get me wrong, it would be a great place to be, but for the price, I'd rather be in Seattle.
Seattle and Denver's COL aren't really that close. Seattle is 30-35% more expensive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by khyberpass
What do you think about Fort Collins? It feels a bit more provincial. I still can't figure out what people do there for work and what justifies the housing prices beyond the university.
I personally love Fort Collins. Got my bachelor's from CSU. The IT market is pretty weak, though, and you're fighting with college students who don't leave the area once they graduate. If I didn't need a job, I'd move there in a heartbeat. My wife keeps trying to convince me to move our family up there, but I'm not commuting to Denver for work. I'd rather eat a bullet than do that.
Another wild card is Boise. If you're willing to consider the Springs, you should at least check it out, too.
What did you not care for in Denver and what stood out to you about Colorado Springs?
From what you listed, here's how I think COS would stack up.
Mountain biking: Great
Ethnic restaurants: Fairly decent
Housing stock: Bad. Prices have gone up a lot in the last several years, the new development is crap, they're just throwing up houses with no road or infrastructure improvements.
Walkable neighborhoods: No
Friendly / Vibrant: There's a good mix of people from all over and they're generally interesting. Bit male dominated from all the soldiers if your a younger guy.
Healthy: Yes
Rust Belt: Hell no. There's hardly any industrial zoning in the entire metro.
Skiing is 2-3 hours away, not <2. COS isn't the best spot in the state for skiing as Pikes Peaks too dry and there's South Park in between the city and the rest of the ski areas.
Airport: DIA is 1 1/2 hours away. It's decent. There's a lot of direct flights, but if there's any sort of delays, the entire airport just backs up for hours. It'll be under construction for years.
Tech Jobs: If you have military experience
Live music: Average.
Generally agree with this, but there are a several walkable neighborhoods like downtown, Old North End, Old Colo City, Manitou. Agree housing inventory is very low and prices are rising rapidly.
Tech is best with a military clearance but still available in the private sector with several data centers and software companies not to mention private IT support organizations.
Albuquerque checks off all of those boxes. It may not be the best at all of them, but it is decent enough in most of them and excels in quite a few of them.
Must haves:
- Mountainous outdoors scene (avid mtn biker) Yes - Albuquerque is just wonderful in this regard, with the Sandia mountains right next to the city and other areas like the beautiful Jemez mountains nearby.
- Decent ethnic restaurant scene Yes - Albuquerque has a great ethnic restaurant scene as well as various ethnic grocery stores.
- Good housing stock (not forced to live in tract housing) Yes - Albuquerque has tons of houses with character and built to last.
- Walkable neighborhoods Yes - from Downtown to East Downtown to Mountain Road to Old Town to West Downtown to UNM area to Nob Hill, Albuquerque has great walkable neighborhoods to explore.It also has great small towns with interesting and walkable cores nearby, such as Corrales, Bernalillo and Los Ranchos. Santa Fe is nearby as well.
- Friendly/vibrant Yes - Albuquerque is friendly and welcoming to newcomers and has a vibrant cultural, arts and creative scene, with a university and many local arts organizations. The city is getting to be vibrant economically as well right now after a slump, with billions in outside investment, thousands of jobs being created and lots of construction going on.
- Healthy-looking people/active culture Yes - Albuquerque is outdoorsy with an active culture and often ranked among the fittest cities in the country.
- Not rustbelt (I've spent most of my life in it) Yes - Albuquerque is the Sunbelt and returning to its fast-growing ways after a slump.
Would prefer:
- Low state income tax (starting a business) Yes - New Mexico is neither the best or the worst when it comes to income taxes, but nearer to the best than the worst. And it makes up for somewhat high sales/gross receipts taxes with low property taxes. The state is doing all it can to help small businesses, including simplifying the tax structure and lowering taxes and fees.
- Not too grey (at least better than Great Lakes area) Yes - Albuquerque has great, sunny weather most of the year with enough rain and snow to not be monotonous.
- Snow/skiing (<2 hours away) Yes - there's snow in the city, the foothills and the adjacent mountains. There's skiing right next to the city in the mountains at Sandia Peak and within two hours at top places like Taos Ski Valley and Angel Fire.
- Major int'l airport nearby (<2 hours away) Yes - the Albuquerque International Sunport is 53rd busiest in the country and offers direct flights to both coasts and most major cities.
- Tech jobs Yes - over 4,000 tech jobs have been created in Albuquerque this year alone.
- Good live music scene Yes - Downtown Albuquerque has many live music venues offering performances daily.
I love Albuqurque but the people are among the unhealthiest .It lacks park space as well. It got a lot of positives but I dont think this is one of them.
I love Albuqurque but the people are among the unhealthiest .It lacks park space as well. It got a lot of positives but I dont think this is one of them.
National studies and rankings prove you wrong:
Albuquerque scored 58 on the most recent ParkScore study for 2019, ranking 34th among 100 cities in the study for quality, accessibility and availability of park space. It once ranked as high as 17th in the study, but has dropped due to the addition of splash pads and availability of bathrooms in parks as measurements in the study.
Albuquerque also devotes the second-highest percentage of its city limits to official open space preserves of any city in the country, behind only Anchorage.
Albuquerque ranked number 1 in 2011 for parkland per per person within city limits, with more than twice as much as any other city, which means it's unlikely it has lost that distinction in the last 8 years.
If I could afford to, I'd live close to Seattle. Rainy, gloomy weather is right up my alley.
man, i used to think the same, but it really gets to me now for some reason. our recent winters have been exactly this and it feels so monotonous and sad. coastal gloom, on the other hand, is haloed with romance and the greenery has a pulse of life. at least that's what i am telling myself.
Not that I don't believe you, but one of these studies had Pittsburgh at #16 for fitness. Eye test tells me that this is not even remotely accurate.
I didn't ask you to believe anything, I presented unbiased sources that rank and show Albuquerque as being among the fittest cities in the country, based off of actual data.
Albuquerque is absolutely an outdoorsy city with a focus on outdoor recreation. Anybody who is familiar with this city knows how much walking, running, biking and hiking is a part of this city's lifeblood. The trails along the bosque, riverside drains and flood control channels, the foothills and mountain trails, the escarpment and Petroglyph trails, etc. are all well-used and often packed. Albuquerque is just a very active and healthy place with great weather and terrain that allows for that sort of outdoor recreation.
My eye test tells me that Albuquerque is very fit and has relatively few overweight people.
I didn't ask you to believe anything, I presented unbiased sources that rank and show Albuquerque as being among the fittest cities in the country, based off of actual data.
Albuquerque is absolutely an outdoorsy city with a focus on outdoor recreation. Anybody who is familiar with this city knows how much walking, running, biking and hiking is a part of this city's lifeblood. The trails along the bosque, riverside drains and flood control channels, the foothills and mountain trails, the escarpment and Petroglyph trails, etc. are all well-used and often packed. Albuquerque is just a very active and healthy place with great weather and terrain that allows for that sort of outdoor recreation.
My eye test tells me that Albuquerque is very fit and has relatively few overweight people.
Im not here to argue it was an observation. It has been a few years since I was last there so change is inevitable like many places but I personally was underwhelmed with that aspect of it.If it has improved then good for Albuqurque.
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