El Paso and Albuquerque Comparo (Austin, Spring: crime rate, homes, neighborhoods)

[borgerboy]

Just a question about comparing central Albuquerque and central El Paso. Although both cities are similar in size, abq seems to have more going on as far as walkable neighborhoods with eating, drinking, and retail than elp. I’m not knocking El Paso, but I am looking at moving out of a larger city in Texas. So for those familiar with both cities is there anything in El Paso similar to nob hill, old town, or even barillos. Or is El Paso starting to develop more in that direction? I know UNM has something to do with it, but aren’t UNM and UTEP similar in size?

[Johnhw2]

I dont know the two cities very well but El Paso is like a city of about 3M in many ways. that is the population when adding in the Mexico population that is part of the metro.

I know a lady who was retired with kids living in Europe and decided to move to El Paso from Phoenix for lower cost of living and better flight access to Europe. Ft Bliss is a key reason for this as well as the number of people in the area. Law Cruses is a nice NM option if you prefer NM to Texas for some reason and NMSU is there as you know. Also, El Paso area has one of the best oktober fest activities due to a battalion of German soldiers stationed in the area because of the white sands missile range. When they do high tech tests of military stuff NASA staff and foreign staff can come in for the test so the flights to different spots are more necessary than a typical city its size.

I read an article claiming the wealthier business owners in Juarez own homes and live in El Paso for schools and safety for the family and cross back daily to run their business in Mexico. El Paso has good stats I am told for being a very safe city surprisingly

Ft Bliss is huge too its benefited s in growing a lot as congress shut down smaller military bases and moved the mission group into Ft Bliss. Something like a Billion dollar of construction was going on a few years ago on the base.

interesting tidbit about US 70 is it can be shut down when one of these white sands test is going on. Can you imagine
scheduled shut down of a US highway? LOL

I will be following your progress and decision with interest

[borgerboy]

Thank you for the reply. I probably should say that I’m recently retired. Considering staying in Texas due to the lower cost of living and tax rates. I had narrowed it down to the Palm Springs area, or Phoenix. As I’m structuring my financial situation I’m thinking I might should consider areas like Elp,Abq, and possibly Tucson. I live in a very vibrant area in central Austin and would like to maintain that. I’m anglo and enjoy the bi-cultural diversity of the southwest. I’m also looking for low humidity and proximity to the mountains. So with the cities mentioned it will probably come down to visiting some more after this covid thing.

[Johnhw2]

Thanks for the update. I have been in Texas since 1983. Ive been retired for 13 years now, we moved to DFW from Hluston post retirement. Whille I like DFW and being near family and love Texas if I had it to do over again I would have visited Nashville metro as an option. Pretty country side, fast growing pretty city and best cost of living and tax situation I can find for a retiree in my situation.

I love NM mountains. Our famly owns a rustic cabin at 8600 feet elevation. But that altitude is rougher as you age so we visit less and less now.

Good luck with your retirement and decision on where to live. I like El Paso it reminds me of NM with the Texas taxes but low humidity and close to the mountains

[Spottednikes]

Nm has a state tax but low property taxes. If you dont have a high income, nm will be cheaper. You could live in Santa Teresa rather than el paso, and you are 10 min from el paso. So you would get the el paso benefits without the high property taxes.
Tucson has a high crime rate as does ABQ.
Old Mesilla is in Las Cruces and is comparable to old town in ABQ.
Downtown el paso has been undergoing a revitalization with more restaurants and clubs. You also have Cincinnati district which has walkable area of restaurants, wine bars and clubs.

[aab7855]

ABQ and especially all points north of there in NM are going to have a prettier landscape than EP, but I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It´s certainly greener in Northern NM, but by no means am I not enthralled by the Saudi Arabia-type landscape of El Paso.

El Paso is much safer than ABQ.

[lipbalm]

Originally Posted by aab7855

ABQ and especially all points north of there in NM are going to have a prettier landscape than EP, but I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. It´s certainly greener in Northern NM, but by no means am I not enthralled by the Saudi Arabia-type landscape of El Paso.

El Paso is much safer than ABQ.

For it's size ABQ has a ton of crazy s##t that happens there, a friend of mine was running a construction job there 2 years ago and one of his employees truck was shot up from a road rage incident. It was crazy, stuff like that is very very rare in el paso (Wal mart shooting doe snot count since it was a crazy outsider that did that).

[aab7855]

Originally Posted by lipbalm

For it's size ABQ has a ton of crazy s##t that happens there, a friend of mine was running a construction job there 2 years ago and one of his employees truck was shot up from a road rage incident. It was crazy, stuff like that is very very rare in el paso (Wal mart shooting doe snot count since it was a crazy outsider that did that).

Yeah I´ve heard about stuff like that happening. It´s got a bigger drug problem than the average city, and apparently a lot of gangs are attracted to the idea of doing business in a city with a grossly overwhelmed and understaffed police force:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDFb_KLKDec

[upswept]

I left Albuquerque in the 2000's because of the crime. The city and police weren't getting on top of it and it was worse every day. Just my 2 cents.

[WestGuest]

Alb more crime.