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I hope this finds you well. My husband is about to finish his engineering degree in a few months. I am totally excited. However, I am wondering, which area is better for relocation? We are looking for something that has a lot of diversity. We are both muslims, and we would like to 'blend' preferably in the downtown area. How is the job market, the communities, crime rates?
We are coming from TN, and frankly, we are tired of it. We do love the scenery, but the people have gotten on our last nerve. We are past ready to call somewhere else home.
At this time we are looking at several states, but at this point if we can get out of NE TN, we would be the happiest couple.
I would have to guess that the Albuquerque area might be of interest. It is the largest city in New Mexico with other metropolitan areas with a population of over 800,000.
There is a the Islamic Center of New Mexico which provides religious, social and educational services to Muslims in the Albuquerque and surrounding communities. Their website is Welcome to Islamic Center of New Mexico
If I were you, I would not move to New Mexico unless your husband already has an engineering job lined up. Good jobs are hard to find. Many of the engineering positions are with government contractors and require US citizenship and the potential to get a security clearance.
Albuquerque would be the best location for your family but you might also consider Las Cruces. There are government contractor engineering jobs at White Sands which would require some commuting time. New Mexico State University is in Las Cruces and has some Muslim students. There is not a vibrant downtown but the areas near the University and a few other parts of town might fit your needs. It may be worth checking out. Then of course, there is Los Alamos National Laboratory which is about 45 minutes from Santa Fe but it is expensive to live in Los Alamos or Santa Fe. Unfortunately the government contractors across New Mexico are downsizing but they do have an older workforce, many of whom may be retiring in the next few years.
I would consider Socorro if your husband is interested in Academics. New Mexico Technical University is one of the best geotechnical schools in the country. Like many others I suggest you spend a couple of weeks visiting before you decide to move. New Mexico is so climatically different from Tennessee that it might as well be on another planet. I also suggest that you have some jobs lined up or at least interviews before moving.
As an alum, it's still "New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology" or New Mexico Tech for short.
The term "technical" is often taken to be pejorative, referring more frequently to 2-year trade schools and community colleges, which New Mexico Tech is decidedly not.
I wouldn't move here without a job lined up. This isn't Texas or one of the coasts. There really is only one city in NM, and that's Albuquerque. It's also probably your best bet if you are adamant about making a blind move here.
That's basically true. Las Cruces is a college town, hard to really even call it a city. Alamogordo, where I live, is like a large rural community. There are a lot of people down on their fortune here. This is a poor state, yet I am starting to love it here nonetheless. But I had a job here ta move to from Coeur d' Alene, Idaho. I never would've moved here without having a job already scored.
ALBQ is pretty much the only real city. Las Cruces, imo, borders on being big enough to be considered a city, but I don't think it has topped that mark yet. (190k MSA, I'd expect around 250k to really meet the city requirements)
Rio Rancho may seem like a city to someone who is far away, but it's more like a suburb of ALBQ.
I don't think any areas in the south west have a very high Muslim population. The only place that I recall having a very large Muslim population is Michigan. If you are open to living somewhere that there are few other muslims, than ALBQ or Las Cruces might work just fine for you.
Albuquerque is pretty much the only city in New Mexico. It has a very nice suburb called Rio Rancho.
If you are liberal or hipster, you will enjoy living in the capital city of Santa Fe. It is not that big though but it is within a hour from ALBQ.
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