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Nothing invidious there... and it is only via comparison that someone can discuss what is "good" about the place they favor, since all descriptors are relative.
So let me say -- for purposes of comparison -- that Ruidoso is reported to be one of the fastest growing towns in New Mexico (see the Wikipedia entry for Ruidoso) and has the problems that attend rapid growth -- for instance, the local newspaper reports problems due to deferred road improvements. Los Alamos, for purposes of comparison, has a similar population size, but is quite stable in population.
My grandson in Los Alamos attends the public schools starting with Barranca Mesa Elementary and will never attend a school rated less than 10 (ten) on a ten point scale on the Great Schools Index. If he were in Ruidoso, the highest rated elementary school is a 4 (four). GreatSchools.net
The same web site reports a violent crime index from Sperling Best Places, in which 1 (one) is the best. Los Alamos is a 2 (two) and Ruidoso is a 6 (six).
Even the City of Santa Fe is only a 3 (three) on the violent crime index and has four elementary schools that rate a 9 or higher on the Best Schools Index.
I write this on the basis of information available to anybody and I suspect that this information would be useful to someone contemplating a move here. An older person might not care about the schools, but might be concerned by the level of violent crime.
But I wonder if this seems invidious to you.
Last edited by Devin Bent; 01-28-2008 at 10:38 AM..
Reason: typo
Lets, I love Hondo my dad was born in picacho/Hondo, but now the freeway goes thru my grandmas house.I loved the sound of the early morning as the roosters crowed, and echoed thru the mountains I could feel the cool air come in thru the craked window and I would hear my dad and grandma getting the kitchen woodstove started. Then I would run in with a blnket wrapped around me. As I knew my Grandma would start cooking and watch her make homemade torillas all layed out on the wood stove and fried potaoes and put the beans on. I lived in Ft. Stanton as my dad was the barber to the Kids there,at night on tuesdays we would go to the cantina and watch movies.Ride our bikes to the Ft. cemertary and tell ghost stories and then ride home as fast as we could cause we scared ourselves...... during the 70's then we moved to Capitan, I loved it, even got to go Smokey the bears funeral....lol school feild trip......loved going pinon hunting, we would dry them on the rooftops, spent time in Ruidoso as my mothers parents and grandparents lived there, and I remember just laying out in the yard just listening to the trees sway in the wind How I love that sound......Loved going to Benito lake and hearing about how it is haunted.....We would hike into the mountains and go rattlesnake hunting or jack rabbits,I would go rollerskating with my brother in Ruidoso, my brother still lives in that house my Gradpa built in in 1920,My grandparents owned two houses one in TulaRosa an one in Ruidoso so we would spend time in Tularosa too and they had a pecan groove and I would to play out in the trees. Each of the small towns have a special memory for me
The same web site reports a violent crime index from Sperling Best Places, in which 1 (one) is the best. Los Alamos is a 2 (two) and Ruidoso is a 6 (six).
I was somewhat puzzled by the supposed crime rate here, because I've never had the sense that it wasn't safe, and I don't know of any other residents who've had a problem. We don't even bother to lock our doors. But then I realized that this is a resort town... racetrack, casino, skiing, lots of events in the summer. When you have thousands of people coming into town partying, that is always going to push up the crime rate, but not in a way that effects the locals... especially the ones who live on the other side of town as I do. Plus there are lots of "vacation" homes here that are vacant most of the time (ie easy burglery targets).
I've been to Los Alamos a few times, and of course it is clean and safe and the schools are good, because it is primarily supported by high-tech, secret, government labs. Very expensive to live there too.
I've been to Los Alamos a few times, and of course it is clean and safe and the schools are good, because it is primarily supported by high-tech, secret, government labs. Very expensive to live there too.
Los Alamos definitely has higher living expenses when comparing it to your average town in New Mexico, but I've always wondered just how much more expensive it really is. I knew quite a few families there who had no connection with the lab and were not independently wealthy, so it's possible to live in LA even if you don't make a ton of money, but cost of living seems to be one of the main reasons a lot of people decide against relocating there.
Los Alamos definitely has higher living expenses when comparing it to your average town in New Mexico, but I've always wondered just how much more expensive it really is.
It isn't that bad compared to some... median house value is $359,000, and jobs probably pay better than in the rest of the state.
Ruidoso's is $269,000, but it looks like that is skewed by the fact that 54% of the homes are unoccupied, and the unoccupied houses tend to be more extravagent than the ones the residents live in. On this page you can see that value of most of the owner occupied houses is less than $150k.
Moderator cut: removed
The low price of land around here really impressed me. You don't have to be rich to buy acreage.
Last edited by autumngal; 01-31-2008 at 12:51 PM..
Reason: no competitive sites please, ty
Cost of living: this seems influenced by median house value and that can be misleading. It the typical housing is bigger, then median price goes up, but that doesn't give a real feeling for the relative prices of comparable houses. Also in some cities -- eg, Santa Fe -- you can pay a tremendous premium for certain neighborhoods -- I would say hundreds of thousands of dollars, even though I find it hard to believe myself. But there is a fair amount of snobbery involved, and people who have gigantic amounts of money. Again this can make median price higher and cost of living seem much higher. But if you are not into the snobbery, you can find a much more reasonably priced house.
Crime: If you are talking about a town as big as Albuquerque with a crime rate comparable to Ruidoso, then I could feel safe in certain neighborhoods. But when you get a small town, it is harder for me to imagine that the crime is going to be contained in certain areas -- that it is not going to spill into an area where I live or shop or eat or recreate.
It seems to be the resort towns that have the highest crime rates. A cautious person might avoid them when picking a place to live.
I'd be more inclined to say that the crime rate stats make it look worse than it is. Any small town that has an event that draws in a lot of people will see a big spike in crime, partly because the population just went up a lot, and partly because people are more likely to get into trouble when they are away for the weekend. Most of it will be contained among the people who are visiting... or so it seems to me... and the nature of it would be far different from the crime that occurs in big cities. Sort of like a bunch of guys partying and getting into a fight, vs an ongoing gang war. At any rate, I'd be happy going any place in Ruidoso at any time of the day or night.
[quote=rruff;2652801Sort of like a bunch of guys partying and getting into a fight, vs an ongoing gang war. At any rate, I'd be happy going any place in Ruidoso at any time of the day or night.[/quote]
A bunch of guys partying and getting into a fight will meet the standards of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program only if they reach the level of aggravated assault, a serious crime, a felony that can put you in prison for many years.
The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program defines aggravated assault as an unlawful attack by one person upon another for the purpose of inflicting severe or aggravated bodily injury. The Program further specifies that this type of assault is usually accompanied by the use of a weapon or by other means likely to produce death or great bodily harm. Aggravated Assault - Crime in the United States 2005 (http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/05cius/offenses/violent_crime/aggravated_assault.html - broken link)
In other words, we are talking about very serious, violent crime.
Don't know about Ruidoso, but domestic violence is often included as part of general violent crime statistics. So it is not uncommon for a small town to have a high per capita violent crime rate while the community public spaces are generally safe. In New Mexico, any physical dispute involving persons living at the same address qualifies as domestic violence, a felony, instead of misdemeanor assault. So simple, no-injury fights between college roommates can be included in violent crimes statistics rather than included in misdemeanor stats.
The best place in New Mexico is wherever you happen to be.
Last edited by GregW; 01-29-2008 at 11:35 AM..
Reason: spelingg
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Cost and crime
