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We've been to Santa Fe on very short tourist visit before but came this time for a week of checking it out for potential future retirement part or full time.
Things we like -
Climate - four seasons with minimal snow. Great fall colors. Dry so no bugs. No allergies
Outdoors - 15 minutes from the Plaza to National Forest. Lots of hiking and skiing. Clean air!
Small size - 80,000 people so essentially zero traffic or crowds
LCOL - relatively low taxes, groceries, utilities, and housing
Zoning - city has been well preserved architecturally with no ugly buildings anywhere
Things we could live with -
Flights - Terrible connections from Santa Fe and fairly poor from ABQ as well,even after driving there
Govt - not a well managed state govt
Shopping - modest shopping, even considering we are not shoppers. No comparison to major cities.
Quiet - they basically roll up the sidewalks at 9:00 downtown.
Things we do not like -
Population - extremely low diversity. Essentially trimodal - old rich whities, hispanics and natives.
Divide - stark divide between rich whites in gated communities to north and people of color to south.
Age - dominance of eccentric old people with strong opinions and closed minds. Few younger people.
Dining - terrible, terrible food across the board. 80% of restaurants are new mexican, which we don't like.
Art - lots of it but the great majority is developed for commercial sale to tourists. Few true artists.
Tourists - lots of obnoxious north Texans with big hair and loud voices driving Suburbans
We developed the impression that Santa Fe is a place of refuge for people fleeing some miserable places in the TX-NM-AZ-CO area. It may be a breath of fresh air for someone from Clovis, Midland, or Phoenix but it doesn't really stack up against California, the Pacific Northwest, or even parts of the Atlantic Coast.
No place is perfect, but I think perhaps the low diversity and terrible restaurants are deal breakers for us. Your mileage may vary. What is your view of these tradeoffs?
Hi Snackdog, We're getting ready to retire to the area ourselves. We searched many areas. We found enough to like in Santa Fe to give it a shot. Everyplace has it's worts. For us the proximity to many beautiful areas of the mountain west was a big point. Yes, the SF airport is lacking but Sunport is an hour away and it's a pretty nice airport. What the heck, I'm going to be retired what's my hurry! I disagree with some of your "Things we don't like" portion. Of course those are your impressions. Mine were quite different. I found a pretty youthful free spirited community. One filled with Mountain bikers, skiers, hikers, artists and musicians. Regarding diversity I haven't enough knowledge to really comment but I suppose as an individual who is active in music and has a fondness for anything creative I'll find all kinds of people. In regard to age I found friendly older folks with families going back many generations. Once engaged in conversation I found them willing to share their stories. The younger folks were friendly too. I'll caution on one front. There is a real manana attitude with some tradesmen (others who throw out numbers I couldn't believe). As someone accustomed to living in a rat race I find it quite irritating. I'm networking now with a couple of great local contacts to cut through that and I'm getting better results. In some respects I need to get into that manana attitude a bit myself it's likely healthier! The dining was interesting with much focus on healthy locally sourced products. I agree it could be expanded to more tastes. There was a pretty great Italian place near the RR Station in an old house called Adiamo and it was a place we will return to for a special occasion I'm sure. There are a few more too we'll try them also. There's a large new Presbyterian Hospital being built which I'm hopeful will attract more specialists to town. I've lived in the Northeast (CT,NYC), FL Coast & the SF Bay areas and traveled a great deal of the US. NM in general is very different from most anywhere else and it just plain got under my skin years back. I keep returning. I don't search for perfect as I'm sure don't either, we'll never find it. I'm going to put the best I can be forward and look for the best in everyone I meet. I deserve a chance to chase this little dream of mine. If it doesn't work out I'm not afraid to admit it wasn't meant to be for me and I'll move on. I wish you well in your search.
Last edited by B3Fan; 02-14-2018 at 09:29 PM..
Reason: Grammar
My first impression after reading the initial post is that OP should keep looking. The things you are unhappy with or that are just tolerable are not going to improve or change in the near future, if at all. A place that is bigger, like Colorado Springs or SLC or maybe even Las Cruces for example, would have more features to your liking. I live about 30 miles outside of Santa Fe and, quite frankly, I barely recognized the place based on your description even though I’m there fairly often. Everyone has their own perspective and frame of reference— my wife didn’t want to live there because she saw it as too touristy, crowded, and costly if you became part of the Santa Fe lifestyle. It is a unique place to visit in her view. Other people would have a different opinion.
"low diversity and terrible restaurants"....Say what?
Most folks love the rich diversity of Santa Fe. And there's got to be a reason why our town is often in top 10 lists for foodies (as is our Farmers' Market).
As for a place of refuge, while it's true that we get a lot of migration from Texas and Colorado, we also get a lot from California, NY, Chicago and Washington D.C. My clients relocating here from those other places most often mention wanting to get away from high taxes, bad weather, and high real estate costs. And they love all those things on your lists, including our restaurants.
But, Santa Fe is not for everyone - and it may not be for you so, like another poster said, "keep looking."
Regarding diversity I haven't enough knowledge to really comment but I suppose as an individual who is active in music and has a fondness for anything creative I'll find all kinds of people. .
Age - dominance of eccentric old people with strong opinions and closed minds. Few younger people.
My wife and I noticed this as well. We visited a few years ago (both in our late 20s) and it became very obvious that SF biases heavily towards the middle age and older crowds.
Actually, most of your list is pretty accurate based on our own observations, although I disagree on the restaurants. Every place we ate at had excellent food and service... it was one of the most positive aspects of our trip.
All things considered, if I were looking to retire in NM, I would probably lean closer to Las Cruces or ABQ. SF is a nice town from an aesthetic POV, but it feels a bit too stuffy and the liberal vibe seemed skin deep to me.
I've never gotten a bad meal in Santa Fe and several are very memorable. Of course, if you dislike southwestern or New Mexico cuisine -- or you think Taco Bell is the pinnacle of fine Mexican dining -- you might be unhappy. That's an interesting observation about the old folks in Santa Fe and probably close to the mark but I'm not sure how "eccentric" they are. You should have been there in the 1970s before corporate America and Big Hair and Big Bucks arrived -- that's when the current old folks, some unwashed and some with backpacks, originally discovered the place but as Thomas Wolfe famously said..."You can't go home again".
I find it interesting that you for some reason expected something close to "big city" shopping, in a small town. And how can you tell it's not a well-run state gov't, after only being here a week?
I moved here for the Native American community, so I'm happy with the "diversity". You won't find a higher concentration of Native people outside the SW and AK.
It sounds like you missed some of the good restaurants. There are plenty that don't serve SW food. I just had Russian-style stuffed cabbage rolls last week. But you and your wife have already made up your minds, so this is beside the point. Best wishes, for wherever you settle!
A couple of thoughts on my end. I think the worst run states comment may come from lists compiled that have to do with unemployment, economy, and poverty-things NM struggles with as a state. Also, you can't expect ABQ to have as good flight connections as a larger market such as ATL or PHX. Agreed that doesn't sound like the place for you overall.
I must say we are a bit disappointed as we had high hopes for Santa Fe. It is a quaint tourist destination for us, but not all that livable. We have friends with homes there and they all had spent many summers there, then bought vacation homes, then retired there. Sort of a gradual thing.
I’m sure we must have missed the better restaurants. We definitely went to too many catering to tourists. But we are still skeptical that there is demand or appreciation for great and interesting food at modest prices. It seems to be either faux high end or low end burrito/diner/comfort fare. In fact, we found great places to eat in ABQ.
Thanks For all the input!
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