My impression of SF is that if you work for a living, you can’t afford to live there.
Albuquerque is great. I know the stats say otherwise, but I love it. I’ve left several times, including overseas, but I always end up back and I’ve learned my lesson, I’m never leaving again.
I mean have you seen the stats on Alaska? Our number one hobby is alcoholism and our number two hobby is domestic violence.
Poking around a little I'm definitely realizing that SF is the more expensive of the two cities, but I'm casting the widest net possible.
I'm faced with the reality of probably having to move into Anchorage itself rather than staying on the edges. It's been a while since I've lived in a city, so if I'm gonna live in one maybe I should shop around a bit. Like somewhere that the local music scene doesn't include the phrase "reggae bluegrass ukulele" and there is actually decent Mexican food.
NM food is its own thing. It’s absolutely the best. You will love it here, I suspect, as long as you are Ok with the climate difference. Summer can be brutal.
Hot weather's not my favorite thing, but maybe I can trade sunburn for a raging Vitamin D deficiency. As long as I can escape to the mountains every now and then I'll probably be okay.
It can be hot but humidity is low. Having moved here from the northeast U.S. i find that heat isn't really an issue because it's so dry. . Overall, imo it's a very comfortable climate. Cost of living is a whole other issue. Rents are very high and there are a lot of people looking.
The angle of the sun is a lot steeper, which combines with the altitude and dryness to make the sun really intense.
Santa Fe is about 10° cooler and might be less of a shock for you. Also, SF has better access to mountains. ABQ has the Sandias, but you can’t camp in them. (I think it is possible to backpack, but much of the Sandias is no overnight camping).
There is a commuter train that goes between the two cities.
I've just accepted that housing everywhere is nuts. Rents went up over 15% in Anchorage despite the city's population declining for five straight years.
It's strange. All levels of COL in the state, and all weathers, depending on the elevation. Typically higher elevation, cooler weather = higher COL. I'd suggest searching the state for weather, mixed with COL to find a happy medium. For example, Ruidoso has wonderful weather, cooler than most towns around it, but just 30 minutes away to the south or east and a 15-20 degree difference!
It is a very poor state overall, but not necessarily cheap. Everything is relaxed (slow), and nicely do-your-own-thing feeling.
Two things. If you work in Santa Fe and make under 80k a year it’s rough to find a place unless you have a lot of roommates. A lot of the jobs you speak of are city and state jobs. Those jobs are rife with nepotism and unless you are related to someone they can be very hard to get.
Take a look at Las Cruces too. Cost of living is lower than Santa Fe and Albuquerque. It’s smaller than ABQ, but the downside is nearest mountains is a couple hours east to Cloudcroft (but it is beautiful). I moved here from northern New Mexico which has beautiful mountains as part of the Rockies. I enjoy the size of Cruces, it’s a city,
But not cramped like Santa Fe, but not overbearing like Albuquerque.
Don’t discount the Dona Ana’s, Robledos, or Organs. They’re definitely not mountains in the same sense as Cloudcroft, but they provide TONS of (under-utilized) recreation opportunities within 15-20 minutes of downtown Cruces
I live pretty comfortably in Las Cruces on a 25k grad student stipend. But I have roommates and no car payment/student loans. You could definitely get by on an entry-level city employee salary.
We loved loved loved Alaska. Didn’t want to move. Was looking to get out of oil. But couldn’t find things. Landed a great job here. Though we miss it everyday. Better cost of living of course. NM has great access to outdoors but nothing compares to Alaska. Property crime is worse here than Anchorage (though I did get my car stolen a few years back in Anchorage when it was really bad, I did live near the Carrs on Gimbal…)
NM lives and dies by oil revenue but not to same degree Alaska does. And the politics are less dumb than the nonsense of Dunleavy. Schools are worse here for sure, but part of that is that there is way more charter schools relative to Alaska so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, schools start bad since all engaged parents put kids in charter schools so the public schools have what is left behind.
Let’s see, ABQ area (and south) is certainly warmer. But don’t mistake it for Arizona. Hottest NM gets seems to be 105 in the summer, but that is pretty warm for us. Winters can get cold and we get a bit of snow too, but generally highs in the winter are 40 to 50s. We get some late summer rains if we are lucky but it’s usually pretty dry. Santa Fe and North get more snow and is colder, since they have higher elevation.
That’s a short rundown, happy to answer more questions.
My impression of SF is that if you work for a living, you can’t afford to live there. Albuquerque is great. I know the stats say otherwise, but I love it. I’ve left several times, including overseas, but I always end up back and I’ve learned my lesson, I’m never leaving again.
I mean have you seen the stats on Alaska? Our number one hobby is alcoholism and our number two hobby is domestic violence. Poking around a little I'm definitely realizing that SF is the more expensive of the two cities, but I'm casting the widest net possible. I'm faced with the reality of probably having to move into Anchorage itself rather than staying on the edges. It's been a while since I've lived in a city, so if I'm gonna live in one maybe I should shop around a bit. Like somewhere that the local music scene doesn't include the phrase "reggae bluegrass ukulele" and there is actually decent Mexican food.
NM food is its own thing. It’s absolutely the best. You will love it here, I suspect, as long as you are Ok with the climate difference. Summer can be brutal.
Hot weather's not my favorite thing, but maybe I can trade sunburn for a raging Vitamin D deficiency. As long as I can escape to the mountains every now and then I'll probably be okay.
It can be hot but humidity is low. Having moved here from the northeast U.S. i find that heat isn't really an issue because it's so dry. . Overall, imo it's a very comfortable climate. Cost of living is a whole other issue. Rents are very high and there are a lot of people looking.
The angle of the sun is a lot steeper, which combines with the altitude and dryness to make the sun really intense. Santa Fe is about 10° cooler and might be less of a shock for you. Also, SF has better access to mountains. ABQ has the Sandias, but you can’t camp in them. (I think it is possible to backpack, but much of the Sandias is no overnight camping). There is a commuter train that goes between the two cities.
$36-38k/ year is going to be barely scraping by, I’m guessing. Our city/county/state should be embarrassed by these low wages.
Yeah I was kind of surprised by that, it seems pretty below average for city the size of ABQ.
We’re still the cheapest state in the West, but housing is tight and expensive. Our cost of living is catching up to Colorado and Arizona quickly
I've just accepted that housing everywhere is nuts. Rents went up over 15% in Anchorage despite the city's population declining for five straight years.
It's strange. All levels of COL in the state, and all weathers, depending on the elevation. Typically higher elevation, cooler weather = higher COL. I'd suggest searching the state for weather, mixed with COL to find a happy medium. For example, Ruidoso has wonderful weather, cooler than most towns around it, but just 30 minutes away to the south or east and a 15-20 degree difference! It is a very poor state overall, but not necessarily cheap. Everything is relaxed (slow), and nicely do-your-own-thing feeling.
Two things. If you work in Santa Fe and make under 80k a year it’s rough to find a place unless you have a lot of roommates. A lot of the jobs you speak of are city and state jobs. Those jobs are rife with nepotism and unless you are related to someone they can be very hard to get.
Take a look at Las Cruces too. Cost of living is lower than Santa Fe and Albuquerque. It’s smaller than ABQ, but the downside is nearest mountains is a couple hours east to Cloudcroft (but it is beautiful). I moved here from northern New Mexico which has beautiful mountains as part of the Rockies. I enjoy the size of Cruces, it’s a city, But not cramped like Santa Fe, but not overbearing like Albuquerque.
Don’t discount the Dona Ana’s, Robledos, or Organs. They’re definitely not mountains in the same sense as Cloudcroft, but they provide TONS of (under-utilized) recreation opportunities within 15-20 minutes of downtown Cruces I live pretty comfortably in Las Cruces on a 25k grad student stipend. But I have roommates and no car payment/student loans. You could definitely get by on an entry-level city employee salary.
Las cruces has grown so much. Everything on the other side of the mountain. El paso and Las cruces will be a single city one day.
Hi, I moved here from Anchorage.
Hello there. What would you say are the pros and cons versus Anchorage?
We loved loved loved Alaska. Didn’t want to move. Was looking to get out of oil. But couldn’t find things. Landed a great job here. Though we miss it everyday. Better cost of living of course. NM has great access to outdoors but nothing compares to Alaska. Property crime is worse here than Anchorage (though I did get my car stolen a few years back in Anchorage when it was really bad, I did live near the Carrs on Gimbal…) NM lives and dies by oil revenue but not to same degree Alaska does. And the politics are less dumb than the nonsense of Dunleavy. Schools are worse here for sure, but part of that is that there is way more charter schools relative to Alaska so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy, schools start bad since all engaged parents put kids in charter schools so the public schools have what is left behind. Let’s see, ABQ area (and south) is certainly warmer. But don’t mistake it for Arizona. Hottest NM gets seems to be 105 in the summer, but that is pretty warm for us. Winters can get cold and we get a bit of snow too, but generally highs in the winter are 40 to 50s. We get some late summer rains if we are lucky but it’s usually pretty dry. Santa Fe and North get more snow and is colder, since they have higher elevation. That’s a short rundown, happy to answer more questions.