[Ana]

For those of you who have relocated to Albuquerque from the East Coast, what are some things you love about living here?

On the flip side, what challenges have you faced or what aspects do you dislike about the city?

Whether it’s the culture, climate, lifestyle, or anything in between, we’d love to hear your experiences and how Albuquerque compares to where you’re from.

Thank you so much in advance.

[Kathy]

I absolutely love living here but I don’t want people to move here so I’ll keep telling them it’s a terrible place to live. It truly is the land of mañana.

[Megan]

The healthcare is awful. I say this as medical provider that worked there for two years and as a person who experienced a major lifelong surgical complication while being a patient there.

[Jennifer]

I’ll bite.
I’ve lived here for 17 years now, after literally living all over the country (HI, WA, CO, NC, TX).

It’s not the worst place I’ve ever lived, but it’s definitely not the best!

Pros: amazing weather year round. People are very active outdoors all year round- hiking, biking, camping, running, etc. Very little bugs.

Low cost of living. Balloon Fiesta (hot air balloons all year round in the sky), delicious food, no traffic compared to every other place I’ve lived.

Close to many ski places-Durango is 3.5 hours north. I’ve traveled to 40 states so far and genuinely feel like we have pretty nice people here.

Our airport is small which seems like a hindrance, but I can make it through security in 0-15 minutes even on heavier travel days. You can garden from March-November.

Cons: CRIME. If you move here the north side of town is better. Research before buying a property. There are parts of town I generally avoid and I do not leave stuff in my car that is tempting to break in.

We have some homeless, but not nearly as bad as what I’ve seen in Seattle or Denver.

Schools- we do not have a good education system here. We are ranked 2nd to last I believe.

Overall I do like it here. We get a bad rap which is fine cause honestly I’d rather keep this place less populated.

I do have a good group of family and friends here which I know helps a lot.

If you like a more Mountain feel but still close to Albuquerque, look into Tijeras, Sandia Park, Cedar Crest area.

[Emily]

I specifically moved here from the East Coast. I love high desert climate.

You get the heat without the humidity, and then every night no matter the season it cools down considerably.

The temperatures are actually similar to the DC area in general.

We usually get a decent winter with one or two cold snaps that may or may not involve snow. When it snows it doesn’t stick around for long.

The city has different areas that are unique: Nob Hill/UNM, Downtown (not a great area), Old Town, West Side, Corrales, North Valley, South Valley, NE Heights, Four Hills.

If you have kids, you may want to seriously consider private schools. The public ones aren’t very good.

Crime is pretty bad. I’ve been a victim of theft twice here. Both times out of a vehicle. That’s why we bought a house with a two car garage!

The cost of living is less than the major cities, but taxes aren’t low. And COL is rising just like everywhere.

You need a car to get around unless you live and work along the main bus route of Central Ave. All other bus routes are pathetic.

You could get around by bike/ebike because weather is generally predictable.

The mountains are beautiful and there are hot air balloons all year round.

[Amanda]

Grew up in Midwest, lived and went to school on the east coast, have lived in ABQ since 2013. I have 3 elementary aged kids, and medical needs.

Pro: so much slower paced life than the east coast, medium sized city with plenty of culture and diversity, lots of educated people around because of the national labs.

We live a couple miles from amazing trailheads in the Sandia Mountains and ski 20+ days a year at phenomenal places like Taos and Purgatory (tons of great places around, and minimal lift lines!). The weather is amazing!

Cons: I went to Mayo in PHX for complex medical needs and the waitlist for services for my kids locally are years long.

I guess crime is bad? We don’t really have much of an issue where we live (north side of town), and even when I worked in places where crime was supposedly bad, it was tolerable.

Mainly property crime related to drug use and homelessness. The education isn’t great, but we love our section of the district, there are excellent charter schools and phenomenal private schools.

ABQ can be a bit narrow minded in terms of its own potential, but I think it only has great things ahead of it.

We’ve considered moves to Colorado’s front range, Salt Lake City or California – but they are all waaaaay too crowded.

We don’t want to move to the Midwest because the skiing isn’t as good and it’s too much of a rat race out east. We live a good life here.

[Matt]

Born and raised in the midwest, moved to Santa fe and HATED it. Boring older rich people who go to bed at 10pm and quite expensive.

I moved to ABQ and loved it, weather, good friends, beautiful scenery, hiking, biking etc.

Tons of good food (especially if you eat plant based). Extremely high crime and very poor educational sytem but neither bothered me as I’m child free and lived in the very nice west side of the city.

Rents and home prices have gone up like everywhere. Very very little rain and therefore very little greenery unless you go up to higher elevation (which is stunningly beautiful).

Fantastic day or weekend trips to hot springs, caves, camping etc. Pretty manageable traffic etc. Maybe 10 total inches of snow over my 3 years there.

I literally threw out my winter clothes and my uniform was shorts and a t shirt every day.

Basically if youre outdoorsy, cool with different cultures, won’t miss greenery and rain and you don’t have kids. You might really enjoy it.

[Tanya]

I’m curious what appeals to you about ABQ? What aspects are important to you in a location? That might help for people to comment on.

I lived in Albuquerque as a kid and wouldn’t live there again, but have lots of friends and family in the area who love living there.

I enjoy visiting quite a bit, but it’s different to live there.
Education is a huge consideration if you have kids.

[TJ]

Looking at moving my family to abq from California in the next 5 years. The housing is a lot more affordable than where we’re at currently.

I have family there currently, everytime I visit I enjoy how friendly everyone seems.

[Alex]

Lcol, four seasons although most of the time sunshine, instate tuition paid at instate universities, many activities, friendly people, great food, beautiful views, not too big but not small, can fly to lots of places due to airport, many sites to see within city and surrounding areas, can be in mountains in less than 30 minutes, little more chill compared to bigger metropolitan cities

Bad…. Crime but same as other cities, perhaps pay lower but also it is lcol, public transit could be improved imo, no major league sports teams, traffic depending on time of day and where in town you’re traveling,

[Ankur]

I moved here is 2017 from NJ and absolutely love it!
I live in Tijeras, about 25 mins from Albuquerque and it is absolutely gorgeous here in the mountains.

[Paula]

The people are nice, the food is good, and the mountains are beautiful. But the crime and homelessness is way up in the last decade.

After 14 years, I recently moved away to the PNW. If you do move to ABQ, find a place in a gated community.

[William]

I was born and raised in Albuquerque and lived there for 25 years before moving to Texas.

Pros: really really good food, mountains, outdoorsy stuff, not much humidity, culture

Cons: Crime is out of control, homelessness, lots of drugs, lots of DWIs, ugly brown everywhere (not much grass), education is 2nd to last in nation, & not much to do there.

It’s a good place to visit one or twice in a lifetime but I wouldn’t move back unless I absolutely had to.

[Sandra]

I have been trying to love ABQ for a long time as my parents lived there before I was born (I was born and raised in Boulder, CO) and then moved back to retire.

I can visit and enjoy, but living there one year was enough (we tried to make it work to be near them).

It’s hot, kind of dirty, homelessness and drug problems, and it’s just not a fit for us.

It might be a fit for you though! People are generally nice, but maniacs in their cars.

I would also say we could not understand the high price of homes there.

If it was less expensive it might have been justifiable, but we could never reconcile the cost of housing to what we feel like we got.

[Elle]

Worst place I’ve ever lived. Crime and education are both awful. And it’s just kind of gross. 100% do not recommend, especially as an East coaster.

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