Life In Albuquerque, New Mexico 1

[JoeChem]

Greetings all,

I will be interviewing with a company located in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I know the company well and the job is a great fit with my skill base. As the company has expressed great interest also I am assuming we will move forward.

The problem is I have lived on the east coast (Mid Atlantic area) all of my life and know absolutely nothing about Albuquerque, New Mexico. I have done some research and found out that it is a great place for outdoor activities and the like as the weather is great. The school systems in area appear to be pretty good. Real estate appears to be reasonably priced. Basically, I have not found anything to turn me away.

I was hoping to get some comments/feedback on what is is like to live in Abuquerque, NM. I know this is an open ended question but any insight will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again in advance.

JoeChem

 

[ewh]

Beautiful, if you like high desert country!

 

[Beggar]

If I were you, I'd get down there ASAP and at spend at least a few days. If the company's on the ball, they'll offer that to you. If not, pay for it yourself.

Contact a real estate agent beforehand and spend an afternoon touring the area.

I've never been there myself except for connecting flights through the airport. Cool thing about the airport is that it's also an Air Guard base so you share the taxiways with F-16s...

--------------------
Bring back the HP-15

http://www.hp15c.org

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[MintJulep]

The food is great!

VEry different from mid-Atlantic. I haven't been there for probably 12 years, so things may have changed. I don't recall that Albuquerque had anything resembeling a city center. Pretty much just suburban sprall.

Great area for mountain biking, hiking, skiing.

How is your Spanish?

 

[sms]

I was born and raised in Albuquerque. I would move back in a heartbeat for the right job.

1) Culture and attitude is very similar to southern California.

2) There is practically zero humidity, so coming from the coast that will be difficult to get used to. Also in the heights the altitude is a mile above sea level, thin air takes some getting used to as well.

3) Politics in New Mexico are a weird and wonderful thing...

4) Albuquerque Public Schools are ok, like anywhere else some are better than others. Schools in the North East Heights have typically been best.

5) Both UNM and NMSU are decent universities. I graduated from NMSU and my degree has served me well.

The main problem is that there is not much there, so if the job goes south, it will likely mean moving again to find a new one. Sandia Labs, and a few electronics companys are pretty much it, other than odds and ends of government stuff.

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

 

[Comcokid]

If you want to compare Albuquerque with where youre at now or with other places, get the latest copy of Places Rated Almanac . It is updated regurarly.

 

[monkeydog]

No Hurricanes
No Tornados
No Lake Effect Snow Storms
A good rainstorm will result is some local flooding
English could be a second language

 

[GolfMeeting]

Great!!!! Even things in the winter can be mild. I played college baseball against the LOBOS on Jan 30th, 31st, and Feb. 1st in 1992. We had temperatures in the 70's and 80's with snow behind the dugouts. It was awesome.

There is some good trout fishing on the Red River not too far from there. Plenty of snow ski resorts too.

It is also not far from the beutiful scenery of Colorado.

There is a reason New Mexico is called the enchanted state.

 

[CarolinaPE]

I too would suggest spending some days there and getting a handle on the cost of living, especially relevant to your current situation. Even if you are not currently in the market to purchase a home, you will someday and will not want to be surprised. Good websites to compare costs of living and/or salaries are salary.com and realtor.com (click on the "moving" tab on realtor site). Good luck!

 

[Haf]

1. Weather is spectacular (but very dry). During parts of the winter, you could ski and golf in the same day (or weekend) if you are so inclined.

2. Real estate is reasonable depending on where you live (and your frame of reference). The closer to the mountains (east side of town) the higher the cost, generally.

3. Schools, in my opinion, are well below average. As a relatively new father, the schools are my #1 concern about continuing to live in ABQ.

4. The pace of life is fairly slow in NM; often this is referred to as "the manyana attitude." This can be especially frustrating to people who are used to a faster pace, such as many people from the East coast. On the flip side, there are advantages to a slower paced life...

5. Crime rates in NM are very high, especially when viewed on a per capita basis. Like any place, there are good areas and bad areas in the state, and good areas and bad areas in ABQ. Before moving to ABQ, most of my knowledge of the city was based on the reality crime show "Cops," which used to come to ABQ frequently. The ABQ mayor recently banned the show from coming back to the city.

6. Because of the dryness, nearly everything in ABQ (and NM) is brown. This can be difficult if you're used to green. You get used to it after a while, and begin to grow an appreciation for a "different" kind of beauty, if you're open-minded.

7. Most of New Mexico is rural and very poor. Third world country jokes aside, I've discovered that there are quite a few people out there who honestly don't know that New Mexico is a state and not a foreign country! I've noticed that we are one of the only states that puts "USA" after the state name on our license plates.

I agree that you should visit before moving here if at all possible. There are many positive things about living in ABQ, but you should be aware of the negatives as well. That way you can make an educated decision about which outweighs which for you personally.

 

[JoeChem]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. I really do appreciate it. The chance to talk about ABQ on this forum has been very valuable to me.

Haf,

I am a relatively new father too and I am concerned about the school systems ABQ. I have checked into some of the systems in the northeast area of the city and based on SAT scores and the like they seem to be OK...at least on paper. Are there any specific reasons why you feel they are well below average?

Thanks again to all,

JoeChem

 

[NewfieEng]

JoeChem,

I grew up on the east coast of Canada, Newfoundland to be exact. I now live in Farmington, NM (fourcorners area) and have for the last 4 years and plan to stay for a while. It was a big change having never been to the southwest in my life but I have not regreted any of it. The outdoors life here is great I live a lot closer to the mountains that you will in Albuquerque but all the same there is some great scenery and mountians near the City.
The city itself I don't care much for (no offence to the people who like it). It seems to be me to be very crime riden and not a very friendly or welcoming place. The best part of it is the the I-25 north leaving it. That being said I came from a small comunity and I like small comunities.

In the end my opinion on the many places I have been is that there are A-holes and nice people everywhere. Every place and experience is what you make of it.

 

[JAE]

JoeChem -

There is a great book that you can easily find in any major bookstore in your area called "Places Rated Almanac". It provides a large amount of comparative information on the top 300+ cities in the US so for your situation it would be a great resource to compare not only costs of living and such, but also schools, crime, recreation, healthcare, etc. I believe they review as much as a dozen different categories.

Here's the Amazon link: Places Rated Almanac

 

[Haf]

JoeChem,

Let me give you a little background before I answer. I am not originally from ABQ (grew up in Chicago-land area), but have lived in ABQ for five years.

Here's why I think the schools are below average:

When I interviewed at my company and asked questions about the positives/negatives of ABQ, nearly everyone I spoke with included the public schools as a negative. The schools are a constant area of concern and a common thing for people to discuss (mostly through complaints) at work. I notice that an abnormally high percentage of my co-workers home-school or send their kids to private schools. Before moving here, I would have avoided either of those scenarios like the plague. Now I'm actually considering private school.

As I said above, New Mexico is a poor state, and in general, this is indicative of a poorly educated populace. From what I've seen, many of the people in this state don't value education highly. The drop-out rate is ridiculously high, and pay for teachers is very low compared with other states. If you look up state rankings on public schools, you'll see that NM is ranked in the bottom ten fairly consistently. NM usually isn't dead last, but being ranked ahead of states like Mississippi, Arkansas, and West Virginia doesn't say a whole lot.

What I've heard consistently from my co-workers is that if you send your kids to the public schools, you have to stay very involved and on top of things. They say you have to spend more time helping with homework and teaching some things yourself. There is also a system here that allows you to send your kids to a school of your choice if the school in your area is failing (according to test scores). Of course, it's always good to be involved with your children and their education , whether the schools are good or bad; However, you shouldn't have to teach your kids things they should be learning in class. I feel sorry for the people who aren't educated enough to teach their kids.

Like any place, some schools are better than others. At this time, the best public high school in ABQ is La Cueva (NE heights). That's probably the school you were looking at when you saw the good test scores.

I don't mean to paint an overly poor picture here, but when you mentioned that the schools were "pretty good," that got my attention. At best, I would characterize the schools as pretty bad (many of my co-workers with more familiarity with the schools may use the word "horrible").

Overall, I love living in ABQ and NM. But for me, the number one drawback is the public schools.

 

[EngJW]

Sounds like you guys are talking about my town. I guess the same problems are everywhere.

When people are looking for the better schools, they generally mean a school in the suburbs or a private school. This will rule out living in many of the city neighborhoods. If you have to live in a suburb, then your housing cost could be higher. You have to consider where you work vs. where you live. You can either be a part of the traffic jam, or driving in the opposite direction.

Where I live, the city is #4 in crime with about one shooting a day. However, most of this is someone getting taken out over a dope deal and that isn't really a crime. So if you don't deal in drugs or hang out in the bad neighborhoods, your biggest worry might be getting hit by a drunk driver.