Moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico

The City of Balloons is known for its unique, natural beauty: sprawling, colorful desert, mountains, clear skies, and oceans of Creosote Bush. Thousands take to the sky each year in colorful hot-air balloons to observe it from above. And many are moving there to live a healthy, outdoors-centric life that Albuquerque’s surrounds supports.

However, Albuquerque is a unique city, too. It specializes in supplying residents with plump chile rellenos, turquoise jewelry and wide bicycle lanes, and it has an economy based on solar and nuclear research laboratories. Plus, what other city can stake claim to being the home of the nuclear bomb, a baseball team from The Simpsons, and a Neil Young song? “Oh-Al-a-a-a-a-a-al-bu-querque.”

Geography of Albuquerque

Albuquerque is located in the northern reaches of the Chihuahuan Desert, a sparse, dry desert that extends into Mexico. Albuquerque is located in a high-desert region, though, meaning it gets far colder weather than, say, Tucson. In fact, Albuquerque tails Denver as one of the highest-elevated cities in the US. The surrounding area is mountainous and covered in brush and Cottonwood trees, and a river, the Rio Grande (not that one), flows through the city.

“Well, they say, that Sante Fe is less than 90 miles away…” and it is. Sante Fe is a mountain town high in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. It and nearby Las Vegas (not Nevada) combine with Albuquerque to form a metropolitan area that’s home to over 1.1 million people.

Positives of Living in Albuquerque

Outdoors – Albuquerque’s consistently dry and sunny climate supports a number of outdoor activities, including biking, mountain biking, jogging, hiking and hot-air ballooning. Albuquerque and Sante Fe are known as good places to promote health and well-being. Surrounding natural attractions work checking out include mountain paths, rows of olive trees, and the Rio Grande river… and the sunsets… sunsets like fire in New Mexico.

Cost of Living – New Mexico is a somewhat of a forgotten state in the US. Perhaps because it has Mexico in its name. I don’t know. Whatever the reason, its relatively low population (though growing) has led to relatively low rents and cost of living. It’s very easy to live comfortably in Albuquerque. In 2009, the city was ranked #129 in average rent even though it is was the 32-largest city in the states.

Science – Albequerque played an integral role in the Manhattan project, which created the first atomic bomb (though nearby Los Alamos was the true locale), and today the area remains home to a number of important research labs. A lot of sciency stuff happens here. A lot of scientists live here. Solar energy is a big deal here. If this sort of stuff intrigues you, Albuquerque might be a good place to move.

Sante Fe – This mountain town tops American locales for striking beauty. Its storefronts are wood, adobe and turquoise, and they’re filled with handmade clothing, woodwork, and New-Mexico and Native American artwork. The town is also home to a number of gorgeous churches and missions that date back to the days of the Spanish Conquistadors (1500’s). Sante Fe is New Mexico’s state capital and is inextricably tied to the Albuquerque area.

Querquiness – Albuquerque has a weird vibe. From its architecture, which borrows equally from Native Americans, Spanish missionaries, cowboys and modern designers, to its local baseball team, the Isotopes, named after a Simpsons episode, to the Albequerque international hot-air ballon festival, Albuquerque and nearby Sante Fe are kinda weird places.

Transit – Albuquerque puts to shame many cities larger than it when it comes to commuting. It has a number of rail systems and bike lanes to help commuters, and its downtown is generally walkable. I mean, it’s no New york, but compared to other cities in the urban-sprawl West, like San Antonio and Phoenix, Albuquerque is fairly transit-friendly.

University of New Mexico – The Lobos are based in Albuquerque. The university, the state’s largest, brings education and sports to the city and keeps an active, young populace of over 35,000 in the area.

Negatives of Living in Albuquerque

Cold – Albuquerque is a high desert, meaning winter night-time temps regularly drop into the 20’s and below. Sante Fe, which is at a higher elevation, suffers even more.

Sprawl – Albuquerque is quite spread out, especially when you’re in the suburbs, and people complain about the road systems and infrastructure connection those satellite areas.

Isolation – Albuquerque is about 6 hours from Tucson/Phoenix and Denver alike. The nearest relatively large city is El Paso, Tx, about 3.5 hours away. Once you leave Albuquerque, there is not much around.

Attractions – Neil Young sang about Albuquerque, but entertainers of his caliber rarely pas through the city. Albuquerque does not have a well-known nightlife scene, either.

Poverty – The nearby Native American populations can be, unfortunately, very poor, and many vagabonds pass through the area while they drift through the Southwest. Residents complain of a noticeable drunk/drugged sub-population.

Does Albuquerque sound like your kind of city? Want to talk to some Albuquerque moving companies? You can find them here: Albuquerque movers.