Seems like every time I read about someone wanting to move here or there, or get out of Cali. etc. N.M. is rarely if ever mentioned. Now, I looked & saw that they have voted blue at times, is that their biggest strike? Knowing big cities can turn an otherwise state into something else when it comes to the vote. Or.... is most of the state liberal? Even the rural folk?

Are their other detractors that make the state undesirable for folks fleeing the scourge of the liberals? I really like the looks of some of the geography & year round weather in some areas. What am I missing?

You're probably not Native-American enough to live there.

In my experience, it's made up of just about equal proportions Mexicans, Indians, and artsy-fartsy hippies. There are few old-time cattle ranchers and some military islands, but it's rapidly turning into a liberal nirvana. The food is fabulous, though.

Look at the 2016 presidential election results by county for NM.

There are some very conservative counties there. Just avoid the blue ones.

I'd check out Otero County as a good place to start.

I experienced some reverse discrimination when I lived there, but, I lived through it.
Also, I was discouraged from applying for a transfer to Chama. too white.

my wife and i spent a bit of time in and around Taos, before the current debacle out there with the people from south atlanta.

it was pretty. looked dry out on the plains. trees up in the mountains.

Snakedance was a nice place. angel fire was up there.

I would pick a location within a reasonable drive of NRA's Whittington Center to be able to take advantage of the hunting, shooting ranges and other ammenities offered there.

ABQ, Santa Fe, and Las Cruces are liberal and do tend to dominate state level politics. It gets better outside of there, but still blue in spots. Gun laws are OK. Food is good.

Nice weather most of the time. It is dry for parts of the year, which leads to National Forest closures during fire season. You learn to work around it.

Lots of open space.

Tags can be hard to come by.

Work can be hard to come by. Or readily available. It all depends on what you do for a living and where you want to live.

I used to go NM frequently for work and thought it was Ok. Recently I got a VERY strong anti-anglo, uppity liberal vibe and will not return.


mike r

All in where ya go.

Most of Northern NM is VERY liberal, especially north central - not so much Farmington or Clayton, but everything between, all the way down to I40.
Grow a thick shell, if you want to live here.

Steve Pearce's district is GTG.

I looked into retiring in new Mexico, it seems that crime is quite high! Last year, my outfitters mother was armed robbed at their landscaping yard in Albuquerque, I was there a day earlier.

3/4 of the total crime in NM comes from Albuquerque.

As I said, it's all about where you are.

As a rancher in Union County told me last week, "It may be New, but its still Mexico."

Yes, New Mexico is a horrible place. No one should ever move here. Look away...

When I lived in Roswell as a kid I remember my History teacher Mr. Cannon say that Alb. had a higher per capita crime rate than NYC. But I don't think it's any worse than a lot of big cities and better than some.

I have cousins who have lived there since the 60’s. Beautiful place and nice climate in the area they’re in. Some outstanding trout fishing close by as well.
That said, I swore off ever moving out when I found out how hard it is for them to get a tag to hunt anything. If you’re used to OTC big game tags, NM probably isn’t your place if you want to hunt close to home.

It’s the highest per capita in the nation.

All except for Las Cruces - YES !!!

I move here two years ago to retire. I wanted Idaho, but the wife wanted someplace warm. I like it. Good people, good weather, lots of BLM land to hunt, and fairly cheap cost of living. But I've never seen a state so soft on crime in my life. It's ridiculous. And tags are hard to come by also...

There's good and bad things about New Mexico.

I grew up in Albuquerque, left after I graduated high school, and haven't moved back. My parents have lived there since 1980.

Here are some things that I can think of off the top of head:

Good: Weather, lots of public land, good food, lots of outdoor activities, traffic.

Bad: Crime, low paying jobs, welfare state, corrupt government, racial tensions, people aren't very friendly...compared to Texas, big game permits are hard to get for public land, dry-so dry that it really limits hunting, long drives to go fishing.

[quote=Whiptail]

I would agree with most of what you wrote although I must say in all honesty, I've found the people here very friendly so far. I lived in Texas back in the late 90's, early 2000's and hated it. I'd take NM over Texas any day of the week. Worse God Damned drivers I've ever seen...

I never lived in Las Cruces so I'll take your word for it. Texas is far from nirvana but I've found enough good things to keep me here for quite a while. Traffic is terrible here but people mostly drive friendly and I don't see a lot of road rage but it's getting worse with all the transplants moving in.

I figure the closer to the border, the worse it gets. Driving in El Paso is like the movie Death Race 2000 or Mad Max. People there are freaking lunatics. I try to stay as far from that place as possible.

Lived outta my car for six months in Southern New Mexico, January through August in 1980. Longhair, NY plates.

I did day labor to survive while applying for the Peace Corps. Friggin' amazingly friendly people back then, never had any problems at all, even from the Cops. I have good friends there from back then that I still have today, thirty miles east of Ruidoso.

If they have ever locked their house or their cars I ain't aware of it.

I will say there's quite a few more people in that area now though.

Go there for the 4th, people shoot off fireworks all over, especially along Hwy 54 north of town You'll be right in the middle of a firefight with bottle rockets bouncing off of your vehicle and bushes burning off in the desert. If it was anything BUT desert out there the whole place woulda been ashes long ago.

Then go join the crowd parked along the Trans-Mountain Road across the Franklins to watch the fireworks, you can see where Juarez on the other side of the world is because they use yellow street lights.

Thanks all.

Seems a lot of my guesses about the place, both good & bad, are close.


Probably should just get out there & see it instead of asking or talking about it.

Wife has family in Taos. Grandpap raised sheep.

It's basically Mexico with out the beach. But yes, the food was killer.

You probably don't want to retire in NM. It's getting way too crowded.

Espanola is a wonderful place for a white boy to spend time and retire!

I visit NM every year. From a visitor's perspective I like it. Tons of public land to play on. Very few congested population centers. Santa Fe is pretty cool. From a retirees perspective, I think it has a good bit to offer. Places like Raton and Las Vegas are gographically beautiful if a bit aged and worn. Sitting right where the plains meet to Rockies they have the best of both worlds. Small older houses there are affordable if you want to live in the city. Finding affordable acreage anywhere near a town can be a challenge.

city-data.com has good, easy to search crime stats. usclimatedata.com has good weather data.

I'm a white boy that was born in Espanola...but I left when I graduated high school and never considered retiring there.

I wonder if the Texans have a hard time drawing tags in Texas?

I hope not!

If they put any more tags on there, the license won't fit in my back pocket!

Ever noticed the 'turkey' looks like dinosaur? I knew you guys had some cool chit to hunt in TX but that's a new one!

Wonder what the wetback tags will look like?

That's all well and good if you have a place to hunt. That was the biggest problem I had when I lived there. Unless you had the money for a lease - which I didn't have that much back then - You couldn't set foot off pavement cause somebody would be threatening to shoot you if you tried to hunt there.

Eastern, particularly Curry County South is a good place to live for a Conservative outdoorsman that likes hunting. That area is Much like the Texas Panhandle culturally but with public hunting land. Some of the Transient oilfield culture in Lea, Eddy and Chavez can be rough so if you raise kids in those areas, they better know how to fight, whether boy or girl. The former KPMG controller in my office and myself both grew up in SE NM and we both separately have shared stories about how we learned to deal with issues, whether with the offspring of Northern Mexico cartel or oilfield ex cons. Oddly, the movie, "No Country for Old Men" slightly reminded me of there. Though, the NM Permian and contiguous areas have the jobs.

I do miss the hunting and being a short drive to the mountains, but many of my hunting buddies from those days are either rich, in prison or ex cons today. I don't have much experience with the Western side, but much of what is North of Clovis across the state is pretty progressive Demicrat (modern "Liberal" but as one with Libertarian leanings, I hate what politics has done to that classic, noble word).

Or Mexican-American or Mexican enough either. Catholics vote dimocrap, as a rule. Welfare and govt assistance is a big factor, not abortion.

Ask Splattermatic about his area. They have a helluva range!

I have a weekend trip scheduled to NE New Mexico, scheduled for the last weekend in SEP. I am particularly interested in scouting out small stream trout fishing, which is close to home here in Oklahoma City.

Shhhhhh....

Raton area? NM State park rangers and the NM game and Fish are generally very friendly and helpful. Find an office close to your destination and they will likely give you some pointers.

About an hour north of Taos. Specifically the Rio Costilla in Valle Vidal.

I've fished it. Very unique and beautiful. Chock full of cutthroats. My understanding is that in order to fish it now you must secure a day pass. Didn't need that when I fished it many years ago...

We lived 5 years just south of Espanola - not too bad
1 year at Chimayo was a little rough, though.

no wonder Las Vegas doesn't bother you!

It’s pretty there, but mighty dry.

Depends on where you are.

I grew up on the southeast Texas coast, went to college in Austin and graduate school in College Station. Lived and worked in Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado and Wyoming.

Moved down here to the Boot Heel 27 years ago and have lived here happily in this valley ever since--the longest that I have ever lived in one place in my life. It ain't Paradise, but it suits me. It's an interesting mix of cultures: descendants of Texas ranchers, Mormons from colonias in Mexico, Hispanics, and (recently), Mennonite farmers from Chihuahua and California.

There are lots of other places in New Mexico where I could live, happily, if I wanted.

Politics are politics everywhere, but I can walk into the regional offices of both of my U.S. senators and my congressman and I will be greeted by name. The party in control of the Executive offices and the two branches of the legislature swings back and forth between Republicans and Democrats, depending on the hot button issues in election years. It could be a lot worse.

YMMV

Spent a LOT of enjoyable time there. As you turn onto Hwy 196, look behind you. I had a house at the base of Ute Peak. (The stand alone mountain in the valley.) The Rio Grande is right behind it and where Costilla Creek empties into the Rio Grande is great fishing! There's a public gravel road right on the NM/Colorado border that'll take you straight to the river. You can get a fishing license at Anderson's grocery in Jarosa, CO if needed. I kept a PO Box there so I could get a resident hunting a fishing license for CO.

Not that there isn't great fishing in the Valley Vidal....

Thanks for the tip. I will definitely check it out.

Last time I was through there, a few years ago, it was cholo central.

Geographically, the area around Espanola is ideal for a sportsmen. Anything you can think to do is within 2 hours.

How's the Las Vegas area? LV, NM

Mark

Chimayo/Truchas area . . . . Surely you are kidding.You are not for that area even if you went south closer to
Santa Fe. My cousin had a house in that area an had some issues getting it sold.
Different world than when she bought it.
May not have been as bad as she let on but . . .

gunzo

Santa Fe or Taos area, unless you think kalifornia prices are reasonable they can/should be avoided.

If you do not need to make a living or have a unique/need skill, east of the Sangre de Christos along the I25 corridor from us 85(84?) north to the state line might be of interest

Hell, my retirement fund is based on cost in Ky. I can't afford to move to a lot places in the nation, & most I would fight to stay away from. Born in Ky., most likely die here. Ain't sayin that's a bad thing.

A popular subject on the net, especially with shooters & hunters, is folks asking about good places to live. Several places come up for obvious reasons. But I just didn't really remember hearing really good or bad about NM. To me, the geography & possibly the year around weather is just killer. I hadn't thought that much about the sociology or economics of the state. Oh, I had some notions that comments here have confirmed, but some were simply not things I had thought of. Just watched a vid from the Capitan area. The camera man mentioned that rattlesnakes were everywhere, that alone will keep me outta there. For me, a gag of guys that hold their fingers funny couldn't begin to bother me as much as damn rattleheadedcoppermoccasin. Then again, seeing multiple pics of finger contortionist does draw attention.

I've never seriously entertained the idea of moving from Kentucky. I was fortunate enough to be born here and as I get older and the world gets crazier, I have come to realize that the places to live in America with a "low crazy factor" are getting scarce.

Ain't much craziness in rural Central Kentucky and I don't expect to see much arrive in the near future.

Housing is almost impossible to find. I know people with the BLM and Forest Service there who lived in motels for 6 months to over a year.