I'm Considering Retiring to New Mexico?

[Yavin4]

Anyone have any thoughts on that? I'm looking at Santa Fe. It seems quite nice.

[jobycom]

1. very expensive.

My in-laws lived in New Mexico for a while. I love Santa Fe, but it is very expensive. It is my impression that areas a little outside of Santa Fe are great, though.

It also depends on what you want. Parts are very isolated, parts are great places to build solar homes and go off the grid, a very few places (Santa Fe and Taos areas) are trendy, almost yuppie. There are a few artist areas. Some is very scenic (especially the area you are talking about), some have cool artists communities.

One place I've thought of moving is Madrid, on the little highway that runs east of Sandia Mountain up to Albuquerque. It's a nice little artist/pottery town with a small tourist trade, a couple of decent restaurants, nice scenery (creeks, mountains), and it's less than an hour from Santa Fe and Albuquerque. Also, it's far enough from the interstate to be quiet, but close enough to I25 and to I40 that you can get anywhere without too much trouble.

But as I say, it depends on what you want.

[Yavin4]

3. What's the Climate Like?

Does it snow?

[jobycom]

4. Again, limited experience, but yes, it snows

in the winter. We've driven up there while there was snow on the ground. Very similar climate to Santa Fe. Desert hot in the summer (but very dry), and snowy and cold in the winter. The dryness makes the heat and cold less brutal, though. I'm a southerner, but I like it a lot up there.

In the mountains the snow is obviously worse. The region around Alamagorda (northwest of Santa Fe) is forested and has lots of snow, IIRC. Santa Fe and Taos are obviously ski resort areas. Madrid is not a ski area, though just to the south the Sandia peak has skiing.

If you want warmer, move further south, close to the Lincoln Forest area. You'll get snow higher up (Cloudcroft and Riodosa), but there are some beautiful areas around there. Pines and mountains type areas. If you go further west, you'll get deserts and mesas--some strikingly gorgeous, if you like that ecology. The towns are smaller, though.

[Boogie]

2. Move to Crestone, CO

It is in the same valley essentially as Santa Fe, the San Luis Valley and it is turning into quite the alternative community. Vacant lots for $8,000 in the Boca Grande, ashrams and buddhist temples with UFOs thrown in.

[krispos42]

5. Here are some resources for you

http://www.statemaster.com/index.php

You can look at tons of numbers about how New Mexico rates compared to other states.

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=ChangeGeoContext&geo_id=16000US3570500&_geoContext=&_street=&_county=Santa+Fe&_cityTown=Santa+Fe&_state=04000US35&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&_submenuId=factsheet_1&ds_name=ACS_2005_SAFF&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null®=null%3Anull&_keyword=&_industry=

This is a link to the US Census Bureau's American FactFinder Fact Sheet for Santa Fe. You can, naturally, put in anyplace in the country.

It makes maps if you use the 2000 census data, so you can, for example, look at a city or zip code and see it divided up my statistic. Median income might be a good one to use, or percent with a HS diploma, or percent with a college degree, or by median age, or by race, or gender, or homeownership rates, etc.

This is by age. Greener is older.

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ThematicMapFramesetServlet?_bm=y&-geo_id=16000US3570500&-tm_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_M00022&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-_MapEvent=displayBy&-_dBy=140&-_lang=en&-_sse=on

[NMDemDist2]

6. how are you at high altitudes? Santa Fe is very high

it will rock your world for cooking too at that elevation

and along with high elevation, you can get some harsh winters

a sunshine destination it ain't

[raccoon]

7. NM is beautiful. I'd do it if I had the bucks.

And the low humidity is great.