Reviews & Comments
Albuquerque, NM
An honest review -
6/18/2014I will try to give the most honest, semi-educated review here - very much unlike the others. I live in the middle of Albuquerque near UNM and downtown. My car has been left unlocked for the past six months with no problems (not recommended of course). Albuquerque is one of the poorest major cities I can think of, and there is an average amount of crime though it is almost always non-violent. The city is old and not "beautiful" like you might be used to in newer, wealthier cities or suburbs. Bars on windows - absolutely. There are plenty of gangs and such like most cities, and these are most prevalent in the southeastern part of the city and southern farming communities. Being from the St. Louis area, I was surprised to see people calling this portion of the city a "ghetto," since bikers ride through it regularly with no problems. Racial and cultural diversity is phenomenal, some of the best of any US city. Racism is much less of a problem than any other major city I've been in other than Seattle. Socially, the city is extremely accepting, and I've not experienced any cliqu-yness whatsoever. This city is so laid back that it's hard to imagine such a thing. There are ~400 miles of bike roads/trails throughout the city, and within 45 minutes you can be at 10,678ft overlooking the road grid at a temperature 20 degrees below that in the city. If you get away from buildings, you can easily see 60 or more miles to distant mountains. A two-hour drive will get you to the most scenic-natural places of any other major city outside of perhaps the Northwest. But culturally, this will not be your type of city if you cannot accept that there is no majority. The climate index is similar of that in coastal California (check it out!), though I do miss rain!
I have heard that many public schools are subpar, so certainly keep that in mind. Police are corrupt (major city for you). It is a bit smaller than most cities - perhaps less to do - and you can't come the suburbs of Whiteville, USA and expect the exact same culture. This isn't anything like Phoenix! I personally feel that this is a bit of a hidden gem, but that's for you to decide. I hope this gives a bit better perspective than the other reviews.
Best of luck!