Friendly place that values businesses, children, a
-
11/20/2013
Carlsbad, NM is a booming small city in the southeastern corner of New Mexico. It is called the "jewel of the Pecos" due to its water and parks. Unemployment is now at 3.4% and the median household income is at $53,000. It's service population (including everything within 15 minutes) is now almost 44,000. The community has oil and natural gas production, potash mining, nuclear materials mangement, manufacturing, tourism and agriculture industries as units as its largest employment. The diversity of the community helped it grow and thrive during the 2008 recession.
It is rapidly growing, so there is a housing shortage of rental property available, but that is getting better with the recent construction of three large gated communities and a new one on the way. New rentals run from $700/month to $1500/month depending on size. There are also two large nice new subdivisions going up in the community with houses ranging from $150K to $300K (1,700 sf up to 2,800 sf). Several newer neighborhoods offer properties to have a house built upon including Spring Hollow, Ridgecrest, Farmview, Miels Drive, Grapevine, and La Huerta.
If you like to do things outdoors, this is the place for you. Carlsbad has more city parks (and water) per capita than any other NM city. It also has two National Parks (Carlsbad Caverns NP & Guadalupe Mountains NP) and two state parks nearby. The community also has three lakes (Brantley, Lake Carlsbad, Lower Tansill, and Six-mile) in or near the city limits. Lake Carlsbad is stocked with rainbow trout in the winter and black bass and catfish in the summers. Water skiing is popular on both Lake Carlsbad and Brantley Lake. Some Aprils, kids in Carlsbad can boast that they can water ski in the morning at Lake Carlsbad and snow ski in the afternoon in Ruidoso 2 hours away.
Forested mountains are nearby (within 45 minutes) to the west in both the Lincoln National Forest and Guadalupe Mtns. National Park. Hunters will appreciate the vast public lands surrounding the community. Almost all of which can be hunted. Mule and white-tail deer, quail, dove, black bear, turkeys, pheasants, ducks, geese, javalinas, and elk can all be hunted within a one-hour radius of Carlsbad.
While the comments about restaurants and shopping are true, this is changing. We have seen a huge interest in our community in the past three years from the national and regional retail and restaurant chains. During this boom which started to take off about four years ago, we have seen several new companies open stores here. These include Lowe's Home Improvement (a big 96K store),IHOP, Chili's, Rue 21, Petsense, Tractor Supply, McAlister's Deli, two Marriotts, Hampton Inn and Suites, Big 5 Sporting Goods(their largest one), Holiday Inn Express, La Quinta Inn and Suites, and Comfort Inn. It is nice to see all the building.
Folks are real friendly here in Carlsbad and the small town atmosphere is still present here. Single high school is big (a large 5-A school) and school system is planning on building several new elementary and middle schools. High school has wide variety of sports and activities for kids and offers a solid science and engineering program. School has a full olympic-sized swimming facility, a full diving setup, tennis courts, and all other sports facilities (football and track stadium, two large gymnasiums, wrestling facility, etc.).
As said above. Carlsbad is diverse and everybody gets along here. There are many churches to choose from.
As for holidays, this community goes all out. Fourth of July is BIG. Fireworks display set up over Lake Carlsbad is twice the duration of many big city events. Children still dress up and go door-to-door on Halloween. I counted 487 kids that visited our house this year! Christmas here is a major event that is celebrated city-wide, the way it used to be around America in the earlier part of the last century. Think "Norman Rockwell," - caroling, decorations on houses and businesses, "Christmas on the Pecos" event, you get the picture...
If you want a great place for your kids to grow up in, this is definitely the place you want to be.
John | Carlsbad, NM