Reviews & Comments
Albuquerque, NM
Albuquerque's Crime Problem is REAL -
11/24/2019I lived in Albuquerque for over 20 years and finally had to move away because of the crime and economic problems. After my car was stolen (from inside my garage, my bike was stolen, and I was mugged for a petty amount of cash in the NE Heights, I called it quits.
People will claim Albuquerque "isn't so bad" when compared to (Insert city here). But the FBI crime statistics say otherwise. The city is home to the nation's highest rate of car theft, top 5 overall property crime, New Mexico is top 10 for violent crime, and as of November 2019, Albuquerque is about to hit its all-time record for homicides. I remember sometime in the past year hearing the city had 113 shootings in 114 days.
All of this is absolutely ridiculous and totally unacceptable for anyone who wants to live a quiet, peaceful life or raise kids there. But the dirty, dark secret is that it has been this way for a LOOOOONNNG time. If I recall correctly, Albuquerque hit its previous murder record all the way back in 1996. And if you look deep enough into the stats you will see that the state of New Mexico has been top 10 in Violent crime on and off going all the way back to 1965. Yes, its been bad for over 50 years!
What does this kind of crime look like? I will tell you. It looks like an elderly woman being stabbed in the "nice part of town" while carrying groceries home. It looks like a man being CRUCIFIED to a tree in the Bosque nature preserve. It looks like a man being found decapitated behind a local Wal-Mart. It looks like a mailwoman's body being found burned on the West Mesa. It looks like a man being shot multiple times and then driving his car into oncoming traffic in the South Valley. It looks like a teenage boy being gunned down outside a pizza parlor near the airport. These are all real crimes you can Google which have happened in totally different parts of the city. And they are just some of the more high-profile ones. It's a constant problem.
But the most frequent reports are people having their cars stolen, houses robbed, and property stolen. If this is the kind of life you want for your family, by all means move to Albuquerque.
And I have barely even touched on the problems like a slower economy than every surrounding state, the polluted (and disappearing) drinking water, and job growth slow for most years since 2010. I didn't even mention the 49th in the nation school system or the massive DWI problem that never gets resolved (hint: don't ever drive your car between midnight and 4am in Albuquerque).
You may think Albuquerque is all pretty sunsets and green chile cheeseburgers but there is a cost to be paid. The housing may be affordable, but it may cost you your car, your money, or even your life. Think twice about moving there!
Albuquerque, NM
Thinking of Moving to ABQ? Read This First. -
8/25/2019If you are a Californian, Texan or New Yorker looking to move to Albuquerque for the cheap housing, listen closely: YOU WILL GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR! High crime, high unemployment, low growth in house equity and poverty.
My 30+ years in Albuquerque were filled with crime and hassle. I lived in a nice NE heights neighborhood and had cars broken into (one was even taken on a high speed chase) and stuff constantly stolen like bikes and lawn equipment. My father-in-law got a neat steel buffalo ornament for his lawn and it was gone in one week. I once left my bike in the rack outside a gas station and came out and it was gone in less than 2 minutes! My wife had her car broken into twice and her basement broken into once before moving in with me.
Look at the news stories from the past few years! An elderly woman got stabbed as she walked home with her groceries near the ABQ Academy (a NICE part of town). A man was found crucified to a tree in the valley. A guy was found decapitated outside a Walmart near Wyoming and Menaul. A woman was carjacked outside a Rio Rancho library. It doesn't matter where you go, the crime will find you!
I finally wised up and got out in 2012. Since I left, a lot of the people I know have left too. And that's why ABQ won't get better. I took my business with me. My wife took her advanced degree with her. Our friends took their family and money elsewhere. The only thing keeping ABQ afloat is government money (aid for poverty, military money for Kirtland and Fed money for the Labs). If those jobs ever leave or get reduced, ABQ is in for a wild ride.
And NM as a whole relies heavily on similar sources of revenue (welfare) and from oil and gas. In 20 years when solar and wind take over and the government downsizes certain programs, ABQ is going to suffer massively. Right now the only thing holding it all together is the money and intelligence of the wonderful people who work at places like Sandia and Kirtland. Once they leave the state, God help us all. All we will be left with is disappearing blue collar retail and service jobs for high school dropouts and panhandlers on every corner looking for their next hit. ABQ will become Gallup or Pueblo at that point.
And back to the housing thing... I sold my house in 2012 for $220k. It's worth $240k now. Whoop-de-doo. My new house in Colorado went from $250k to $450k in that same period of time. YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR!! Nobody wants to come to Albuquerque due to the crime and corruption and the housing market shows it. Now we are late in the economic cycle and ABQ is FINALLY making some gains and drawing interest from people priced out of other cities. But make no mistake, when the recession comes next time, you will WISH you were in Denver or Seattle or Dallas instead of Albuquerque. Because there will be no jobs, no hope and nobody will want to buy your house.
Go look up the stats on how many people moved to ABQ from 2010 to 2018. Then look at the stats for Denver, Phoenix or Dallas. Follow the wisdom of the crowds...they know what's up.