El Paso VS. Albuquerque in 2022

El Paso VS. Albuquerque in 2022

Why Compare El Paso and Albuquerque

Welcome to Living in El Paso, Texas. My name is John Peña, and in this episode we are comparing El Paso, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. If you are considering buying or selling a home in El Paso, please consider reaching out to us at Peña El Paso Realty Group, as we are the premier real estate agency in all of El Paso.

Not long ago I found an article that reinforced the idea that tons of people are relocating to El Paso, but it also mentioned that people are relocating to Albuquerque, New Mexico. That surprised me, because the stories I have been told about Albuquerque, from dear friends who bought a home here and relocated from Albuquerque last year, as well as from my wife when she was working and traveling to Albuquerque, made me question why anybody would move there. But I wanted to give it a fair shake.

Long story short, Albuquerque has a bit of a crime problem, and that is really what we are going to focus on toward the end. But before we get there, we want to give it a fair shake and compare the two cities in a very unbiased way.

Geography and Demographics

Albuquerque is about four hours north of El Paso. The two cities are pretty much right in line with each other north to south, both on the Rio Grande River and both near beautiful mountains.

On population, El Paso is a little bit bigger than Albuquerque, depending on whether you are just looking at the city or all of the outlying regions. The median age in El Paso is about 33, versus 36 in Albuquerque, so both are fairly young cities. On land area, El Paso wins with about 257 square miles versus about 187 for Albuquerque, so El Paso is a little more spread out.

On demographics, El Paso's white population is 13%, versus 40% in Albuquerque. On the Hispanic population, El Paso is a strong 81%, versus 49% in Albuquerque, so El Paso leans a lot more Latino and Hispanic, while Albuquerque is more balanced.

Cost of Living, Housing, and Income

On cost of living, El Paso scores 81 out of 100 and Albuquerque scores 91, and the lower the better, so Albuquerque is overall a little more expensive, and definitely more expensive when it comes to housing. On the housing index, El Paso is a 56 and Albuquerque is an 88 out of 100, so when it comes to home prices, El Paso is the clear winner.

Over the last 10 years, job growth in El Paso has run about 8%, while Albuquerque has struggled with about 1.5%. On median family income, Albuquerque has us beat: median family income in Albuquerque is $63,000 to $64,000, versus $50,000 to $51,000 in El Paso. El Paso also does not do as well on healthcare cost, scoring 87 out of 100 versus 81 for Albuquerque, so Albuquerque edges us out a little there too.

Climate and Weather

Albuquerque sits over a thousand feet higher in elevation than El Paso, and it is further north, so it runs a little cooler. Rainfall is about the same for both cities, about 10 inches a year. On snowfall, El Paso almost never gets close to three inches, not since I have been here, but Albuquerque gets a little more snow given its higher elevation and more northern location.

On sunny days, the two cities are close: 297 a year for El Paso versus a strong 280 for Albuquerque. The average high in July is around 95 in El Paso and a couple degrees cooler at 92 in Albuquerque, while the average January low is 31 in El Paso and 24 in Albuquerque. Climate and weather are pretty close between the two, with Albuquerque a bit cooler and getting a bit more snow. On comfort index, the higher the better, El Paso squeaks past Albuquerque with an 8, versus 7.8 for Albuquerque.

Taxes

El Paso, Texas has no state income tax. In Albuquerque, you will pay state income tax ranging from 1.7% to 8.2% depending on your income. On property taxes, Albuquerque beats us: on a $200,000 home, you would pay about $6,000 a year in property taxes in El Paso versus about $3,000 in Albuquerque. However, Social Security and pensions are taxed in New Mexico, while in Texas they are not.

Crime and Safety

This is really where I see the biggest difference between El Paso and Albuquerque. The overall demographics are pretty similar. Cost of living is close. El Paso has better home prices, but you will pay higher property taxes on that home, so that evens out a little. Climate and weather are very similar. But on community and crime, the gap is huge.

On property crime, where you want a low number, El Paso comes in at 30.6 versus 85.3 for Albuquerque. On violent crime, where you also want a low number, El Paso is at 22.1, close to the national average of 22.7, while Albuquerque comes in over 50, at 51. On the safety scale, where you want a higher score, El Paso is just under 67 versus 29.3 for Albuquerque. And on crime index, where you want a low number, El Paso is at 33 versus 70 for Albuquerque.

Yes, I am an El Paso real estate agent, so of course El Paso is going to come out ahead here, as you probably guessed from the thumbnail. But that is a drastic difference. When you are talking about crime, safety, and violence, the Albuquerque numbers are pretty staggering, and I have some stories that back that up.

I sold a home last year to a young couple, Jason and Lauren, who had moved to Albuquerque for work. The final straw for them was having to confront a stranger in their backyard in the middle of the night, who had hopped their six foot wall, and things almost got violent. They had to call the cops. They told me a number of stories about desperate, drug-addicted people in the area wreaking havoc. My wife Leah, before she started working in real estate with us, was a dialysis manager, and Albuquerque was one of the cities she had to travel to. She had some pretty significant stories too, about being warned not to go out at night and having a hard time finding a hotel that would be considered safe.

Albuquerque is really dealing with some problems, and it sounds like the primary one is homelessness. There are a lot of people in our country who are simply not in a fortunate position, whether it is mental health or any number of other reasons, and our heart goes out to those people. But the way El Paso deals with homelessness is different. When you come to El Paso, you might see a handful of homeless people, but that is it, and you might not see any. Albuquerque handles it much differently, and is closing parks. There are resident complaints all over the city, not just in one localized spot.

What accompanies homelessness is typically property crime, people looking for things they can sell for money, and violent crime. I cannot think of anything worse for a city than being ravaged by violent crime. That is really the big differentiator for us.

What Albuquerque Gets Right

To say some good things about Albuquerque, it sounds like they have a pretty strong tech field, with tech corporations out there that probably pay really well, which is likely why a lot of people in those industries are moving there. But what happens is that they have to live far away from the city, out in the suburbs, which I am sure are beautiful. The problem is they cannot go into the city to really enjoy it. Part of where you live is being able to enjoy the people, the community, the activities, and the festivals, and most of that typically happens in the heart of downtown. But if you cannot go downtown because it is unsafe, you are kind of trapped out in the suburbs, which for some people might be exactly what they want. But for me and the people I know, what we love about El Paso is that it is a safe community we can all feel a part of, where we can engage in all the activities available to us.

The Bottom Line

When you compare El Paso to Albuquerque, drop a line in the comments, especially if you are from Albuquerque or know both places. Did I get it wrong? What is it about Albuquerque that you love, if you are from there or have lived there?

As a wrap up: say you are retired and thinking about El Paso versus Albuquerque. Albuquerque has lower property taxes, but you will get taxed on your Social Security and pension, so you have to balance that out. El Paso has more affordable home prices. It comes down to what you want when you retire: do you want to be able to go out and about in the city and enjoy it? If so, El Paso is the place. Albuquerque, maybe not so much.

Just some things to think about. We hope this is useful to you, and again, if we got it wrong, let us know in the comments. We will see you next time.