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The 2nd link also has the option to see where people born in the state move to.
62% stay in New Mexico
8% move to Texas
5% move to California
5% move to Arizona
4% move to Colorado
Most of the rest move to other states in the south or west.
But I think the difference (from No. 5 to No. 9) is mostly because more retirees are moving in. NM is a great place to retire -- the weather is much better than Florida and the rest of the East Coast, and West Coast retirees no longer want to live in CA or can afford to live in CA. Plus, ABQ has the best senior citizen centers in The US. No other state has senior citizen centers that even begins to offer everything that NM senior centers do (particularly in ABQ).
ABQ Free Press did an extremely good article, on page 9, re "ABQ, NM, Aging Faster than Rest of US". 25% of the NM population is projected to be 65+ by 2030, and that's only 16 years away. That's a big proportion of us old people for one state -- especially one that is so poor -- and no other state in The US will come close to that percentage by 2030. While most retirees have high enough income to pay taxes -- that percentage of old people is going to be a financial burden for NM. ALTHO' retirees in NM do tend to volunteer a lot, for positions that were once paid positions but are no more, which helps NM's financial situation/budget. At least so says state and local governments.
ABQ Free Press, Sept. 10, page 9, quotes former state senator Dede Feldman who states that 10,500 people left ABQ in 2013 and only 1717 moved in.
Here's the direct quote from the ABQ Free Press: "And young people are leaving. Lee Reynis, director of the University of New Mexico's Bureau of Business and Economic Research, has said that 10,500 people left Albuquerque last year, and only 1,717 came in -- leaving the area with what economists call 'net domestic out-migration.'"
I don't know if this is incompetent reporting on the part of the ABQ Free Press or if they got some misinformation from somebody. For one thing, these numbers pertain to all age groups, not just "young people" as the article suggests.
Further, the 10,500 net outmigration refers to the entire state not the Albuquerque area, and the 1,717 net in-migration refers to international movers into the entire state not Albuquerque.
Interesting data from United Van Lines, though not necessarily relevant to NM.
"Many cities that are experiencing growth - more people moving into the metropolitan region than out - were in the Northeast, including New York, Boston and Philadelphia. The Midwest region saw considerable growth, including high volumes of millennial moves to cities such as Chicago, St. Louis and Minneapolis. The cities experiencing the biggest moving deficit - more people moving out than in - were along the West Coast (San Jose, Portland and Seattle) and in Texas (Houston and Dallas)." 2014 Americans move to Chicago Washington D. C. and Atlanta
IMHO, there's some very good things about NM. Cost of living is generally low, the climate is great, and there are some nice scenic areas. But there are some real negatives. Health care isn't very good in the rural areas and small towns. (That's true nation wide.) It has a high violent crime rate. But there just doesn't seem like there's a lot to do. That's a turn off for retirees. Places like AZ and FL have the big retirement communities with golf and a wide assortment of activities. Fl. has the ocean, and tons of places to visit. Part of the problem my just be competition. It just doesn't have as much to offer as places like CO, AZ, Texas, FL and some others. Many of these places also offer low taxes, and have a better health care system.
IMHO, there's some very good things about NM. Cost of living is generally low, the climate is great, and there are some nice scenic areas. But there are some real negatives. Health care isn't very good in the rural areas and small towns. (That's true nation wide.) It has a high violent crime rate. But there just doesn't seem like there's a lot to do. That's a turn off for retirees. Places like AZ and FL have the big retirement communities with golf and a wide assortment of activities. Fl. has the ocean, and tons of places to visit. Part of the problem my just be competition. It just doesn't have as much to offer as places like CO, AZ, Texas, FL and some others. Many of these places also offer low taxes, and have a better health care system.
Part of "having a lot to do" depends on what you're into, and having a large population. NM doesn't have any very large cities as the states you mentioned.
In any case, the number of migrants out has increased the past couple years while the number of migrants in has decreased while the amount of things to do hasn't decreased. I'm sure the changes in federal government spending patterns have been the primary driver of our economic doldrums the last couple years.
But there just doesn't seem like there's a lot to do. That's a turn off for retirees. Places like AZ and FL have the big retirement communities with golf and a wide assortment of activities.
Not sure what exactly you mean by not a lot to do. As funky mentioned, this depends on what someone is interested in.
Also, the AZ and FL retirement communities are typically Del Webb or other "active adult" branded communities with full-time lifestyle directors who are responsible for scheduling a full slate of available activities. There are two Del Webb communities in the ABQ area - Alegria in Bernalillo, which is just about sold out; and Mirehaven, a new one that is under development with sales likely to start in the next 6 months or so. A third active adult community, Jubilee, is located in Belen.
I live in Alegria and we have lots of scheduled activities. Because it's a smaller community - 376 homes at full build-out - the list of activities isn't as big as one in an AZ or FL community with thousands of homes. But there's still more than enough to pick and choose from. See the CD threads below about Alegria and Jubilee:
For seniors not in an active adult community, the City of Albuquerque has what I think is a great seniors program and the City of Rio Rancho also has a seniors program. I've posted in quite a few existing threads about my wife's and my experience in moving to the ABQ area as a retirement destination and available senior activities in the area. Other posters also contributed lots of other ideas about activities, etc. See the following threads. Some of the posts in them have additional links you can check out as well.
There's also a huge number of local fiestas and other festivals, lots and lots of historical points of interest to visit, etc, etc. Our problem isn't finding enough to do, it's deciding what to do among all the available choices.
Rich
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