ALBUQUERQUE MSA QUALITY LIVING PRESENTED BY ALBUQUERQUE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, INC. January 2021 Albuquerque Economic Development, Inc. 201 Third St SW, Suite 1900 Albuquerque, New Mexico 87102 Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure that the data contained herein reflect the most accurate and timely information possible and are believed to be reliable. This report is provided solely for informational purposes and is not to be construed as providing advice, recommendations, endorsements, representations or warranties of any kind whatsoever. © Albuquerque Economic Development, Inc. All rights reserved CONTENT SECTION I: AREA OVERVIEW 5 SECTION II: COST OF LIVING 6 SECTION III: EDUCATION 10 SECTION IV: RECREATION & CULTURE 11 / 4 / SECTION I: AREA OVERVIEW The Albuquerque metro area GEOGRAPHY CLIMATE offers residents a refreshing blend of scenic beauty and small town Albuquerque is located on a high, • Albuquerque averages 310 charm with all of the amenities of semiarid plateau. Albuquerque’s days of sunshine each year. a bustling city. Albuquerque is an elevation of 5,311 feet makes it • The metro averages 8.88 ideal place to live, work and thrive. one of the highest metropolitan inches of rain a year and only cities in America. Nearby Sandia 4.2 days of snow a year. Nestled near the Sandia Mountains Peak stretches 10,678 feet above • Roughly 50 percent of the total along the Rio Grande River, sea level, offering a view of more annual precipitation occurs Albuquerque boasts a temperate than 100 miles in any direction. from June through September. climate with 310 days of sunshine Located along the Rio Grande River • The average annual relative per year. Year-round recreational basin, the city is bounded by the humidity is 43.5 percent. opportunities abound with more Sandia Mountains to the east and • The risk of a natural disaster in than 28,000 acres of open space the volcanic escarpment to the the metro area is extremely low. and miles of trails throughout the west. Both sides of the river offer city. Skiing, golfing, hiking, bicycling wide expanses of land for growing and many more outdoor activities population and industry. The city await. of Albuquerque is located at 35 degrees latitude and 106 degrees longitude. ABQ METRO/NM RANKINGS Top 20 Cities to Move to in 2020 - (CubeSmart, 2020) Best-Performing Cities 2020 - (Milken Institute, 2020) Albuquerque is one of the Best Places for Women in 50 Bucket List Places to See, Santa Fe — New Mexico Tech - (SmartAsset, 2020) Best for Art Aficionados - (Bestproducts.com, 2020) Albuquerque ranks No. 1 for Best Places to live Albuquerque ranks among America's Best Cities for and work at a Movie Maker (Third year in a Row)- 2020 - (Resonance Consultancy, 2020) (MovieMaker, 2021) Albuquerque Named one of Livability.com’s Top 10 Best Cities for Creatives (That You Can Actually Afford Remote-Ready Cities in the U.S. - (Livability, 2021) to Live In) - (Thrillist.com, 2020) 50 Best U.S. Cities for Starting a Business in 2020 - (Inc. com, 2020) / 5 / THE COMMUNITYALBUQUERQUE Placitas PASEO DEL VOLCAN Bernalillo IRIS IDALIA RIO RANCHO BLVD NORTHERN RIO RANCHO Sandia Pueblo RAINBOW Rio Rancho S E L SOUTHERN A R R O C UNSER 19TH MEADOWLARKCorrales GOLF COURSE - Y B IRVING S S TRAMWAY S R A O P ALAMEDA O PARADISE C PASEO DEL NORTE UNIVERSE ALAMEDA WYOMING LOUISIANA JEFFERSON PASEO DEL NORTE Balloon Eastside Fiesta N. COORS SAN ANTONIO North 2ND Park Westside MONTANO Valley/ 4TH N I-25 ACADEMY Los Ranchos OSUNA SPAIN E D GRIEGOS N MONTGOMERY A R UNSER G COMANCHE O I R CANDELARIA N 12TH A TRAMWAY CARLISLE LOUISIANA C SAN MATEO MENAUL L LADERA INDIAN SCHOOL S Old Town R Midtown/ CONSTITUTION 98TH O Downtown O DEL VO O University E LOMAS C S . A S P Old Town Nob Uptown LEAD AVE Visitor Information Center Hill CENTRAL AV E CHAVE COAL CENTRAL BRIDGE SAR Z CE YALE GIRARD GIBSON WYOMING T ARENAL EUBANK SUNPOR Airport JUAN TABO Barelas/South Valley ALBUQUERQUEKirtland Air Force Base ISLETA Airport Visitor Information Center RIO BRAVO SENATOR DENNIS CHAVEZ UNIVERSITY Airport Car Rentals Y GUN CLUB 2ND DON FELIPE BROADWA S. COORS SCALE 012 Miles Map © Jan Underwood, Information Illustrated, 2006 Map courtesy of Visit Albuquerque / 6 / SECTION II: COST OF LIVING Residents in Albuquerque enjoy a much lower cost of measures intercity differences in the costs of consumer living, providing them with a rich life outside of work. goods and services, excluding taxes and non-consumer Albuquerque is consistently near and under the national expenditures. The index is based on 57 items, with 100 index mark of the C2ER Cost of Living Index. This study being the index average standard. COST OF LIVING COMPARISON Cost of Living Index 225.0 196.6 200.0 175.0 156.7 150.1 145.9 150.0 141.3 125.0 107.7 110.8 98.9 100.0 89.1 75.0 50.0 25.0 0.0 COST OF LIVING CATEGORIES 250.0 200.0 DID YOU KNOW? 150.0 100 represents the U.S. National Average. In the 100.0 third quarter of 2019, costs of goods and services 50.0 in Albuquerque were less than the national average in 0.0 all categories. Grocery Housing Utilities Transportation Health Care Misc. Goods & Svcs. Albuquerque Seattle US Average / 7 / HOUSING HOUSING MARKET MEDIAN SALE LOCATION Do your employees dream of owning homes? PRICE The relatively low cost of living and availability of Albuquerque, NM $258,600 affordable housing has caused home ownership Austin, TX $373,200 to soar throughout the Albuquerque metro area. According to 2020 estimates, 70 percent of the Boston, MA $588,100 homes in the Albuquerque metro area are owner- Colorado Springs, CO $371,900 occupied. The metro area offers home owners an array of housing styles in both urban and rural Dallas, TX $294,200 environments. In the third quarter of 2020, the median Denver, CO $506,000 sales price of an existing single-family home in the metro area was $258,600, 57 percent lower than the Los Angeles, CA $708,900 western median of $467,500 New York - Newark - New Jersey $479,900 Source: National Association of Realtors Phoenix, AZ $341,600 San Diego, CA $729,000 DID YOU KNOW? The cost of San Francisco, CA $1,125,000 purchasing a house Seattle, WA $617,700 in Albuquerque is less than half the U.S. $313,500 price of a single family home in Western Area $467,500 Seattle. RENTAL HOUSING The Albuquerque area has a large supply particularly in the downtown area and of affordable rental housing. There are Westside Albuquerque. To learn more about a number of large and small apartment rental housing in the area visit the Apartment complexes throughout the metro. Several Association of New Mexico website: www. new constructions are now being occupied, aanm.org. January 2021 Average Rent: $1,025 (all bedrooms), $887 (one bedroom) / 8 / HEALTHCARE Albuquerque’s healthcare providers Medical Center, which is a 375,000 LICENSED deliver everything from emergency square-foot full-service hospital MAJOR HOSPITALS BEDS care to advanced specialty services including an emergency department University of New to the community. With more than and Physicians Office Building. 555 2,100 hospital beds, Albuquerque is Mexico the center of health care excellence Presbyterian MAJOR HEALTHCARE 716 in New Mexico. The University of INSURANCE Hospital New Mexico (UNM) is a nationally ORGANIZATIONS Lovelace Medical recognized Class I research 293 Center institution committed to innovation • BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF in the medical field. The $90 million, Presbyterian NEW MEXICO 85 206,000 square-foot University of • DELTA DENTAL Kaseman New Mexico Cancer Center offers • UNITED HEALTHCARE Presbyterian Rust world-class treatment and clinical 151 • MOLINA HEALTHCARE OF NEW Medical Center research. MEXICO Lovelace Women’s • PRESBYTERIAN HEALTH PLAN 162 The Albuquerque metro area’s • TRUE HEALTH NEW MEXICO Hospital population is growing and • WESTERN SKY COMMUNITY Lovelace Westside 72 healthcare providers are investing CARE now for the future. Two new UNM Sandoval hospitals were recently completed Regional Medical 60 in Rio Rancho: the University of New Center Mexico Sandoval Regional Medical Heart Hospital of 55 Center, a 200,000 square-foot acute New Mexico care facility, and Presbyterian Rust / 9 / SECTION III: EDUCATION The city of Albuquerque has one school district, • The International School at Mesa del Sol Albuquerque Public Schools (APS). In the 2019-2020 LOTTERY FUNDED SCHOLARSHIP school year, nearly 89,000 students attended APS schools. All resident New Mexican high school students with at least APS consists of 88 elementary schools, 27 middle schools, a 2.5 out of 4.0 grade point average are eligible for a New 22 high schools, 3 special education centers, and 30 APS Mexico Lottery Scholarship, which pays for a percentage authorized charter schools. The APS district employs more of a student’s state college/university tuition fee. The than 12,000 personnel. scholarship is funded by a New Mexico Lottery program in which 100 percent of lottery net proceeds go to the Lottery Rio Rancho (16,762), Los Lunas (8,614), Belen (3,916), and Tuition Fund. Moriarty-Edgewood (2,417) each have their own school districts with a total of more than 31,700 students. The lottery scholarship pays for seven semesters of tuition, beginning with the student’s second semester, The Albuquerque MSA also has an excellent selection of providing the student attends full-time, maintains a 2.5 out private and parochial schools. Parents and students can of 4.0 GPA, and takes a minimum of 15 credit hours per choose from more than 40 private or parochial schools in semester.