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Comparing New Mexico to Pennsylvania
there is really no comparison
Proximity to the Grandparents
Pittsburgh to Albuquerque is 6 hours airport to airport.
Denver to Albuquerque is 8 hours driveway to driveway.
Pittsburgh is faster transport time.
Housing
Below are two recent property listings.
Having spent over 20 years in construction sales including selling marquis projects such
as Ysleta Port of Entry (El Paso) FBI Building (Albuquerque) over 200 projects in Colorado.
It makes perfect sense that Pittsburgh housing is 25% to 35% less than Albuquerque.
The majority of building materials that comprise the building envelope (cladding, timber, window packages, door packages, finishing materials, cabinets) are made in the midwest.
Freight to Pittsburgh is on the average 4 times less than freight to Albuquerque across
the entire spectrum of transporting building materials.
Side by side comparisons. What $200,000 ballpark buys in Pittsburgh vs Albuquerque. The majority of homes in Pittsburgh are cladded in clay fired masonry. Bricks yield a superior thermal lag due to their density. Moreover brick is on the average 10,000 PSI compressive strength whereas stucco is 10 times more inferior. You want a unit that is high in density and low in absorption. Brick is high in density and low in absorption whereas stucco is low in density and high in absorption. Brick also increases curb appeal and property values increase significantly when comparing brick to stucco homes. Lastly, neighborhoods and commercial zones that use brick see significantly less decay and attract much higher end clients that maintain their properties compared to stucco subdivisions that do not age well.
Pittsburgh Listing
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1544-Reamer-St-Pittsburgh-PA-15226/11649748_zpid/
Albuquerque Listing
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2733-Dakota-St-NE-Albuquerque-NM-87110/6752188_zpid/
Education
New Mexico is the 49th poorest State in the USA. If it were not for the Federal infusion of funds for Los Alamos, Sandia Labs, White Sands, Holoman, Kirtland, etc NM would be the poorest state.
My mother asked me to consult with my friends who spent a combined 55 years working for APS. Both were interviewed extensively and stated that APS is a disaster. This stems from a severe lack of resources which makes perfect sense given the desperate nature of NM economy.
As a father I knew I could not look at Soren straight in the face and tell him he would be better off in a NM school vs a Pittsburgh School.
Moreover my brother who has been a principal for over 20 years and educator before that researched the school district in Pittsburgh. Russell's opinion was that Keystone Oaks is significantly superior to any school system or district in Albuquerque area.
Economy
Methodology used for comparing New Mexico to Pennsylvania.
1. GDP.
New Mexico is in bottom tier while Pennsylvania
is #6 in US.
2. Comparing health of private sector between the two cities.
New Mexico's largest private employer is Allsups followed by Dions Pizza.
source - https://nmpartnership.com/incentives-data/new-mexico-largest-employers/
Intel was once a large employer in ABQ metro area but now has only 1,200 employees
whereas Allsups has 3,200 minimum wage jobs. This is a very troubling data point.
Pennsylvania private employers are big names in Natural Gas, Aerospace, Construction, Coal, Technology, Food processing, Building Materials, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical and many fortune 500 companies.
3. Comparing employment listings between the two cities.
Listings on job sites like Linkedin, Indeed, Zip Recruiter reinforce the points made above
that Pennsylvania towers over New Mexico in career potential. Moreover the average pay is 30% to 40% more in Pennsylvania.
Everything goes back to the severe lack of investment in New Mexico.
Over the past two decades numerous large cap companies have searched for places to locate their employment centers. In almost every case when a corporation looks at places to set up shop they skip over Albuquerque and select either Tucson, Phoenix, Austin, Colorado Springs or Denver.
Economic development professionals call this comparing your peer cities. Albuquerque's peer cities are the one's listed above.
So Why do Employers intentionally skip Albuquerque?
for five chief reasons
1. They perceive the NM state government is corrupt, volatile and unstable.
2. They perceive that NM lacks the educational strength to recruit a capable workforce.
3. New Mexico workers compensation rates are among the highest in US so they don't want any part of this "slip and fall" workers comp claim orbit.
4. New Mexico is lacking in resources like water and farms. Plus lacks the proximity to resources for manufacturing such as materials, metals and other goods.
5. The B2B network in New Mexico is extremely weak. Businesses rely on a rich pool of ancillary services such as accounting, legal, building materials, contractors (for support and to aid in business growth plus expansion to their physical plant.)
Staggering difference comparing two stats below.
Pennsylvania GDP is over 9 times greater than New Mexico GDP
Crime
Source : Crimegrade.org
Albuquerque area, Letter grade F
Pittsburgh, we're looking at what is known as the South Hills area.
(Castle Shannon, Mount Lebanon or Upper St Clair areas)
Pittsburgh area, Letter Grade A
And the News Keeps Getting Worse for New Mexico
- NM 5th Worse in Teen Suicide
- NM 5th Worse in Drug Addiction
- NM RANKS DEAD LAST OF 50 STATES IN EDUCATION
