I moved from Florida to here. I was in Ft Walton Beach not Miami. I've been here for about 18 years. It has it pluses and minuses. Your list is taken care of pretty good except for the strong economy, good schools, and business friendly.

I moved from Panama City, FL to ABQ.  I enjoy it here.  You can drive around an hour and be on Public Lands that you can shoot on.  From Albuquerque (ABQ) you are an hour to the mountains, or the desert.  We have an amazing food culture, some of the best food trucks in the nation, and the Real Deal Hatch Green Chile.  APD is going through a rough time had some questionable shootings over the last year. You are closer to Las Vegas for fun times.  We have a major airport so flights are good prices.

PM me if you have any questions.

MAHA

There is Sandia Prep and the ABQ academy for good schools, not sure if they are still good but I went to Sandia Prep as a kid.

Aqui casi todos hablan español.

I know there is CPA work in the ABQ area.  Both of my finacee's parents are CPA's.  Her dad is a partner at a rather large firm and makes damn good money.  Her mother also worked there, but just left to go work at a non-profit? i think.  She left just due to the lack of help around tax season and she got burned out.

1.) Not sure what you define as big city but as previously stated ABQ is the largest in the state and does have a lot to offer. Another Option is Las Cruces (big college town) it is also next to El Paso which is adding a bunch of stuff and like ABQ has a AAA baseball team (large in part to the owner of Western Refinery). The other "big cities" is Santa Fe, Farmington, and Gallup (where I live). Santa Fe is very liberal. Farmington looks larger than what it really is but can't comment too much on them. Gallup. Don't move to Gallup. It's a 20k population that refuse to grow even though it's on I 40. Although there is potential for small businesses to grow problem is a lot has to be made and has to sink some money in first.

2.) Here in Gallup is affordable housing but we are in the poorest county in the nation. It's one of those depends where you are.

3.) Are gun laws are good not great. OC (by state law) is not allowed where alcohol is being sold (yes including gas stations Wal-Mart etc) CC (by state law iirc) can't be allowed where alcohol is being served (ie  restaurants). In addition what ever size caliber you qualify with that's the largest you can carry. So you qualify with a .40 you can't carry a .45. Also if you qualify with just a semi auto you can't carry a revolver.

6.) Business friendly depends. Here small businesses expect you to pay higher prices just because hence me wanting to venture. I can say a lot of the small businesses in ABQ are awesome.

7.) We have a ton if FSA

8.) Good food areas are ABQ and LC

9.) It's useful until you reach the western side of the state.

10.) Lots of hunting and near exotic animals. Not a fan of the lottery hunting but helps to conserve better.

11.) Good schools are debatable. My daughter use to go to the rich kid school in town. They always have higher funding due to better grades. From how I'm understanding now many teachers are inflating grades to keep funding (daughter had a tough time spelling). They also have a bad bully problem. Always the same kids and same parents. I moved my daughter to a "low income" school (this being in my district) and I like it a ton better. Point is don't undersell a low income school just because they don't have funding. Best thing to do is shadow schools. But this can be said for any school.

Not completely true. If you take a semi-auto AND a revolver to your CCW class and qualify with both you will have both endorsements on your CCW permit. Derringer is also another endorsement that requires qualifying with one during your class. And if you only take a semi-auto to the class and decide later after getting your permit that you want to carry a revovler/derringer, you can shoot the qualification again with that different type of weapon and pay a small fee and the state will re-issue you the permit with both weapons on it.

Thanks about the clarification. Didn't know about the derringer. Either way it's an over redundant system

I moved here from Gainesville, Fl. It definitely has pluses and minuses. Lots of liberal derp. Carry laws are a little worse and big parts don't make sense. Most schools here are not great. Most of that is a product of the liberal derp. Recent report ranked NM 49th in education. There are some good schools though, just few and far between. Economy is meh. Pay is worse than Fl and there is income tax. Sales tax is ridiculous (8.2% in Santa Fe). Houses aren't cheap in Santa Fe either and property tax is also ridiculous. But I do love the mountains and the very different climate. I had forgotten what it was like to go outside and not sweat profusely. And I love my job here and have met many like minded people so it's not bad.

Other stuff...

We have four seasons.... Wind, Hot, Rain, Cold.

Love the dry climate here. In the summer, if you can find some shade, it is actually comfortable outside. Drink lots of water, you will loose a lot of it and may not notice at first.
Spring is windy as he!!,  July 4th is  usually is the start  rainy season. Fall is F'ing awesome . Winter day time temps are usually in the 40's - 50's(Albuquerque). Temperature swings here
normally are about 30 degrees.  In the summer, that's great. That near 100 day time high temp means about 70 degrees by morning.  Winter, it kinda sux, if you don't like the cold.

You can get green chile on everything.

Public lands are great for getting away, and they are not far away.

Gun shows suck.

We have cookies.

The best part about this state is it's relatively low population vs. wide open country.  There are some idiots and unfortunately it votes blue most of the time, but
I love being able to get to places where people aren't, yet have the city type comforts pretty close by.

Since you are a JBT there are a lot of dogs you can shoot..  


I live in the Southern part of the state.

APD shoots the homeless and mentally ill.  Druggies shoot APD.  Now, APD shoots APD.  Yeah, if you like shooting, this is a great place.

I probably shouldn't have but I lol'd

12. No Fireants here.

Fuck that!

 

What exactly is a JBT,
professional prairie dog hunter?

Jack Booted Thug... derogatory slang for cop.

 

I think of it as a term of endearment.   I would probably go Arizona myself just for the political climate were I not so entrenched here.  

Hence why that is part of my name.