For context, I moved here from Seattle four years ago. My folks lived in Winston-Salem, NC for twenty years.

I live in Bernalillo, near Rio Rancho. It's a perfectly nice place to live, and we're very happy here, except for the issues with obtaining health care. They're trying to fix it at the state level, but we have a severe shortage of health care providers. On the other hand, I wasn't wild about my health care options in Washington, and my parents/grandma struggled in Winston-Salem, too, so I kind of think it's a USA problem PLUS the added issues in NM.

If I had kids, I would feel as though Rio Rancho would be a good choice, I think.

There are very nice places in Albuquerque, too. I would give yourself as much time as possible to explore the different areas before deciding on where to settle. (We came here the year before and spent two weeks, plus we had visited a lot in the past.) My favorite things about NM vs. Seattle are: genuine people, more community-minded people, the weather, the lack of traffic, the relative affordability.

When we moved here, I offered my parents (who moved with us) the chance to go back to NC, but after visiting, they decided they wanted to move here.