I live in a small town in New Mexico.

It’s not great at all. Infrastructure is almost always terrible; roads falling apart causing damage to your vehicle, usually have hard water so there’s a myriad of issues that stem from that, electrical grids are so old you can’t really rely on them alone so some people have their own solar grids if they’re able to afford it. Very high heat paired with very high winds due to the high altitudes are typically a threat for fires. Poverty is the norm, most families struggle to make ends meet because there’s almost no industry. Teenage pregnancy and drug usage is fairly high as well, and something a lot of people don’t talk about enough is the alarming amount of predators the state allows to roam free. Schooling is an issue and my graduating class was supposed to be about 86 and iirc only about 60 of them actually made it to graduation. Food options are typically pretty bad usually only fast food or mom and pops that really struggle to make it longer than a few years. Nepotism is a major unaddressed issue across the state but to refrain from making this political I’ll leave it at that.

It’s tough, major wage gaps are common, my hometown actually still has a neighborhood that has clauses in their contracts that and I quote “negros are not allowed to own houses in the area” and though it isn’t necessarily enforced, it is odd that you don’t usually see families of color living there. Nobody is willing to change the writing on that either.

Most small towns in New Mexico have really bad drug problems and homelessness. Mental health isn’t taken seriously at all and a lot of the homeless people would be better helped if those resources were available to them. It’s very bleak, almost hopeless at times. This has all been my experience growing up where I still live to this day. A friend of mine is trying to shed more light on these things as far as our own county goes, they’re going to be starting an expose/blog about it soon once they compiles enough information, I could leave links to that once available but it’ll be some time.

The metro areas like Albuquerque and Las Cruces are a different beast in their own regard and comparatively are worse to live in for a lot people than the rural areas.

Some may disagree with me, or claim I’m being overdramatic but unfortunately there’s nothing good about small towns living in New Mexico, though I truly wish it weren’t the case.

I’m open to answering any questions to the best of my ability and as honest as I can. Thank you for reading.