We lived in New Mexico from Nov 14 to Nov 15. It is by far the both my wife and I's favorite place we have lived ( 7 states in 14 years) as it pertains to weather. Absolutely gorgeous. We lived in Rio Rancho. Outdoor opportunities abound. All sorts of fishing. Hunting was great. Yes it is a draw state, but if you do your homework you can draw with regularity ( my good friend has lived there 12 years and has drawn 9 bull tags, Gila three times, all bow though). I drew my first fall up in unit 45 a muzzleloader bull tag and notched my tag on the third day of the season. If I didn't draw I was fully prepared to drive the 4 hours to Durango to hunt in CO OTC.
No offense to anyone on the forum who lives there still or has lived their entire life there. What we didn't like was the "feel". We are originally from the midwest. Everyone plays in the front yard. In RR, NO ONE played in the front yard. Our kids would be riding bikes up and down the sidewalk and there were literally kids every other house and it would be a ghost town. Panhandlers... EVERYWHERE. I think in the year I was there I can count on one hand how many times I filled up with gas and someone didn't ask for money. You couldn't go to Walgreens without someone walking up telling you they had no money, no gas, etc...
Now I can say that when I traveled outside of ABQ, the panhandling declined sharply. I met a lot of people in the smaller towns while traveling for work and it was like a different state. Heck I was even on the side of the road in between clines corners and roswell just sitting and glassing antelope. No reason to... just wanted to watch them. I had three different people stop and make sure I wasn't broken down.
We have talked about moving back once we retire ( the weather is that awesome), but it won't be in ABQ. We would want to get off the beaten path.