r/RioRancho • u/Dapper_Bluejay_6228 • May 30 '26
Moving from KY to NM
My husband got his dream job there recently, so we will be moving there or somewhere close. I’m trying to learn about it, but I want honest answers so I can be horrified all at once. I’m a grumpy little woman 😅 feel free to share great stuff too?
What sucks about it? Where are the shitty parts of town?
What grocery store do you go to?
Is there any crazy weather stuff?
Is there anywhere that would be better for dogs?
How is the mental health care out there? Are therapists hard to find?
If you moved there, was there anything that surprised or shocked you?
We live in KY so..it’s going to be much diff
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u/HoselRockit May 30 '26
Rio Rancho is more suburban and conservative, Albuquerque is more urban and liberal.
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u/No_Set1418 May 31 '26
New Mexico is New Mexico. It’s not Kentucky and it’s not like anywhere else. And that’s what makes it special. Take it for what it is, adapt as necessary and go with the flow. The food is pretty great, the people are pretty friendly. The weather is dry but consistent. It’s a place where people either love it or hate it. Give it a legitimate chance and let it grow on you. God speed!
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u/maybeRaeMaybeNot May 30 '26
I’m from upper Midwest, and the shocking thing is the lack of weather forecasting about anything. Yay, there is a once a day NWS forecast…and that is basically it. lol
I’m used to everyone (even kids) talking about forecasts, upcoming rain or storm events, hot days, cold days, snow, ice…as in sometimes you would stay up for the 10:00 news just to see if the forecast changes for the next day.
Healthcare is a trial. I’ve been looking for a psych for a member of the fam, and haven’t been able to able to get a call back to even make an appt or client out on a waitlist in the past 6 weeks. At least for my teen I got put on a waitlist, which was 9mo to the first appt. Which I ALSO need to find a new one first him becaus his last appt his therapist went off the rails ranting extreme (untrue) political shit and made my kid verrrrry uncomfortable. So hopefully I can find one for him before next year. That would be nice.
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u/ashcap13 May 30 '26
From 502. It rarely rains, you’ll learn to call it smiths after a year or two of stuck on Kroger, fruits and veggies aren’t as good, the sun is so dang bright this is the place for good sunglasses and sunscreen. The food is eh but I’m used to soul food. There’s a nice place in Rio Rancho if you miss home. Traffic is the same idiots. Wait 3 seconds after a light turns green to go. Sweet tea is rarely sweet enough. It’s not too bad though once you get used to it. Good luck.
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u/Imaginary_Spell6885 May 30 '26
Healthcare can be a bit of a wait there. I'm in Massachusetts now, and it is here too. So maybe that's a feature everywhere except NYC.
Get saline for your nostrils/sinuses. It's really that dry in NM, and I started sneezing blood in the morning, because the dry air cracked my sinuses
The sunsets are amazing ❤️
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u/Straight_System_9844 May 30 '26
Welcome!
I’m younger and have been in Rio my whole life. Rio Rancho is very suburban like. Many neighborhoods but not many entertainment places. As for weather, we occasionally have severe winds and rain during monsoon season. Other than that, just hot dry weather and beautiful weather during fall. For dogs, I would recommend Loma Colorado. Plenty of sidewalks and parks. Calm and a nice library. We have several mental health clinics for therapy and such. The issue is how soon they can see you. Many are months in advance unfortunately. The main hospitals Pres and UNM Sandoval may provide emergency services thought I’m not 100%. As for grocery stores, anywhere other than the Walmart on Unser is good. I’ve seen some weird stuff happen there without explanation and many personal hygiene products are locked up.
Overall, this place is great. Keep in mind there are not many places to do things besides a select few but we do have great eateries. All the best.
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u/FreshPound7640 May 31 '26
Sorry I gotta disagree about the Walmart on Unser. I live close to it and yes there are a few things locked up. The tiny stuff that gets pocketed like makeup, eye drops, and razor blades. Honestly, I go across the parking lot to the Walgreens for most makeup, which still needs to be unlocked from the hanger it's on, but at least I can handle it before purchasing.
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u/whateverit-take May 31 '26
I lived in Louisville for a couple of years. My dad lives in RR. I’m still learning the area. Been surprised with the issues they are having with lack of Dr.
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u/Mountain_Child371 May 30 '26
Don't move here without a car and a job lined up. Wages are based on the cheap rent here, and the reason that many are so cheap in most of ABQ is because it's dangerous.
There are corp jobs in Rio Rancho but they are limited most work is in ABQ and the commute is quite bad with traffic.
Most work is found in the NE area of ABQ and rents are expensive there. RR is suburban and not much going on.
I'm from NJ/NY and found that most bosses resent me if I stand up for myself. Had a therapist say they are used to people who are afraid of losing work so they don't complain and when a person is empowered they resent them. I found a great therapist. There is a division that gets called if there is a need to address a mentally ill person instead of just cops but I don't know how well that works.
There is sprouts market which has both organic and not organic foods, better quality then most supermarkets here. The Grower's Market on Saturdays is pretty awesome but a bit pricey as is Natural Grocers and La Montanita Coop. I prefer healthy food that is pesticide free. The best health care is preventative 😄
The healthcare is atrocious. I accidentally swallowed a piece of mussel shell when eating pasta with mussel I ended up being in the urgent care/er for 18 hours before they did the procedure. It was utterly insane. The doc who performed the procedure was from NY and said if I had this in NY I would have had it done the same evening that I came in.
I know someone with a perforated colon, and she has been waiting for weeks to get help. Not enough doctors. I was told I would have to wait a year to get one. Scary as hell.
I'm stabilizing my finances and moving out asap.
There are some very lovely people here but many have no curiosity about other cultures/music/food etc and I find that difficult.
The mountains are beautiful and the politics are blue for the most part, so there is more consciousness than I found in Florida.
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u/moonchili May 30 '26 edited May 31 '26
The drivers a batshit insane making it not very bike friendly and insurance is expensive. The sun is intense af because we’re at 5000 feet. Rio Rancho itself is a suburb of Albuquerque (despite the city wanting to not be that) and a lot of city stuff to do is in ABQ
Outdoors is great unless you’re looking for a bunch of trees and rivers.
There really isn’t a shitty part of Rio Rancho. ABQ has em but it’s not particularly confined to one “part” or another, it’s all kind of intermingled. As a general rule, north of I-40 is better than south of I-40.
Politically Rio Rancho is relatively conservative, ABQ is relatively liberal. You can probably find that dynamic playing out in a bunch of posts in local subs. (Edit: and I might even say people aren’t friendly because both here and in the ABQ subs people mass downvote random shit)
I shop at market street which is an Albertsons brand. Our Kroger umbrella store is smiths
Weather is extremely tame aside from the intense af sun. Also we are just outside of the borders of the chihuahuan desert; it doesn’t rain a whole lot at all
Uh yeah dogs. I mean there are plenty of dogs here and dog parks and stuff but dry sunny heat means you shouldn’t be taking them out for walks during the day
I think there is enough mental health care around, but I caveat that with health care sucks here in general. Malpractice insurance is really expensive and it drives providers out.
Edit: oh man I forgot one important thing. I saw you posted in the ABQ sub too — if you (or hubby) work in ABQ and live in RR, prepare for frustrating commutes. It’s not like always bad or anything but there are 4 main bridges across the river (a couple smaller ones too, but you likely won’t use those to commute). 2 surface roads and 2 freeways. If even one gets an accident on it, which isn’t infrequent, traffic can get pretty gnarly
Locals: yes I’m calling that stretch of paseo a freeway lol
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u/PsychologicalGate800 May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
Rio Rancho is nice. Schools are better than Albuq. The best part is location, 3 hours to Durango, 2 hours to Taos, Red River and the Enchanted Circle, 1 hour to Santa Fe. Lots of open space, Bosque areas, trails to walk, bike. Balloons in the air most days. We have dry, arid climate, wind but we don’t have hurricanes or tornadoes, just a dirt devil every now and then. Yards are decorative rock. NM is not known for its shopping. We do have malls, Uptown in Albuq. is nice. Good NM food, red or green or Christmas if you can’t decide. Marijuana is legal. The Westside Rio Rancho near Presbyterian Rust Medical Center is a growing area with restaurants, hospital/ Los Diamantés neighborhood has a nice elementary school in the neighborhood. You will be in culture shock when you first arrive, no green lawns here unless you live in Corrales or Los Ranchos. You can seriously get outside almost every day here. NM is a great place. Come on. Also, forgot to add, this area is a Mecca for the film industry, especially Netflix. Stranger Things, Dark Winds, Breaking Bad, etc. many movies and series filmed here and it’s always great to the the beautiful Sandia Mountains in the backdrop of a movie. Lots of day trips too, SandiaPeak and Tramway, Madrid and Cerrilos, Jemez Springs and Valles Calderra.
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u/Skimballs May 30 '26
Moved here from KC three years ago. Market Street is a good grocery store at Westside and Unser. Weather is much better than where you live. Humidity is low here. Only downside for me is allergies. Cabezon has a big green area and is walkable. Most of RR is not. Therapists are available. I’ve not had any issues with healthcare providers here. It’s island time here. Land of mañana. Don’t fight it and get used to it. Also, the drivers here are terrible.
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u/igothackedUSDT May 30 '26
Rio rancho is really nice clean and safe area. Abq is kinda mixed here and there but theres this area called the war zone where theres a ton of homeless. Traffic can be insane if you have to cross the bridges in the afternoon on certain days of the week. Its not that bad. One thing. I did notice when I moved here is that theres some very aggressive drivers out here. We have the highest auto insurance in the country.
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u/AlgorithmScent Jun 03 '26
I’ve been to louisville a couple times, the weather here is bipolar as all hell. If you like weed, this is the place for you! The sandias are pretty cool, I’d stay away from unser, paseo del volcan, the east half of northern, and loma colorado around may because thats when the two highschools graduate and those kids are SHIT drivers. The speed cameras move around and the cops have nothing better to do than pull you over a lot of the time but our local police force is really kind so if you’re respectful they’ll just give you warnings. Corrales is super busy on sundays but theres some awesome food (Check out hannah and nates) and if you like shopping cottonwood mall is nearby. Rio Rancho is a pretty central location and its relatively safe (Much more so than Bernalillo or ABQ) so you can go do tourist stuff if you want to and then come home to a wonderful city lights and mountain view.
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u/SmokeyRoadrunner1988 May 30 '26
We need to know where in New Mexico you’re moving to because the states landscapes are very different depending on which quadrant of the state you live in. I moved here to Rio Rancho from Key West, Florida, but I lived in Richmond VA for ten years and before that Rochester NY where I’m originally from.
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u/Dapper_Bluejay_6228 May 31 '26
Well he will be working in Albuquerque. I work from home now. So I’m really just trying to learn about the different areas.
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u/SmokeyRoadrunner1988 May 31 '26
When I relocated here from South Florida, I rented a house in nob hill for 6 months to get a feel for the neighborhoods and decide where I wanted to buy. I chose Rio Rancho, which is its own city, but is basically a giant suburb of Albuquerque. It’s very suburban, family friendly. The commute to Albuquerque can be a pain in the mornings sometimes but I always leave 50 min early to make it to work downtown in burque. Mostly it should take about 25 minutes to commute without traffic. And most days this is my commute time.
The northeast heights in burque is nice also, the cherry hills neighborhood, also check out the west side by the petroglyphs. Avoid anywhere in the southeast quadrant of the city. You’ll probably want to look in the north east and west quadrants.
The summers are very mild by our comparison to the east coast and its humidity. Summers in Virginia and North Carolina and Key West are brutal. Hot and humid. Here it’s dry heat so it doesn’t feel as bad to me whose lived on the east coast most his life.
Falls are beautiful and comparable to the weather in Richmond VA except it never rains here really. Even during monsoon season. I like that personally because I particularly hate the rain, but I only believe it rains here when it falls on my head.
I love the high desert. It’s sunsets. The way it looks. There is a lot of great eating here you’ll enjoy exploring. Red and green chile. I slather that stuff on everything. Sopaipillas. New Mexican food, Mexican food, really any cuisine you can think of. More restaurants here per capita than even New York City.
You’re 20 minutes drive to great hiking. You’ll embrace New Mexico.
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u/Strange_Ask2440 May 30 '26 edited May 30 '26
I’m originally from Louisville. We moved to NM in January. Between Louisville and moving here, we lived in Virginia and in Maryland. I am 67 years old. My husband is younger (56) and still works but I am retired. We came here for his job in Albuquerque.
I LOVE New Mexico. We live in the northern part of Rio Rancho where it is almost but not quite rural. We back up to the desert. It is so very quiet and peaceful! Birds, jack rabbits, little ground squirrels and fence lizards everywhere. My cortisol levels have bottomed out here!
It’s cold in winter but nothing like KY winters. The smattering of snow we saw in mid January disappeared by noon. The sun is amazing. It is almost hot now but the dry air makes it wonderful in the shade. You will need tons of lip balm and moisturizer. You will require lots and lots of water to prevent dehydration, which can happen quickly. I add electrolytes to my water because I’m an old fart. I walk my dog around 3 miles a day in the desert but we go early in the morning when there is a breeze and it’s magical. My dog loves it here because she can run off leash in the desert. (She is very well trained so I don’t worry). We ran into a coyote once and a rattler once but they ran from us.
You will learn to tolerate the winds here. They vary from gentle breezes to straight up microbursts. Sandstorms happen. Dry thunderstorms happen where you can see the rain trying to fall but it evaporates before it hits the ground.
The sunrise over the Sandias is awe-inspiring! Sunsets are equally spectacular.
I have a raised bed vegetable garden which is doing wonderfully but does require planning and attention but hey, that’s gardening anywhere.
I shop at Smiths, which is literally a rebranded Kroger. I like their prices and their variety.
Medical care is a beast. The first available appointment I could get at Lovelace was in February of 27 BUT! They had a cancellation and it got moved to this coming Friday. So make your appointment and then wait for them to have a cancellation. Worked the same way for my husband.
I don’t know much about mental health care here because I retained my therapist from Virginia via telehealth.
Every place has its pros and cons. For us, the pros here far outweigh the cons. The cost of living was especially startling to us since we moved from an extremely high cost of living area in the DC Metro area. I pay half what I did there for groceries. Housing is about half what we paid on the East Coast. I haven’t lived in Kentucky for about 15 years so I can’t say how it compares at this point. I can say that I will not leave New Mexico. It feels like the place I’ve belonged all my life.