Living in Santa Fe, New Mexico — City Rating and Review
We lived in Santa Fe, New Mexico for 35 days. During our stay, we encountered great food, weird weather, a fascinating culture, beautiful scenery, and a whole lot of mystery.
So are we moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico? Let’s see what the numbers have to say.
Table of Contents
Scores by categories
Affordability
Cannabis
Coffee
Community
Diversity
Dog Friendly
Grocery Stores
Magical Spirit
Natural Beauty
Parks & Rec
Political Climate
Restaurants
Sustainability
Walkability & Bikeability
Weather
Wine & Beer
Summary of Santa Fe Livability Rating
Overall score: 77/100 = good!
After a string of cities scored a 68, it was starting to feel like there would be no possible competition for San Diego, which scored an 84. However, Santa Fe came onto the scene strong. Not only did it hit a solid 77 score, but the shocking thing was we gave it no 2 “below average” or 1 “worst” ratings at all.
This means that no category rated lower than a 3 “average” and most of the categories were in the 4–5 range! Additionally, this is the first city to receive a 4 “above average” rating for affordability, which is one of our highest-weighted categories.
All of this adds up to the fact that Santa Fe deserves serious consideration as a potential home.
Affordability
Rating = 4
Weighted score: 7.6
As of April 2022 Santa Fe Median Home Prices are at $595K. This is the most affordable of the cities we’ve rated, although this is a 5-year high mark for home costs in the area and locals are concerned about the rising prices.
When we toured homes in Santa Fe, we discovered that we can afford what we jokingly call a house for “real grown ups.” Most of the time when we tour a house in our price range, it is either a tiny studio or one bedroom condo, or a dilapidated fixer upper.
The first home we toured was a two-bedroom, two-bath ranch style home made of brick (in a sea of adobe homes) with a large backyard rated for chickens at a list price of $499K. It was located along the Santa Fe trail, making it extremely bikeable and somewhat walkable.
The second home we saw was a new build in a modernized pueblo revivalist style with tall ceilings, sleek finishes, and a beautiful fireplace as a centerpiece. The house had a small backyard and backed up onto some open space with walking trails. Unfortunately, this beautiful home was located on the south side of Santa Fe, which means it is not in a walkable part of town.
We left these home tours feeling like maybe Santa Fe could be a viable option for us to create the life we want.
Cannabis Culture
Rating = 4
Weighted score: 4
We couldn’t believe it when we learned that marijuana was legalized in New Mexico on the very same day that we arrived in Santa Fe.
The city of Santa Fe was clearly quick to embrace the cannabis culture boasting around ten dispensaries in the downtown area and at least that many throughout the rest of the city.
Best Daze was located just a short walk from our house down off of the Acequia trail and had a great selection and friendly staff.
Why not a 5? Maybe it’s because legal cannabis is so new to the city, but it seemed like using cannabis was a little bit “edgy” and not fully mainstream yet.
Coffee / Cafes
Rating = 4
Weighted score: 4
There are approximately thirteen independent coffee shops and cafes to choose from in Santa Fe. If we go back, we have a few on our list that we wanted to visit but didn’t have a chance to including Ikonic Coffee Roasters and CrashMurderBusiness (how could you not with that name?).
Here were some of our favorites from our time in Santa Fe:
- Cafecito — This was our neighborhood spot in the Baca Railyard District. A very sweet and helpful employee taught us about different Argentinian baked goods including delicious Quince fruit pies! They have a really nice outdoor patio space and are best known for their empanadas and weekend brunches. Their chimichurri sauce is delish!
- Counter Culture — This place was dangerously close to our house. The reason we say “dangerous” is because of the highly addictive breakfast burritos they serve. Filled with the perfect ratio of spicy red and green chili sauce, jalapaneos (if you want them), eggs, and potatoes and wrapped in a fluffy tortilla you can’t help but think that maybe just maybe you should never leave Santa Fe. Their cinnamon rolls (only available on Wednesdays) are also incredibly good. They have a ton of indoor seating, and a decent dog-friendly patio in the parking lot out front.
- The Shack by Agapao Coffee — This is a drive-through coffee shack with amazingly good quality coffee. The owner was incredibly nice and, as a long-time local, a wealth of interesting information about the area. We’re just bummed we met him on the last day of our stay.
- Artful Tea — Not in the mood for coffee? Check out Artful Tea for a creative and high quality selection of teas. We took home a bag of Chai Tea with spicy Chimayo chiles and boy did it deliver on the spice! So tasty with a dollop of sweet honey and cream.
Community
Rating = 3
Weighted score: 5.7
People in Santa Fe were friendly and open to chit-chat, as long as you could find them. Perhaps it was the time of year (spring was just springing and the weather was a bit chaotic), but the parks and trails in our neighborhood were usually empty. It felt like a ghost town!
We did, however, have an amazing gathering on the patio outside of La Choza restaurant while waiting for a table. The locals were more than happy to share everything they knew about their city and even encouraged us to consider moving to Santa Fe! We talk about that fun little community experience in Episode 19 — Hello from Santa Fe.
Our neighbor was awesome enough to share a bottle of wine on our adjoining patios and he told us that Santa Fe is really nice until it isn’t. He shared that in the neighborhood where we were staying, there is a problem with some bad neighbors, firearms, and other challenges. We did notice that on the weekends there are high number of people lounging on benches along the Acequia Trail while using drugs and alcohol, which was a pretty sad sight.
So like many other cities, the community of Santa Fe has its challenges.
We landed on a three average score given that we did run into a number of really nice and open people. However, since we don’t already have friends or family in the area, and because of some of the challenges within the community, we couldn’t justify a higher score for now.
Diversity
Rating = 4
Weighted score: 5.2
Santa Fe has a diversity index of 78 making it a very diverse city.
Here’s how the racial demographics of Santa Fe compares to the United States.
Race
% Population in
Santa Fe
% Population in U.S. Santa Fe Vs. U.S. Black 1% 13% -12% Hispanic / Latino 51% 18% +33% Asian 2% 6% -4% White 55% 76% -21% American Indian 2% 1% +1%
The bulk of the ethnic/racial diversity comes from the higher proportion of Hispanic / Latino citizens, but other folks including Blacks and Asians are not well represented in this city.
Although the indigenous population within the city is fairly low, Santa Fe is in close proximity to several of New Mexico’s 19 Pueblos, which further increases the diversity of the area.
Aside from racial diversity, we also noticed other types of diversity in Santa Fe, including diverse gender expressions and sexual orientations as well as economic and language diversity. It was really common to hear people speaking in languages other than English and Spanish in restaurants and cafes.
For these reasons, even though the full spectrum of racial diversity was not present, we settled on a 4 “above average” score in this category.
Dog Friendly
Rating = 5
Weighted score: 5
We had no trouble finding dog friendly restaurant patios and plenty of dog friendly hiking trails and parks.
Our favorite spot to take Oskar is the Frank S. Ortiz dog park, which provides 138 acres of arroyos and hills with miles of winding maze-like trails, and beautiful views of the city.
Grocery Stores/Farmer’s Market
Rating = 4
Weighted score: 5.2
We did most of our shopping at Trader Joe’s and the Market Street supermarket, but we did learn that there are quite a few options to choose from including a number of other big chains plus the Santa Fe Asian Market. (For even more options, Albuquerque has a huge variety of ethnic grocers to choose from.)
Santa Fe is also home to three farmer’s markets, including the year-round Saturday Market, which we got to visit twice during our stay. This market has a plethora of food stands located inside a large warehouse in addition to an art market and flea market in the same area. The event is enormous and it was a lot of fun to walk from our house along the Acequia trail to the market to sample some fruits, veggies, and baked goods.
Magical Spirit
Rating = 5
Weighted score: 5
We talked a lot about the magical spirit of Santa Fe in the enigma episode. It’s notable that Santa Fe is the first city on our route that scored a 5 “best” for this category.
Santa Fe has a long and rich history, the area having once been the home of Pueblo Indians in 1050 and then in the 1600s, the city was settled by Spanish conquistador Don Pedro de Peralta. In 1851 it became the oldest capital city in the U.S. We wonder if the history and age has contributed to its enigmatic spirit.
Today, the city is home to at least ten active reiki practioners as well as providing access to a multitude of other spiritual practices including yoga, mediation, and occult arts. Santa Fe is also a haven to artists whose works shine throughout the city.
In addition, Santa Fe is only a short 30-minute drive to the holiest Catholic pilgrimage site in the U.S., El Santuario de Chimayo and its mythical healing dirt (we discussed this site at length in episode 20).
It’s clear to us that Santa Fe deserves its perfect five score for magical spirit.
Natural Beauty
Rating = 5
Weighted score: 5
We have a knack for picking beautiful places in the United States and Santa Fe is no exception. At 7000 feet in elevation, the city is ringed on all sides by the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range on the southernmost point of the Rocky Mountains.
A place with four-seasons, spring is particularly beautiful as there are a multitude of flowering trees adding a splash of vibrant color to the cityscape.
We heard multiple times that artists are drawn to Santa Fe due to its clear air and incredible natural light.
Parks & Rec
Rating = 5
Weighted score: 5
It seems that the natural beauty and parks and rec categories go hand in hand. Santa Fe does a really nice job of making its beauty accessible via several incredible hiking trail systems as well as trails and parks laced throughout the city itself.
Some of our favorite finds:
- Acequia Trail
- Dale Ball Trails
- La Tierra Trails
- Atalaya Trailhead in Santa Fe National Forest
Political Climate
Rating = 3
Weighted score: 4.8
Santa Fe is very liberal in a state that is somewhat liberal. We discussed in a previous episode of our podcast that it’s pretty much impossible for a city to score above a 3 “average” in this category. There is not likely a single U.S. city that fits our political ideals.
However, a city can score a 2 or 1, particularly if they have extreme conservative politics that make us feel unsafe and unwelcome. However, this is one category that we tend to pre-screen before we visit, which is why we continue to give average 3 scores to every place we stay on this journey.
Restaurants
Rating = 4
Weighted score: 4
Santa Fe has really frickin’ good food, particularly its abundance of New Mexican cuisine. We unapologetically ate Mexican food steeped in spicy Christmas (green and red) chili for a solid month and did not tire of it. The only reason we did not give the city a 5 for food is it lacked a lot of cultural variety that can be found in more cosmopolitan cities.
Here are a few of our favorite eateries, which we talk in some detail about in our review episode.
Sustainability
Rating = 3
Weighted score: 3.9
Santa Fe has a climate action plan, which was first drafted in 2018. The plan puts them on a pathway to carbon neutrality by 2040. It also seeks to meet and exceed the expectations drafted in the Green New Deal.
However, if we compare Santa Fe’s goal with San Diego’s goal to be carbon neutral by 2030 (and tracking ahead of this goal), it’s clear that Santa Fe’s plan falls a bit behind. To score a five in this category, we want to see bold and aggressive action similar or better than what we are seeing in some of the top California cities.
This discrepancy between Santa Fe and San Diego is likely in part because the state of California has been on the leading edge of sustainable action for some years while New Mexico is relatively new to this effort. However, it is encouraging to see that New Mexico as a state is taking climate change seriously.
Walkability/Bikeability
Rating = 3
Weighted score: 3.3
Santa Fe, NM is a car-dependent city, with an overall walk score of 26. We were fortunate to stay at an address that connected to the Acequia trail and had a walk score of 70.
Well-lit and artistic underpass on the Acequia trail
Like many U.S. cities, Santa Fe’s walkability is highly dependent on the neighborhood with the more expensive and central neighborhoods being much more walkable than the outlying working class neighborhoods.
In Santa Fe, there is a distinct dividing line between north and south, with the southern reaches of the city being specifically designed for driving.
Weather
Rating = 3
Weighted score: 4.8
Summers in Santa Fe are warm while winters are cold to freezing. . Annual temperatures range from 18°F to 83°F, and rarely go above 90.
We experienced a variety of weather during our stay ranging from warm sunny days to hailstorms and dust storms. One of our chief discomforts was the dryness in the area. It was so dry with such low humidity some days that our skin and insides of our noses hurt.
Unfortunately, during our last week in Santa Fe, the lack of moisture and ongoing drought led to two large fires burning to the east and west of our house. As a result, we had some smoky days and on our way out of the city we drove for an hour around one of the large fires.
Weather is not particularly stable or mellow in Santa Fe, but the locals say that winters are relatively mild compared to other high elevation cities. When we compare Santa Fe with Flagstaff, this appears to be true as Flagstaff gets significantly more snow than Santa Fe. This is in part how we landed at a 3 “average” score for Santa Fe.
Wine & Beer
Rating = 4
Weighted score: 4
Margaritas seem to be the preferred drink in Santa Fe, as they are readily available and delicious. We also found Bloody Maria’s, which uses tequila instead of vodka.
Additionally, we tried the best Michelada ever from The Burrito Company — the first one that Na has ever really enjoyed. It had a nice fizz to it and a good balance of flavors.
There wasn’t much of a wine scene, but there are an impressive 25 breweries in the city, which helped it earn the 4 “above average” score in this category.
So that’s our experience living in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a month. We’d love to hear from you. Share your experience with Santa Fe. Did we miss something that you love about the city?
