Ruidoso and Cloudcroft, New Mexico as Retirement Destinations

Ruidoso and Cloudcroft are two small mountain towns in the middle of southern New Mexico that might appeal to retirees. They are only an hour’s drive apart. They have so much in common that I thought it best to compare and contrast them in a single video.

Ruidoso and Cloudcroft’s proximity drives many of their similarities. They are located on either side of the Mescalero Apache Reservation and surrounded by the Lincoln National Forest. Both towns are over 6,500 feet above sea level, with Cloudcroft being the higher of the two. Both towns are skiing destinations in the winter and attract tourists. Both are considered summer retreats from much hotter places at lower elevations. Both have abundant hiking and mountain biking trails nearby. And both continue to have a low cost of living.

The closest somewhat larger town to Ruidoso and Cloudcroft is Alamogordo, New Mexico, which is home to Holloman Air Force base. Alamogordo has all the conveniences you would expect for a town with about 30,000 residents.

Cloudcroft has a population of only about 700 permanent residents. These residents often drive about a half hour to Alamogordo for shopping and other services.

If they drive another hour southeast, Cloudcroft’s residents can arrive in Las Cruces, which is New Mexico’s second largest city with a population of about 100,000. A little less than a two hour’s drive south of Cloudcroft is El Paso, Texas. The El Paso metro area has a little under 1 million residents, and sits right on the border with Mexico.

So just across the border from El Paso are Mexican pharmacies that would appeal to many retirees, Mexican shopping, and a large airport in Ciudad Juarez. As I’ve mentioned in previous videos, traveling to well-known Mexican vacation destinations can be less expensive when departing out of Ciudad Juarez rather than El Paso.

Albuquerque, New Mexico is New Mexico’s largest city and is about a 3.5-hour drive north of Cloudcroft. Like El Paso, the Albuquerque metro area also has a little under 1 million residents.

Turning our attention to Ruidoso, we can see that Ruidoso is a bit farther north than Cloudcroft. It also has a much larger population than Cloudcroft, but is still a fairly small town with just under 8,000 permanent residents. “Ruidoso” means noisy, but the town gets its name from the Ruidoso river, not the behavior of its citizens or visitors.

Because of its location, Ruidoso is a little closer than Cloudcroft to Albuquerque. But this means it’s also farther from the towns and cities to the south, like Alamogordo, Las Cruces, and El Paso. From Ruidoso, Albuquerque is a little less than a three hour drive, Alamogordo is about a one-hour drive, Las Cruces is about a 2-hour drive, and El Paso is about a 2.5-hour drive.

Because Cloudcroft and Ruidoso have so much in common, a prospective resident might want to evaluate how important it is to be closer to the cities to the south, like Alamogordo, Las Cruces and El Paso. Cloudcroft is a much smaller town than Ruidoso, but has the advantage of being closer to Alamogordo and the bigger, southern cities.

- - - - -
Music by INOSSI
Listen: https://spoti.fi/2EzvEA6
Watch:    • INOSSI - Waiting (Official)  
- - - - -

Check out the Multicollinearity Channel's FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) Case Studies Playlist:    • #FIRE (#FinancialIndependence, or #Fi...  

Check out the Multicollinearity Channel's 2022 Podcasts Playlist:    • What Some of Us Get Wrong About Fruga...  

Check out the Multicollinearity Channel's Playlist for Strategies for Protecting an Investment Portfolio:
   • Dynamic Spending in Retirement with S...  

Check out the Multicollinearity Channel's Geoarbitrage Playlist:    • Why I Might Retire in Springfield, Mi...  

Subscribe to the Multicollinearity Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/multicollin...

By subscribing, you'll learn more about topics such as:

- Financial Independence
- Financial Freedom
- Frugal or Thrifty Living
- Saving Money
- Early Retirement
- Retiring Early
- Geoarbitrage
- Geographic Arbitrage
- FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early)

You can support this channel just by clicking. While "likes" and "subscribes" are appreciated, please also click for charity through one of these sites (it's all funded by advertisers):

https://thehungersite.greatergood.com... https://therainforestsite.greatergood... https://thebreastcancersite.greatergo...
https://freerice.com/

🙏 Please tell us in the comments which site you clicked on. 🙏
You can learn more about the legitimacy of each click-to-donate web site on https://en.wikipedia.org/.

#Ruidoso #Cloudcroft #NewMexico