Should We Move to Santa Fe?

November 18, 2019 9:39 AM

My partner got a job offer from Meow Wolf. We're trying to decide if the move is right for us.

We are a couple in our early 30s, no kids. We would be leaving Austin, TX, a city we've been in a for many years and have mostly enjoyed. We're not huge partiers but we do have a good group of friends here and have fairly social lives. What is living in Santa Fe like? Bonus points if someone has worked for Meow Wolf and has some insights on that.

I would be taking a hit in my career, so I'm hesitant. I work in film post production so I presume it would be difficult for me to find work in such a small town. I did like the town in general, when we visited, and like the outdoorsy things nearby it would offer. My partner is newly self-employed, and is concerned with going back to a 9-5 job w probably long hours, but it would be a unique experience that could possibly offer more long-term.

Appreciate any advice on moving from a city to a small town for a job in your early 30s! :)

posted by monologish to Work & Money (14 answers total)

In your 30s it's going to be harded to form friendships in a new town, as by this age most people are pretty settled in their social networks. Almost all the work will be on you to break in and introduce yourself. The smaller the town, the harder it can be. The best way to combat it is to find social activities, like amateur theatre or knitting groups or a community orchestra or activism or etc etc, where you're thrown in with a bunch of people for a common cause.
posted by seanmpuckett at 9:44 AM on November 18, 2019

I haven't worked for Meow Wolf, but I know many people who do or have. I am hearing a lot of negative things about treatment of employees right now. Especially about them firing people for no reason. I also hear about people not getting paid on time, but that's mostly on the fabrication side.
posted by ananci at 10:23 AM on November 18, 2019 [3 favorites]

I moved from a large metro area to a small town when I was in my early 30's. Several years later when I got laid off from the single large employer in the area, I had to move again to find a job in my field. That turned out to be a big issue because in the meantime I acquired a stepson in the midst of high school, so for 2 years I was in a LDR.

The social network is certainly an issue, and it took time for me to find "my tribe" here. But equally, the prospects of finding jobs in my field of interest was an issue I would tell my younger self to consider...
posted by elmay at 10:41 AM on November 18, 2019

It will be harder to make friends and find work in your field in Santa Fe than Austin. It's a numbers game. Austin has 10 times as many people in Santa Fe plus Santa Fe generally skews older than Austin, both attributes that will likely make it harder to find friends. Winters are cold and snowy in Santa Fe (skiing is a local attraction from December to March) plus the elevation (7,200 feet, that's about 2,000 feet higher than Denver) can take a while to get acclimated to. There is good public rail transportation from Santa Fe to downtown Albuquerque (90 minutes, runs 7 days a week) All that said, I do love Santa Fe but it's for a few certain type of personalities who really love the outdoors, all four seasons, quirky rustic stuff (it's considered a sign of "prestige" here to live on one of the city's many unpaved gravel/dirt roads) and the contemplative life of the art/science/anthropology institutions/museums/festivals that predominate here. Culinary/cultural offerings have grown far more diverse in the past decade but I'm sure it pales it comparison to Austin's offerings. Meow Wolf is an incredible place that has scaled rapidly in just a few years. I don't know anything about its workplace attributes but I imagine it has the same growing pains that any business or institution has that has grown so rapidly in such a short period of time.
posted by caveatz at 11:50 AM on November 18, 2019 [2 favorites]

Santa Fe is a funny city - it's small, and housing is expensive (by New Mexico standards), which probably pushes the population older than other areas of the state.

I can't speak to the work environment, but I imagine that the Meow Wolf crowd would be ripe for like-minded friends, and generally younger people, compared to the rest of the city.

Also, Santa Fe isn't that far from the greater Albuquerque metro area, which is almost a million people, with more diversity and options for events and friends.

New Mexico is aggressively courting film production, with Netflix and other companies buying or setting up studios in Albuquerque. NM Film.com may have more resources that could help you assess your options in the state.

FWIW, I love this weird state. I moved here from California, and I (mostly) don't miss it. I live north of Albuquerque and commute (via rail) to Santa Fe daily, and go to Meow Wolf for shows a couple times a year (I'd go more often, but late night shows are even later with a 45 minute drive back). I can go on about the mix of cultures, foods, outdoor activities and museums, if any of that is more interesting.
posted by filthy light thief at 12:01 PM on November 18, 2019 [7 favorites]

Santa Fe is tiny, pretty insular, and has very little in the way of nightlife. Most people who socialize in the evening do so at personal house parties, which can be a hard scene to break into. Like most small towns, it tends to be pretty clique-oriented, so it is very hard for adults to make new friends. It also has many, many wealthy absentee owners who have second or third houses there, which can make it hard for the middle class people who live there to find stable, non-service-industry jobs and affordable housing.

I love New Mexico and I live in Albuquerque, originally from Chicago. I spend some time in Santa Fe as a rescue dog volunteer. Santa Fe very much a city organized for the very privileged and wealthy, who skew the city for the rest of the population. I could not imagine living in Santa Fe.
posted by answergrape at 12:06 PM on November 18, 2019 [3 favorites]

I'm professionally adjacent to a couple of people who do work/have worked for Meow Wolf, and I have heard what ananci has. Particularly, what I've heard is that the cult of personality rules, and that there's a lot of groupthink and insider/outsider boundary policing. But they certainly do some interesting and significant work. An individual's experience probably entirely depends upon whether that person can successfully integrate into their "tribe."
posted by Miko at 12:44 PM on November 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

Santa Fe very much a city organized for the very privileged and wealthy, who skew the city for the rest of the population. I could not imagine living in Santa Fe.

Counterpoint: I have colleagues in their 30s who live and work in Santa Fe, and really enjoy this area. Their focuses are more on outdoor activities, but not exclusively. I think a significant part of their decisions to live here is tied to the fact that they work here, and don't want to commute very far. In fact, the majority of the people who work in my small group bike or walk to work, FWIW.
posted by filthy light thief at 1:34 PM on November 18, 2019

That said, I wouldn't call Santa Fe a "happening" city. There are a number of really good restaurants, bars and assorted venues around the city, but I can't think of an active area to wander after hours, like there would be in a town with a vibrant night life. And as you may already know, Meow Wolf itself is not part of a walkable neighborhood, but off of the extended commercial strip that is Cerrillos Road. For all community benefits from Meow Wolf, local revitalization isn't one (at least, yet).
posted by filthy light thief at 3:07 PM on November 18, 2019

Santa Fe is a wealthy retirement town. Just keep that in mind.
posted by oceanjesse at 3:12 PM on November 18, 2019

Getting a chance to work at meow wolf is a good life story. No kids? Go for it. If it doesn’t work out you can move back to Austin.

FWIW I know a lot of really fucking cool people who are moving to or are planning to move to Santa Fe and Albuquerque, that whole area has a pretty interesting set of good work happening and structural problems to solve. Getting a chance to go see what Meow Wolf is up too and living somewhere different for a minute sounds like a pretty rad jam to me.

I’m also pretty open to taking risks and just seeing what kinds of shit I end up in so while of course “your mileage may vary”; I’ve always seen that as more of a feature than a bug when it comes to adventuring through life.
posted by nikaspark at 6:58 PM on November 18, 2019 [1 favorite]

Santa Fe is a wealthy retirement town. Just keep that in mind.

Also, the state capitol, which is open to the public with a diversity of paintings and sculputures, and also the home of Zozobra, the annual anti-Fiesta (previously on the blue), where people come together to burn their worries, fears and anxieties from the prior year in a giant angry-to-sad (99pi) marionette.

I'll note that my replies here are not to say Santa Fe isn't home (or a second or third home) for wealthy people who don't actually live here much, but to say it's that and home to a lot of interesting things. An expensive land of contrasts.
posted by filthy light thief at 8:10 PM on November 18, 2019

Younger people I know tend to live in ABQ if possible.
posted by spitbull at 3:32 AM on November 19, 2019

I think Santa Fe is slowly changing and there are things happening if you're willing to do the work and find them. There is no nightlife scene, a lot of places close early (like 9pm), but that too is slowly changing. There are a lot of outdoor activities like mountain biking, hiking, rock climbing, skiing, etc. Meow Wolf has been bringing in interesting concerts and between that and being able to go to ABQ easily, we get a decent amount of good music coming through here.

Like anywhere, it's hard to make friends when you're older with no kids. But, I would assume there would be like-minded folks in the MW community and adjacent art community. There are lots of places to volunteer as well.

There is a lawsuit filed against Meow Wolf for discrimination.

There are a lot of film and tv productions here and like FLF noted, Netflix is opening a studio in ABQ. There's also Santa Fe Studios and the I-25 Studios. There should be opportunities for you here, depending on what kind of work you're looking for.

I really like Santa Fe, I think it's an interesting place to live and Northern New Mexico is amazing. I moved here from a big city in my late 20s and found my people fairly easily.

Some negatives: Santa Fe is very expensive. And there is a housing crisis. The rental market is 99% full. It could be hard to find a place to live here, but since you're coming from Austin you may not have sticker shock like locals do.
posted by BooneTheCowboyToy at 1:34 PM on November 20, 2019