From FL it may be an upgrade. From CA it is a clear downgrade. I have pondered the place, half a dozen visits over the years and have come to the conclusion it isn't for me. At least not while working. The place has a lot of upsides for some people (as you can read!), so I will tell you mostly what I see as the negatives, for balance!
I find the place a bit one-dimensional in terms of culture. The food is great, but there aren't that many choices besides the southwestern fare. Green or red salsa? Haha! Not a lot of diversity. White, Hispanic (new and old), native american, the rest is 3% or less ...
It definitely is a defense town with an air force base, nuke lab etc. and it has that atmosphere. That is not a good atmosphere, even though I greatly respect everyone serving the country and working on science to advance our nation. But you can tell there is just not a diverse workforce / background. Sure, you may escape that a bit in old down town or close to the uni - or a trip to Santa Fe, but it still isn't a hopping town in my book.
Climate is interesting but a bit "arid" and not terribly nice in the winter. There is a lot of nothing surrounding the city and you better like gravel! There have been extended droughts and we all guess it isn't getting any wetter in the West any time soon. There are some awesome areas at high elevation and in spring and fall it is very beautiful. Hunting and fishing abound. But that's not where you will live. You will live in a large high plane sprawling with 3/4 of a million people. There are some nice spots along the Rio Grande and biking, running, hiking, but again fairly limited close by.
There is no road course race track. There is no ocean. The next big city is many hours away and still in Colorado and not that much different.
UNM was mentioned. Good option for affordable in state college but with all due respect, not the uni you'd pick if you had a nationwide choice in state universities. University of Florida ranks an order of magnitude higher in nationwide school rankings.
Crime rate is HIGH. Double the national average. It varies by neighborhood but still not cool as for a low crime area, housing prices are high. I found a nice house in a nice area is 300-400k, for example at the foot of the Sandia Mt. That's a lot of dough considering where you live. My dream is living on a ranch with a 10+ acre lot. Not affordable anywhere close to town ...
I always send folks to City Data to check out the data and compare to their home town or places they like:
Albuquerque, New Mexico (NM) profile: population, maps, real estate, averages, homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving, houses, news, sex offenders
Hope this helps! Good Luck at the interview and let us know your impressions! Maybe you will like it! It definitely isn't humid!
Cheers,
George