If more is better, then Ruidoso is better than Cloudcroft. I can't even attempt an honest comparison of the two communities without becoming snippy. If a poll were taken among Cloudcroftians, I don't think many of them would trade places with Ruidoso. If any of us preferred residence in Ruidoso over Cloudcroft, we would have bought property and set up housekeeping there, instead of here, in the first place. That is what sets Cloudcroft apart from many other towns.
Many people find it necessary to live in bigger cities because that is where the jobs are.
People live in Cloudcroft by choice and not by necessity. Many Cloudcroftians sacrifice higher pay and more prominent economic status for the manifest right to live in a place like this. Maybe that is why Cloudcroft people are such a close-knit bunch. Maybe that is why emails to the Newsletter each week have so many positive comments from visitors about Cloudcroft and the way they were treated by the locals. Someone once described today's Cloudcroft as Ruidoso 50 years ago, before Ruidoso got so big and commercial.