On a pitched roof in New Mexico the decision is almost always architectural asphalt shingle or metal. Both are legitimate. The right answer depends on how long you intend to own the building and how exposed the site is, and it is worth doing the arithmetic rather than going on sticker price.
Shingle is the lower up-front number, and a good architectural shingle installed correctly is a genuinely capable roof. The problem in this climate is UV. Constant sun ages the asphalt binder and strips granules, and a shingle rated for a long life in a mild climate frequently does not reach that age here. Spring wind is the other enemy: it works on tabs along the rakes and ridges, and once a tab lifts, water gets under the underlayment.
Metal costs meaningfully more to install and then largely stops costing anything. It does not degrade under UV the way asphalt does, it has no tabs to lift, it sheds a monsoon downpour almost instantly, and hail that would bruise shingle usually leaves metal functionally untouched. Reflective finishes push a real amount of summer heat off the building. A metal roof commonly outlives two or three shingle roofs on the same house.
So the comparison is not price versus price, it is price versus price times how many times you will pay it. If you plan to be in the building for five years and sell, shingle is a rational choice. If it is your long-term home, or a commercial building you will hold, metal usually wins on total cost before you even count the cooling savings.
Site exposure tips the scale too. On a high, open lot — much of Rio Rancho, the West Mesa, ridgelines outside Placitas — wind is the dominant force on the roof, and metal has far less for it to work on. In a sheltered older neighborhood with mature trees, shingle holds up better than its reputation.
Whatever you choose, installation decides the outcome more than the material does. Shingle needs the manufacturer's high-wind nailing pattern, proper starter strip, and real underlayment. Metal needs correct clip and fastener spacing, room for thermal expansion, and hand-formed flashings instead of caulk. Ask any roofer you are considering to put those details in the written scope. If they will not, that tells you something.