Best PlacesArenas Valley, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Arenas Valley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Arenas Valley ranks 35,263rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Arenas Valley
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Arenas Valley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Arenas Valley ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 175 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- Short commute16.8 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 77% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 76% of towns
Where Arenas Valley ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 9% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Household income$47,121 median, better than only 9% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Arenas Valley
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Arenas Valley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $47,121; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Arenas Valley's effective rate of 0.36%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Arenas Valley
Arenas Valley runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Arenas Valley.
Who works in Arenas Valley, and how
Work in Arenas Valley centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 24%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Arenas Valley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Arenas Valley.
What the weather is like in Arenas Valley, month by month
Arenas Valley sees roughly 175 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 39° | 24° |
| April | 75° | 58° | 37° |
| July | 93° | 77° | 63° |
| October | 77° | 59° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Arenas Valley
The nearest airport, Grant County, is about 10 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 181 miles away.
Arenas Valley measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Arenas Valley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Arenas Valley
Is Arenas Valley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Arenas Valley ranks 35,263rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, short commutes, and low property taxes, and lowest on air quality and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Arenas Valley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $209,301. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $47,121 median income, cost of living beats 9% of towns.
Is Arenas Valley safe?
Arenas Valley is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $634 per resident a year.
Compare Arenas Valley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Arenas Valley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Arenas Valley represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Arenas Valley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Arenas Valley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Arenas Valley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Arenas Valley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Arenas Valley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Arenas Valley detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.