Best PlacesArtesia, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Artesia, 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.
Artesia ranks 13,349th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Artesia
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.
Artesia's strengths and weaknesses
Where Artesia ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 169 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute17.6 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
Where Artesia ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Artesia
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Artesia home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $80,246, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
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 Artesia's effective rate of 0.48%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Artesia
Artesia runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Artesia.
Who works in Artesia, and how
Work in Artesia centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Artesia
Artesia has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Artesia and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Artesia, month by month
Artesia sees roughly 169 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 41° | 29° |
| April | 81° | 64° | 48° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 71° |
| October | 79° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Artesia
The nearest airport, Roswell Air Center, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 197 miles away.
The best schools in and around Artesia
Schools across Artesia average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top high schools
- Carlsbad Early College HighA · 75% proficient
- Artesia HighB+ · 55% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Artesia school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Artesia 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 Artesia against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Artesia
Is Artesia a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Artesia ranks 13,349th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, the weather, and walkability, and lowest on air quality and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Artesia expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $254,354. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $80,246 median income, cost of living beats 70% of towns.
Is Artesia safe?
Artesia is safer than 16% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $676 per resident a year.
Compare Artesia with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Artesia. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Artesia 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.
Artesia detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Artesia: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Artesia: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Artesia: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Artesia: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Artesia 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.