Best PlacesBernalillo County, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Bernalillo County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bernalillo County ranks 509th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on air quality and noise. It does better on biking, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Bernalillo County
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.
The best areas in Bernalillo County
The parts of Bernalillo County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Albuquerque
More adults hold degrees, local pay stretches further, and incomes run higher.
Paradise Hills
Crime runs lower and more residents vote.
North Valley & Los Ranchos de Albuquerque
Fewer households have young kids.
Tijeras
Homes cost less, though health care is harder to reach.
South Valley
Streets are more car-dependent and biking is worse.
Bernalillo County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 2% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Bernalillo County's strengths and weaknesses
Bernalillo County ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Biking is the standout, in the top 1% of counties. Transit and the weather follow.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Air quality, noise, and an overheated housing market hold the score down. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Bernalillo County ranks high
- BikingBetter than 99% of counties
- TransitBetter than 97% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 170 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 95% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of counties
Where Bernalillo County ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of counties
- QuietBetter than only 6% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 18% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Bernalillo County
A household needs to earn about $82,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bernalillo County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $79,343; 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 Bernalillo County's effective rate of 0.85%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bernalillo County
Bernalillo County's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Bernalillo County.
Who works in Bernalillo County, and how
Work in Bernalillo County centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 15%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Bernalillo County
Bernalillo County has more late-night spots per resident than 75% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Bernalillo County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Bernalillo County growing, and who is moving in?
Bernalillo County has lost about 1% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Albuquerque, NM metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Bernalillo County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Bernalillo County, month by month
Bernalillo County sees roughly 170 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 37° | 24° |
| April | 74° | 58° | 42° |
| July | 95° | 80° | 67° |
| October | 75° | 60° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Bernalillo County
Albuquerque International Sunport sits about 5 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 69 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Bernalillo County
Schools across Bernalillo County average a B−, better than 72% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Altura Preparatory SchoolA · 65% proficient
- Coral Community CharterB · 45% proficient
- 21st Century Public AcademyC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Solare Collegiate Charter SchoolD · 23% proficient
Top high schools
- Albuquerque Institute Of Math & ScienceA+ · 95% proficient
- Cottonwood Classical PrepA+ · 81% proficient
- La Cueva HighA · 79% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bernalillo County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bernalillo County 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 Bernalillo County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Bernalillo County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 15% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Bernalillo County
Is Bernalillo County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bernalillo County ranks 509th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on biking, transit, and the weather, and lowest on air quality and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bernalillo County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $310,301. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $79,343 median income, cost of living beats 77% of counties.
Is Bernalillo County safe?
Bernalillo County is safer than 18% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $699 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Bernalillo County?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 24. That works out to about 170 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Bernalillo County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Albuquerque, Paradise Hills, and North Valley & Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Bernalillo County good for families?
Schools beat 72% of counties, crime safety beats 18%, and childcare runs $853 a month.
Is Bernalillo County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 77% of counties, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 62% of counties. About 15% of workers already work from home.
Compare Bernalillo County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bernalillo County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bernalillo County 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.
Bernalillo County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bernalillo County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bernalillo County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bernalillo County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bernalillo County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bernalillo County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.