Best PlacesBernalillo, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bernalillo, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bernalillo ranks 20,517th 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 Bernalillo
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.
Bernalillo's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bernalillo ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- BikingBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 161 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- TransitBetter than 94% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 92% of towns
Where Bernalillo ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 7% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 9% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bernalillo
A household needs to earn about $71,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bernalillo home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $76,857, 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 Bernalillo's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 8 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
Bernalillo runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bernalillo.
Who works in Bernalillo, and how
Work in Bernalillo centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Bernalillo
Bernalillo has more restaurants and bars per resident than 89% of towns and more parkland per resident than 94% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bernalillo and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bernalillo, month by month
Bernalillo sees roughly 161 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 33° | 20° |
| April | 71° | 54° | 36° |
| July | 92° | 77° | 60° |
| October | 72° | 56° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Bernalillo
Albuquerque International Sunport sits about 19 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
Schools across Bernalillo average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bernalillo ElementaryC · 31% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bernalillo MiddleD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Rio Rancho HighA− · 63% proficient
- Cleveland High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Bernalillo HighD · 21% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bernalillo school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bernalillo 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bernalillo
Is Bernalillo a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bernalillo ranks 20,517th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, biking, and the weather, and lowest on air quality and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bernalillo expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $281,023. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $76,857 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Bernalillo safe?
Bernalillo is safer than 26% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $547 per resident a year.
Compare Bernalillo with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bernalillo. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bernalillo 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bernalillo: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bernalillo: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bernalillo: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bernalillo: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bernalillo 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.