Best PlacesCibola County, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Cibola County, 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.
Cibola County ranks 2,501st of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Cibola 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.
Cibola County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cibola County ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 162 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 95% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than 77% of counties
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 64% of counties
Where Cibola County ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of counties
- Internet speedBetter than only 7% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Cibola County
A household needs to earn about $35,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cibola County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $57,959, 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 Cibola County's effective rate of 0.53%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Cibola County
Cibola County's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cibola County.
Who works in Cibola County, and how
Work in Cibola County centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Cibola County
Cibola County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Cibola County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Cibola County growing, and who is moving in?
Cibola County has lost about 2% of its population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Albuquerque, NM.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Cibola County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Cibola County, month by month
Cibola County sees roughly 162 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 30° | 14° |
| April | 70° | 50° | 29° |
| July | 90° | 73° | 54° |
| October | 72° | 51° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Cibola County
Albuquerque International Sunport sits about 69 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 Cibola County
Schools across Cibola County average a C, better than 43% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Mount Taylor ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- San Rafael ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Cubero ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Quemado HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cibola County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cibola 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 Cibola County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Cibola County suits
Common questions about living in Cibola County
Is Cibola County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cibola County ranks 2,501st of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on heat safety, the weather, and low disaster risk, and lowest on crime and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cibola County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $137,797. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $57,959 median income, cost of living beats 21% of counties.
Is Cibola County safe?
Cibola County is safer than 3% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $996 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Cibola County?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 48 with lows near 14. That works out to about 162 pleasant days a year, more than 95% of counties.
Is Cibola County good for families?
Schools beat 43% of counties, crime safety beats 3%, and childcare runs $728 a month.
Compare Cibola County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cibola County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cibola 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.
Cibola County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cibola County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cibola County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cibola County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cibola County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cibola 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.