Best PlacesCliff, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cliff, 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.
Cliff ranks 41,404th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cliff
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.
Cliff's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cliff ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 150 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 89% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Cliff ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cliff
A household needs to earn about $53,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cliff home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,125, 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 Cliff's effective rate of 0.32%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Cliff
Cliff'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 Cliff.
Who works in Cliff, and how
Work in Cliff centers on agriculture & forestry and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 73%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Cliff
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Cliff.
What the weather is like in Cliff, month by month
Cliff sees roughly 150 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 Cliff
The nearest airport, Grant County, is about 35 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 184 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cliff
Schools across Cliff average a B, better than 64% of towns.
Top high schools
- Cliff HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cliff school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cliff 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 Cliff against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cliff
Is Cliff a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cliff ranks 41,404th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low property taxes, and the weather, and lowest on civic engagement and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cliff expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $216,400. The overall cost of living runs about 3% below the national average. Set against a $59,125 median income, cost of living beats 13% of towns.
Is Cliff safe?
Cliff is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $711 per resident a year.
Compare Cliff with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cliff. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cliff 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.
Cliff detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cliff: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cliff: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cliff: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cliff: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cliff 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.