Best PlacesContinental Divide, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Continental Divide, 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.
Continental Divide ranks 49,500th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Continental Divide
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.
Continental Divide's strengths and weaknesses
Where Continental Divide ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 158 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
Where Continental Divide ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute46.6 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Continental Divide
A household needs to earn about $23,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Continental Divide home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $47,864, 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 Continental Divide's effective rate of 0.09%, 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 2 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Continental Divide
Continental Divide runs younger than the country, 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 Continental Divide.
Who works in Continental Divide, and how
Work in Continental Divide centers on education and other services. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 11%
Life in Continental Divide
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Continental Divide.
What the weather is like in Continental Divide, month by month
Continental Divide sees roughly 158 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 Continental Divide
Albuquerque International Sunport sits about 98 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 Continental Divide
Schools across Continental Divide average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Thoreau ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Continental Divide school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Continental Divide 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 Continental Divide against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Continental Divide
Is Continental Divide a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Continental Divide ranks 49,500th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, low disaster risk, and a stable housing market, and lowest on thin health care access and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Continental Divide expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $95,443. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $47,864 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Continental Divide safe?
Continental Divide is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,171 per resident a year.
Compare Continental Divide with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Continental Divide. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Continental Divide 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.
Continental Divide detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Continental Divide: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Continental Divide: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Continental Divide: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Continental Divide: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Continental Divide 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.