Best PlacesDell City, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dell City, 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.
Dell City ranks 48,117th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dell City
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.
Dell City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dell City ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 169 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- Short commute17.6 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 69% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 64% of towns
Where Dell City ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dell City
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dell City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,856, 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 Dell City's effective rate of 0.56%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Dell City
Dell City runs older 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 Dell City.
Who works in Dell City, and how
Work in Dell City centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 0%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Dell City
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dell City.
What the weather is like in Dell City, month by month
Dell City sees roughly 169 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 42° | 32° |
| April | 78° | 61° | 48° |
| July | 92° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 75° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Dell City
The nearest airport, Cavern City Air Terminal, is about 62 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 212 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dell City
Schools across Dell City average a C, better than 39% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Red Sands ElD− · 12% proficient
Top high schools
- Centennial High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Alta Vista Early College High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Cloudcroft HighB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dell City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dell City 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 Dell City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dell City
Is Dell City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dell City ranks 48,117th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, short commutes, and an educated workforce, and lowest on civic engagement and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dell City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $88,700. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $54,856 median income, cost of living beats 10% of towns.
Is Dell City safe?
Dell City is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,165 per resident a year.
Compare Dell City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dell City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dell City 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.
Dell City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dell City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dell City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dell City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dell City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dell City 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.