Best PlacesDona Ana County, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Dona Ana County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dona Ana County ranks 1,588th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on thin health care access and air quality. It does better on the weather, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in Dona Ana 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.
The best areas in Dona Ana County
The parts of Dona Ana County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Las Cruces
Biking is better, streets are more walkable, and commutes are shorter.
Hatch
Fewer adults hold degrees and fewer households have young kids.
Anthony, Sunland Park & Santa Teresa
Health care is harder to reach and fewer residents vote.
Dona Ana County shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 3% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Dona Ana County's strengths and weaknesses
Dona Ana County lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. The weather, cell coverage, and low disaster risk carry most of that.
The drawbacks are real but narrow. Thin health care access, air quality, and tree cover hold the score down. The detail is below, and the map is where it turns into a choice of neighborhood rather than just a place.
Where Dona Ana County ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 172 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of counties
- Cell coverageBetter than 96% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of counties
- TransitBetter than 89% of counties
- BikingBetter than 87% of counties
Where Dona Ana County ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 7% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than only 9% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 12% of counties
- Crime safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Dona Ana County
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dona Ana County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,551, 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 Dona Ana County's effective rate of 0.64%, 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 Dona Ana County
Dona Ana County runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Dona Ana County.
Who works in Dona Ana County, and how
Work in Dona Ana County centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Dona Ana County
Dona Ana County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 97% of counties. That concentrates in some parts of Dona Ana County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Dona Ana County growing, and who is moving in?
Dona Ana County has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Albuquerque, NM.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Dona Ana County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Dona Ana County, month by month
Dona Ana County sees roughly 172 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 98 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 43° | 31° |
| April | 81° | 65° | 48° |
| July | 98° | 83° | 70° |
| October | 80° | 64° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Dona Ana County
The nearest airport, El Paso International, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 193 miles away.
The best schools in and around Dona Ana County
Schools across Dona Ana County average a C, better than 55% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Santa Teresa ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
- Gadsden ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Santa Teresa MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
- Anthony MiddleD · 22% proficient
- Gadsden MiddleF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Centennial High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Alma D'arte CharterB · 50% proficient
- Organ Mountain High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dona Ana County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dona Ana 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 Dona Ana County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Dona Ana County suits
Common questions about living in Dona Ana County
Is Dona Ana County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dona Ana County ranks 1,588th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on the weather, cell coverage, and low disaster risk, and lowest on thin health care access and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dona Ana County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $230,160. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $60,551 median income, cost of living beats 30% of counties.
Is Dona Ana County safe?
Dona Ana County is safer than 16% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $667 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Dona Ana County?
July highs average about 98 degrees, and January highs near 58 with lows near 31. That works out to about 172 pleasant days a year, more than 97% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Dona Ana County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Las Cruces, Hatch, and Anthony, Sunland Park & Santa Teresa. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Dona Ana County good for families?
Schools beat 55% of counties, crime safety beats 16%, and childcare runs $742 a month.
Is Dona Ana County good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 30% of counties, though advertised internet speeds beat only 44% of counties. About 11% of workers already work from home.
Compare Dona Ana County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dona Ana County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dona Ana 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.
Dona Ana County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dona Ana County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dona Ana County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dona Ana County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dona Ana County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dona Ana 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.