Best PlacesDona Ana, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Dona Ana, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Dona Ana ranks 10,647th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Dona Ana
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.
Dona Ana's strengths and weaknesses
Where Dona Ana ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 170 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 95% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 90% of towns
Where Dona Ana ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 8% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 8% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 14% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 25% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 29% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Dona Ana
A household needs to earn about $74,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Dona Ana home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,776, 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's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 6 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
Dona Ana 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.
Who works in Dona Ana, and how
Work in Dona Ana centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Dona Ana
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Dona Ana.
What the weather is like in Dona Ana, month by month
Dona Ana sees roughly 170 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
The nearest airport, El Paso International, is about 48 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 Dona Ana
Schools across Dona Ana average a C+, better than 64% of towns.
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Dona Ana school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Dona Ana 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Dona Ana
Is Dona Ana a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Dona Ana ranks 10,647th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, a strong job market, and low disaster risk, and lowest on air quality and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Dona Ana expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $293,827. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $74,776 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Dona Ana safe?
Dona Ana is safer than 31% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $522 per resident a year.
Compare Dona Ana with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Dona Ana. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Dona Ana 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Dona Ana: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Dona Ana: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Dona Ana: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Dona Ana: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Dona Ana 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.