Best PlacesEl Cerro, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around El Cerro, 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.
El Cerro ranks 20,679th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in El Cerro
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.
El Cerro's strengths and weaknesses
Where El Cerro ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 168 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 89% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 85% of towns
Where El Cerro ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 13% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in El Cerro
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median El Cerro home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $72,475, 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 El Cerro's effective rate of 0.26%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in El Cerro
El Cerro 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 El Cerro.
Who works in El Cerro, and how
Work in El Cerro centers on retail trade and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in El Cerro
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across El Cerro.
What the weather is like in El Cerro, month by month
El Cerro sees roughly 168 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 35° | 22° |
| April | 76° | 59° | 41° |
| July | 95° | 80° | 65° |
| October | 74° | 58° | 43° |
Flying in and out of El Cerro
Albuquerque International Sunport sits about 21 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 El Cerro
Schools across El Cerro average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top high schools
- Belen HighC · 31% proficient
- Valencia HighC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every El Cerro school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
El Cerro 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 El Cerro against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in El Cerro
Is El Cerro a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, El Cerro ranks 20,679th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, the weather, and population health, and lowest on internet speeds and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is El Cerro expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $174,590. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $72,475 median income, cost of living beats 51% of towns.
Is El Cerro safe?
Yes, El Cerro is safer than 56% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $370 per resident a year.
Compare El Cerro with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to El Cerro. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in El Cerro 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.
El Cerro detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for El Cerro: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in El Cerro: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of El Cerro: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in El Cerro: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
El Cerro 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.