Best PlacesEl Valle, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around El Valle, 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 Valle ranks 48,960th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in El Valle
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 Valle's strengths and weaknesses
Where El Valle ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 158 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 64% of towns
Where El Valle ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute54.3 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in El Valle
A household needs to earn about $40,000 a year to comfortably buy the median El Valle home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,814, 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 Valle's effective rate of 0.26%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in El Valle
El Valle runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for El Valle.
Who works in El Valle, and how
Work in El Valle centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in El Valle
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across El Valle.
What the weather is like in El Valle, month by month
El Valle sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 25° | 10° |
| April | 65° | 47° | 27° |
| July | 88° | 70° | 51° |
| October | 68° | 48° | 30° |
Flying in and out of El Valle
The nearest airport, Santa Fe Regional, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 88 miles away.
The best schools in and around El Valle
Schools across El Valle average a D+, better than 15% of towns.
Top high schools
- Penasco HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every El Valle school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
El Valle 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 Valle against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in El Valle
Is El Valle a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, El Valle ranks 48,960th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low property taxes, and the weather, and lowest on cell coverage and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is El Valle expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $166,200. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $59,814 median income, cost of living beats 19% of towns.
Is El Valle safe?
El Valle is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,169 per resident a year.
Compare El Valle with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to El Valle. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in El Valle 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 Valle detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for El Valle: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in El Valle: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of El Valle: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in El Valle: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
El Valle 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.