Best PlacesFort Sumner, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Fort Sumner, 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.
Fort Sumner ranks 37,964th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Fort Sumner
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.
Fort Sumner's strengths and weaknesses
Where Fort Sumner ranks high
- Short commute11.4 minutes each way, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 88% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap childcare$562 a month, better than 85% of towns
Where Fort Sumner ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 13% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Fort Sumner
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Fort Sumner home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $60,257, 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 Fort Sumner's effective rate of 0.55%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Fort Sumner
Fort Sumner runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Fort Sumner.
Who works in Fort Sumner, and how
Work in Fort Sumner centers on agriculture & forestry and utilities. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Fort Sumner
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Fort Sumner.
What the weather is like in Fort Sumner, month by month
Fort Sumner sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 38° | 25° |
| April | 77° | 59° | 43° |
| July | 95° | 80° | 66° |
| October | 75° | 59° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Fort Sumner
The nearest airport, Clovis Regional, is about 66 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 140 miles away.
The best schools in and around Fort Sumner
Schools across Fort Sumner average a B, better than 76% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Fort Sumner ElementaryB− · 40% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fort Sumner MiddleB− · 43% proficient
Top high schools
- Fort Sumner HighA · 75% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Fort Sumner school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Fort Sumner 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 Fort Sumner against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Fort Sumner
Is Fort Sumner a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Fort Sumner ranks 37,964th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, clean air, and walkability, and lowest on crime and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Fort Sumner expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $220,623. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $60,257 median income, cost of living beats 30% of towns.
Is Fort Sumner safe?
Fort Sumner is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,427 per resident a year.
Compare Fort Sumner with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Fort Sumner. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Fort Sumner 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.
Fort Sumner detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Fort Sumner: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Fort Sumner: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Fort Sumner: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Fort Sumner: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Fort Sumner 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.