Best PlacesGallup, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gallup, 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.
Gallup ranks 1,942nd of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gallup
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.
Gallup's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gallup ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of cities
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of cities
- Cheap childcare$666 a month, better than 92% of cities
Where Gallup ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 1% of cities
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 1% of cities
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of cities
- Tree shadeBetter than only 3% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in Gallup
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gallup home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,709, 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 Gallup's effective rate of 0.49%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gallup
Gallup 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 Gallup.
Who works in Gallup, and how
Work in Gallup centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Gallup
Gallup has more restaurants and bars per resident than 88% of cities and more parkland per resident than 84% of cities. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Gallup and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Gallup, month by month
Gallup sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 29° | 12° |
| April | 69° | 50° | 28° |
| July | 92° | 74° | 54° |
| October | 72° | 51° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Gallup
The nearest airport, Show Low Regional, is about 112 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 125 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gallup
Schools across Gallup average a C, better than 28% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Tsehootsooi Primary Learning CenterF · 8% proficient
Top middle schools
- John F. Kennedy MiddleF · 10% proficient
- Tsehootsooi Intermediate Learning CenterF · 5% proficient
- Sanders Middle SchoolF · 4% proficient
Top high schools
- Miyamura High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gallup school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gallup 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 Gallup against the other 2,097 cities.
Who Gallup suits
Common questions about living in Gallup
Is Gallup a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gallup ranks 1,942nd of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on low disaster risk, a stable housing market, and heat safety, and lowest on distance from a big city and the cost of living against local pay. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gallup expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $149,940. The overall cost of living runs about 4% above the national average. Set against a $56,709 median income, cost of living beats 1% of cities.
Is Gallup safe?
Gallup is safer than 1% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $923 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Gallup?
July highs average about 92 degrees, and January highs near 47 with lows near 12. That works out to about 158 pleasant days a year, more than 85% of cities.
Is Gallup good for families?
Schools beat 28% of cities, crime safety beats 1%, and childcare runs $666 a month.
Compare Gallup with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gallup. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gallup 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.
Gallup detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gallup: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gallup: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gallup: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gallup: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gallup 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.