Best PlacesGila, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Gila, 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.
Gila ranks 44,971st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Gila
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.
Gila's strengths and weaknesses
Where Gila ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 151 pleasant days a year, better than 93% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 76% of towns
Where Gila ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Gila
A household needs to earn about $62,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Gila home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $51,479, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Gila's effective rate of 0.36%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Gila
Gila runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Gila.
Who works in Gila, and how
Work in Gila centers on retail trade and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 79%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Gila
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Gila.
What the weather is like in Gila, month by month
Gila sees roughly 151 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 39° | 24° |
| April | 75° | 58° | 37° |
| July | 93° | 77° | 63° |
| October | 77° | 59° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Gila
The nearest airport, Grant County, is about 33 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 182 miles away.
The best schools in and around Gila
Schools across Gila average a C+, better than 52% of towns.
Top high schools
- Cliff HighB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Gila school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Gila 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 Gila against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Gila
Is Gila a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Gila ranks 44,971st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, the weather, and low property taxes, and lowest on civic engagement and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Gila expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $253,739. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $51,479 median income, cost of living beats 9% of towns.
Is Gila safe?
Gila is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $843 per resident a year.
Compare Gila with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Gila. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Gila 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.
Gila detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Gila: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Gila: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Gila: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Gila: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Gila 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.