Best PlacesLa Jara, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around La Jara, 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.
La Jara ranks 45,842nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in La Jara
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.
La Jara's strengths and weaknesses
Where La Jara ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 92% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 120 pleasant days a year, better than 80% of towns
Where La Jara ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$36,937 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Short commute42.3 minutes each way, better than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in La Jara
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median La Jara home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $36,937, 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 La Jara's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in La Jara
La Jara 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 La Jara.
Who works in La Jara, and how
Work in La Jara centers on professional & technical and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in La Jara
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across La Jara.
What the weather is like in La Jara, month by month
La Jara sees roughly 120 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 76 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs June through August.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 23° | 10° |
| April | 56° | 41° | 27° |
| July | 76° | 61° | 46° |
| October | 59° | 44° | 28° |
Flying in and out of La Jara
The nearest airport, Santa Fe Regional, is about 59 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 76 miles away.
La Jara 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 La Jara against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in La Jara
Is La Jara a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, La Jara ranks 45,842nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, heat safety, and quiet, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is La Jara expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $106,918. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $36,937 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is La Jara safe?
La Jara is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,014 per resident a year.
Compare La Jara with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to La Jara. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in La Jara 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.
La Jara detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for La Jara: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in La Jara: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of La Jara: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in La Jara: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
La Jara 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.