Best PlacesLa Junta, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around La Junta, 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 Junta ranks 26,977th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in La Junta
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 Junta's strengths and weaknesses
Where La Junta ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 197 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 87% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 87% of towns
Where La Junta ranks low
- Short commute40.7 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in La Junta
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median La Junta home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $92,373, 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 Junta's effective rate of 0.36%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in La Junta
La Junta runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for La Junta.
Who works in La Junta, and how
Work in La Junta centers on professional & technical and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 8%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in La Junta
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across La Junta.
What the weather is like in La Junta, month by month
La Junta sees roughly 197 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of La Junta
The nearest airport, Santa Fe Regional, is about 40 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 87 miles away.
La Junta 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 Junta against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in La Junta
Is La Junta a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, La Junta ranks 26,977th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, heat safety, and low property taxes, and lowest on long commutes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is La Junta expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $279,129. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $92,373 median income, cost of living beats 80% of towns.
Is La Junta safe?
La Junta is safer than 11% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $720 per resident a year.
Compare La Junta with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to La Junta. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in La Junta 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 Junta detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for La Junta: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in La Junta: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of La Junta: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in La Junta: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
La Junta 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.