Best PlacesLa Luz, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around La Luz, 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 Luz ranks 39,329th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in La Luz
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 Luz's strengths and weaknesses
Where La Luz ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 181 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 86% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 86% of towns
- Short commute22.7 minutes each way, better than 76% of towns
Where La Luz ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 7% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 7% of towns
- Household income$49,161 median, better than only 11% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in La Luz
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median La Luz home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $49,161, 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 Luz's effective rate of 0.42%, 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 8 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 Luz
La Luz 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 Luz.
Who works in La Luz, and how
Work in La Luz centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in La Luz
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across La Luz.
What the weather is like in La Luz, month by month
La Luz sees roughly 181 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 42° | 29° |
| April | 79° | 64° | 47° |
| July | 96° | 82° | 69° |
| October | 78° | 64° | 50° |
Flying in and out of La Luz
The nearest airport, Roswell Air Center, is about 85 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 146 miles away.
The best schools in and around La Luz
Schools across La Luz average a C, better than 36% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tularosa IntermediateC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cloudcroft MiddleB− · 40% proficient
- Tularosa MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Alamogordo HighB− · 43% proficient
- Cloudcroft HighB− · 41% proficient
- Tularosa HighD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every La Luz school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
La Luz 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 Luz against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in La Luz
Is La Luz a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, La Luz ranks 39,329th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, clean air, and low property taxes, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is La Luz expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $167,614. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $49,161 median income, cost of living beats 7% of towns.
Is La Luz safe?
La Luz is safer than 20% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $617 per resident a year.
Compare La Luz with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to La Luz. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in La Luz 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 Luz detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for La Luz: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in La Luz: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of La Luz: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in La Luz: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
La Luz 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.