Best PlacesLas Vegas, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Las Vegas, 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.
Las Vegas ranks 38,835th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Las Vegas
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.
Las Vegas' strengths and weaknesses
Where Las Vegas ranks high
- Short commute17.1 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 94% of towns
- BikingBetter than 94% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 93% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 147 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
Where Las Vegas ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 6% of towns
- Household income$48,948 median, better than only 11% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 15% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Las Vegas
A household needs to earn about $44,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Las Vegas home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $48,948, 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 Las Vegas' effective rate of 0.60%, 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 Las Vegas
Las Vegas 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 Las Vegas.
Who works in Las Vegas, and how
Work in Las Vegas centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Las Vegas
Las Vegas has more restaurants and bars per resident than 75% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Las Vegas and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Las Vegas, month by month
Las Vegas sees roughly 147 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 32° | 18° |
| April | 67° | 49° | 31° |
| July | 87° | 69° | 54° |
| October | 69° | 52° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Las Vegas
The nearest airport, Santa Fe Regional, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 87 miles away.
The best schools in and around Las Vegas
Schools across Las Vegas average a C−, better than 26% of towns.
Top high schools
- Robertson HighB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Las Vegas school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Las Vegas 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 Las Vegas against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Las Vegas
Is Las Vegas a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Las Vegas ranks 38,835th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, walkability, and biking, and lowest on crime and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Las Vegas expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $173,346. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $48,948 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Las Vegas safe?
Las Vegas is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,099 per resident a year.
Compare Las Vegas with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Las Vegas. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Las Vegas 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.
Las Vegas detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Las Vegas: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Las Vegas: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Las Vegas: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Las Vegas: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Las Vegas 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.