Best PlacesLea County, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Lea County, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Lea County ranks 1,702nd of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Lea County
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.
The best areas in Lea County
The parts of Lea County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Hobbs
Commutes are shorter.
Lovington
More households have young kids and local pay stretches further.
Jal
More homes sit empty and heat risk is higher.
Scores across Lea County run from about the 7th to the 84th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Lea County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lea County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 177 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of counties
- WalkabilityBetter than 93% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 86% of counties
- BikingBetter than 83% of counties
Where Lea County ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of counties
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of counties
- Big-city accessBetter than only 4% of counties
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 4% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Lea County
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lea County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,559, 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 Lea County's effective rate of 0.54%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Lea County
Lea County runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lea County.
Who works in Lea County, and how
Work in Lea County centers on mining & oil & gas and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Lea County
Lea County has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of counties and more parkland per resident than 72% of counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Lea County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Lea County growing, and who is moving in?
Lea County has grown about 7% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Lubbock, TX.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Lea County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Lea County, month by month
Lea County sees roughly 177 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 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° | 41° | 29° |
| April | 79° | 63° | 47° |
| July | 95° | 82° | 69° |
| October | 78° | 62° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Lea County
The nearest airport, Lea County Regional, is about 5 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 252 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lea County
Schools across Lea County average a C−, better than 23% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Sundown ElB · 50% proficient
- Mettie Jordan ElementaryC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Caton MiddleD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Sundown H SB+ · 53% proficient
- Lovington HighB− · 45% proficient
- Hobbs HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lea County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lea County 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 Lea County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Lea County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 75% of counties and 4% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Lea County
Is Lea County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lea County ranks 1,702nd of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, the weather, and walkability, and lowest on tree cover and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Lea County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $203,486. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $74,559 median income, cost of living beats 75% of counties.
Is Lea County safe?
Lea County is safer than 10% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $760 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Lea County?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 29. That works out to about 177 pleasant days a year, more than 98% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Lea County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Hobbs, Lovington, and Jal. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Lea County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lea County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lea County 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.
Lea County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lea County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lea County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lea County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lea County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lea County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.