Best PlacesLucero, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Lucero, 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.
Lucero ranks 33,871st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Lucero
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.
Lucero's strengths and weaknesses
Where Lucero ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 164 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 85% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Lucero ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Lucero
A household needs to earn about $83,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Lucero home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $94,192, 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 Lucero's effective rate of 0.30%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Lucero
Lucero runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Lucero.
Who works in Lucero, and how
Work in Lucero centers on construction and education. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Lucero
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Lucero.
What the weather is like in Lucero, month by month
Lucero sees roughly 164 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 25° | 10° |
| April | 65° | 47° | 27° |
| July | 88° | 70° | 51° |
| October | 68° | 48° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Lucero
The nearest airport, Santa Fe Regional, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 104 miles away.
The best schools in and around Lucero
Schools across Lucero average a D+, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Ranchos De Taos ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Taos HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Penasco HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Lucero school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Lucero 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 Lucero against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Lucero
Is Lucero a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Lucero ranks 33,871st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, the weather, and low property taxes, 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 Lucero expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $339,562. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $94,192 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Lucero safe?
Lucero is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,192 per resident a year.
Compare Lucero with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Lucero. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Lucero 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.
Lucero detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Lucero: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Lucero: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Lucero: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Lucero: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Lucero 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.