Best PlacesMesita, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Mesita, 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.
Mesita ranks 40,066th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Mesita
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.
Mesita's strengths and weaknesses
Where Mesita ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 166 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 80% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 76% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 71% of towns
Where Mesita ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Mesita
A household needs to earn about $24,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Mesita home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $73,405, 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 Mesita's effective rate of 0.55%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Mesita
Mesita 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 Mesita.
Who works in Mesita, and how
Work in Mesita centers on health care & social and hospitality & food. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 12%
Life in Mesita
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Mesita.
What the weather is like in Mesita, month by month
Mesita sees roughly 166 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 33° | 20° |
| April | 71° | 54° | 36° |
| July | 92° | 77° | 60° |
| October | 72° | 56° | 39° |
Flying in and out of Mesita
Albuquerque International Sunport sits about 37 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 69 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Mesita
Schools across Mesita average a C−, better than 34% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cubero ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Nex Gen AcademyA · 75% proficient
- Belen HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Mesita school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Mesita 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 Mesita against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Mesita
Is Mesita a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Mesita ranks 40,066th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low disaster risk, and heat safety, and lowest on internet speeds and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Mesita expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $93,381. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $73,405 median income, cost of living beats 53% of towns.
Is Mesita safe?
Mesita is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $900 per resident a year.
Compare Mesita with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Mesita. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Mesita 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.
Mesita detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Mesita: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Mesita: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Mesita: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Mesita: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Mesita 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.