Best PlacesNavajo Dam, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Navajo Dam, 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.
Navajo Dam ranks 33,683rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Navajo Dam
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.
Navajo Dam's strengths and weaknesses
Where Navajo Dam ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 149 pleasant days a year, better than 92% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 91% of towns
Where Navajo Dam ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 5% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Navajo Dam
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Navajo Dam home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,444, 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 Navajo Dam's effective rate of 0.37%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Navajo Dam
Navajo Dam 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 Navajo Dam.
Who works in Navajo Dam, and how
Work in Navajo Dam centers on mining & oil & gas and other services. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 11%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Navajo Dam
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Navajo Dam.
What the weather is like in Navajo Dam, month by month
Navajo Dam sees roughly 149 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 9. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 24° | 9° |
| April | 65° | 47° | 27° |
| July | 90° | 71° | 52° |
| October | 68° | 49° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Navajo Dam
The nearest airport, Durango-La Plata County, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 138 miles away.
The best schools in and around Navajo Dam
Schools across Navajo Dam average a C, better than 38% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mccoy Avenue ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Park Avenue ElementaryB · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Bloomfield HighC · 31% proficient
- Aztec HighC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Navajo Dam school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Navajo Dam 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 Navajo Dam against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Navajo Dam
Is Navajo Dam a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Navajo Dam ranks 33,683rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, heat safety, and low disaster risk, and lowest on air quality and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Navajo Dam expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $198,629. The overall cost of living runs about 2% below the national average. Set against a $61,444 median income, cost of living beats 18% of towns.
Is Navajo Dam safe?
Navajo Dam is safer than 18% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $617 per resident a year.
Compare Navajo Dam with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Navajo Dam. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Navajo Dam 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.
Navajo Dam detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Navajo Dam: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Navajo Dam: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Navajo Dam: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Navajo Dam: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Navajo Dam 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.