Best PlacesOil Center, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Oil Center, 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.
Oil Center ranks 33,004th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Oil Center
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.
Oil Center's strengths and weaknesses
Where Oil Center ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 177 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 85% of towns
- Household income$88,197 median, better than 75% of towns
- Short commute23.9 minutes each way, better than 69% of towns
Where Oil Center ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Oil Center
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Oil Center home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $88,197, 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 Oil Center's effective rate of 0.68%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Oil Center
Oil Center 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 Oil Center.
Who works in Oil Center, and how
Work in Oil Center centers on mining & oil & gas and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Oil Center
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Oil Center.
What the weather is like in Oil Center, month by month
Oil Center 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 Oil Center
The nearest airport, Lea County Regional, is about 20 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 262 miles away.
The best schools in and around Oil Center
Schools across Oil Center average a D, better than 10% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mettie Jordan ElementaryC− · 26% proficient
Top middle schools
- Caton MiddleD · 21% proficient
Top high schools
- Hobbs HighC+ · 35% proficient
- Jal HighD− · 16% proficient
- Eunice HighD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Oil Center school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Oil Center 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 Oil Center against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Oil Center
Is Oil Center a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Oil Center ranks 33,004th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, the weather, and what local pay buys, 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 Oil Center expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $190,221. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $88,197 median income, cost of living beats 85% of towns.
Is Oil Center safe?
Oil Center is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,039 per resident a year.
Compare Oil Center with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Oil Center. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Oil Center 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.
Oil Center detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Oil Center: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Oil Center: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Oil Center: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Oil Center: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Oil Center 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.