Best PlacesRock Springs, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Rock Springs, 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.
Rock Springs ranks 25,192nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Rock Springs
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.
Rock Springs' strengths and weaknesses
Where Rock Springs ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute17.3 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 158 pleasant days a year, better than 94% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 92% of towns
Where Rock Springs ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 7% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 12% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 17% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Rock Springs
A household needs to earn about $61,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Rock Springs home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $62,932, 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 Rock Springs' effective rate of 0.90%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Rock Springs
Rock Springs 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 Rock Springs.
Who works in Rock Springs, and how
Work in Rock Springs centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Rock Springs
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Rock Springs.
What the weather is like in Rock Springs, month by month
Rock Springs sees roughly 158 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 12. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 29° | 12° |
| April | 69° | 50° | 28° |
| July | 92° | 74° | 54° |
| October | 72° | 51° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Rock Springs
The nearest airport, Show Low Regional, is about 113 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 123 miles away.
The best schools in and around Rock Springs
Schools across Rock Springs average a C, better than 34% of towns.
Top middle schools
- John F. Kennedy MiddleF · 10% proficient
Top high schools
- Miyamura High SchoolB · 50% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Rock Springs school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Rock Springs 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 Rock Springs against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Rock Springs
Is Rock Springs a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Rock Springs ranks 25,192nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, civic engagement, and short commutes, and lowest on air quality and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Rock Springs expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $231,967. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $62,932 median income, cost of living beats 12% of towns.
Is Rock Springs safe?
Rock Springs is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $707 per resident a year.
Compare Rock Springs with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Rock Springs. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Rock Springs 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.
Rock Springs detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Rock Springs: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Rock Springs: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Rock Springs: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Rock Springs: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Rock Springs 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.