Best PlacesRuidoso, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Ruidoso, 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.
Ruidoso ranks 24,355th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Ruidoso
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.
Ruidoso's strengths and weaknesses
Where Ruidoso ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 206 pleasant days a year, better than 99% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 99% of towns
- Short commute14.8 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 91% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Ruidoso ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Household income$55,029 median, better than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Ruidoso
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Ruidoso home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $55,029, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Ruidoso's effective rate of 0.63%, 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 Ruidoso
Ruidoso 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 Ruidoso.
Who works in Ruidoso, and how
Work in Ruidoso centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Ruidoso
Ruidoso has more restaurants and bars per resident than 94% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Ruidoso and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Ruidoso, month by month
Ruidoso sees roughly 206 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 82 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 41° |
| July | 82° | 70° | 60° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Ruidoso
The nearest airport, Roswell Air Center, is about 66 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 129 miles away.
The best schools in and around Ruidoso
Schools across Ruidoso average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- White Mountain ElementaryC+ · 38% proficient
- Tularosa IntermediateC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ruidoso MiddleC · 33% proficient
- Tularosa MiddleC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Ruidoso HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Capitan HighC · 31% proficient
- Tularosa HighD− · 16% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Ruidoso school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Ruidoso 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 Ruidoso against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Ruidoso
Is Ruidoso a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Ruidoso ranks 24,355th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, clean air, and short commutes, and lowest on disaster risk and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Ruidoso expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $272,670. The overall cost of living runs about 12% below the national average. Set against a $55,029 median income, cost of living beats 21% of towns.
Is Ruidoso safe?
Ruidoso is safer than 15% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $697 per resident a year.
Compare Ruidoso with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Ruidoso. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Ruidoso 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.
Ruidoso detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Ruidoso: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Ruidoso: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Ruidoso: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Ruidoso: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Ruidoso 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.