Best PlacesSan Cristobal, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around San Cristobal, 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.
San Cristobal ranks 34,530th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on an educated workforce by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in San Cristobal
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.
San Cristobal's strengths and weaknesses
Where San Cristobal ranks high
- Educational attainmentBetter than 97% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 161 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- QuietBetter than 93% of towns
Where San Cristobal ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 13% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in San Cristobal
A household needs to earn about $102,000 a year to comfortably buy the median San Cristobal home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $59,672, 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 San Cristobal's effective rate of 0.25%, 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 San Cristobal
San Cristobal 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 San Cristobal.
Who works in San Cristobal, and how
Work in San Cristobal centers on hospitality & food and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 62%
- Work from home 29%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in San Cristobal
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across San Cristobal.
What the weather is like in San Cristobal, month by month
San Cristobal sees roughly 161 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 25° | 10° |
| April | 65° | 47° | 27° |
| July | 88° | 70° | 51° |
| October | 68° | 48° | 30° |
Flying in and out of San Cristobal
The nearest airport, San Luis Valley Regional/Bergman Field, is about 59 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 120 miles away.
The best schools in and around San Cristobal
Schools across San Cristobal average a D+, better than 22% of towns.
Top high schools
- Taos HighC+ · 35% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every San Cristobal school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
San Cristobal 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 San Cristobal against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in San Cristobal
Is San Cristobal a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, San Cristobal ranks 34,530th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on an educated workforce, clean air, and low property taxes, and lowest on crime and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is San Cristobal expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $420,679. The overall cost of living runs about 1% above the national average. Set against a $59,672 median income, cost of living beats 20% of towns.
Is San Cristobal safe?
San Cristobal is safer than 3% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,067 per resident a year.
Compare San Cristobal with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to San Cristobal. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in San Cristobal 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.
San Cristobal detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for San Cristobal: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in San Cristobal: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of San Cristobal: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in San Cristobal: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
San Cristobal 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.