Best PlacesSanta Teresa, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Santa Teresa, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Santa Teresa ranks 22,238th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Santa Teresa
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.
Santa Teresa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Santa Teresa ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 178 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Santa Teresa ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 5% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 8% of towns
- Short commute35.6 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Santa Teresa
A household needs to earn about $63,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Santa Teresa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,193, 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 Santa Teresa's effective rate of 0.90%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Santa Teresa
Santa Teresa 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 Santa Teresa.
Who works in Santa Teresa, and how
Work in Santa Teresa centers on education and public administration. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Santa Teresa
Santa Teresa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 96% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Santa Teresa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Santa Teresa, month by month
Santa Teresa sees roughly 178 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 59, with lows near 32. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 59° | 44° | 32° |
| April | 81° | 67° | 51° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 72° |
| October | 80° | 66° | 53° |
Flying in and out of Santa Teresa
The nearest airport, El Paso International, is about 16 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 220 miles away.
The best schools in and around Santa Teresa
Schools across Santa Teresa average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Santa Teresa ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Santa Teresa MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Alta Vista Early College High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Santa Teresa HighC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Santa Teresa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Santa Teresa 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 Santa Teresa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Santa Teresa
Is Santa Teresa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Santa Teresa ranks 22,238th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low disaster risk, and cell coverage, and lowest on thin health care access and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Santa Teresa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $236,015. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $71,193 median income, cost of living beats 54% of towns.
Is Santa Teresa safe?
Santa Teresa is safer than 33% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $483 per resident a year.
Compare Santa Teresa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Santa Teresa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Santa Teresa 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.
Santa Teresa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Santa Teresa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Santa Teresa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Santa Teresa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Santa Teresa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Santa Teresa 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.