Best PlacesSilver City, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Silver City, 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.
Silver City ranks 26,579th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Silver City
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.
Silver City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Silver City ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 175 pleasant days a year, better than 97% of towns
- Short commute15.6 minutes each way, better than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 89% of towns
- BikingBetter than 85% of towns
Where Silver City ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 16% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 17% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Silver City
A household needs to earn about $51,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Silver City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,730, 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 Silver City's effective rate of 0.39%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Silver City
Silver City 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 Silver City.
Who works in Silver City, and how
Work in Silver City centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Silver City
Silver City has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of towns and more parkland per resident than 87% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Silver City and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Silver City, month by month
Silver City sees roughly 175 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 55, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 55° | 39° | 24° |
| April | 75° | 58° | 37° |
| July | 93° | 77° | 63° |
| October | 77° | 59° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Silver City
The nearest airport, Grant County, is about 12 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 183 miles away.
The best schools in and around Silver City
Schools across Silver City average a C, better than 37% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Reserve ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Cliff HighB · 50% proficient
- Reserve HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Silver City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Silver City 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 Silver City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Silver City
Is Silver City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Silver City ranks 26,579th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, short commutes, and walkability, 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 Silver City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $205,631. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $55,730 median income, cost of living beats 16% of towns.
Is Silver City safe?
Silver City is safer than 17% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $659 per resident a year.
Compare Silver City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Silver City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Silver City 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.
Silver City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Silver City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Silver City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Silver City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Silver City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Silver City 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.