Best PlacesThoreau, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Thoreau, 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.
Thoreau ranks 48,877th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Thoreau
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.
Thoreau's strengths and weaknesses
Where Thoreau ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 162 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 94% of towns
Where Thoreau ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Thoreau
A household needs to earn about $21,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Thoreau home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $43,763, 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 Thoreau's effective rate of 0.06%, 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 3 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Thoreau
Thoreau's age mix sits close to the national median, 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 Thoreau.
Who works in Thoreau, and how
Work in Thoreau 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 75%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Thoreau
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Thoreau.
What the weather is like in Thoreau, month by month
Thoreau sees roughly 162 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 48, with lows near 14. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 48° | 30° | 14° |
| April | 70° | 50° | 29° |
| July | 90° | 73° | 54° |
| October | 72° | 51° | 32° |
Flying in and out of Thoreau
Albuquerque International Sunport sits about 93 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 2.6 million passengers in 2025, with 69 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Thoreau
Schools across Thoreau average a C−, better than 28% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Crownpoint ElementaryB · 50% proficient
- Bluewater ElementaryC · 35% proficient
- Thoreau ElementaryD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Thoreau school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Thoreau 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 Thoreau against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Thoreau
Is Thoreau a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Thoreau ranks 48,877th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, low disaster risk, and heat safety, and lowest on thin health care access and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Thoreau expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $91,136. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $43,763 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Thoreau safe?
Thoreau is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,165 per resident a year.
Compare Thoreau with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Thoreau. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Thoreau 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.
Thoreau detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Thoreau: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Thoreau: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Thoreau: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Thoreau: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Thoreau 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.