Best PlacesTowaoc, CO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Towaoc, 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.
Towaoc ranks 42,533rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on short commutes by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Towaoc
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.
Towaoc's strengths and weaknesses
Where Towaoc ranks high
- Short commute15.8 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 162 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Towaoc ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Towaoc
A household needs to earn about $65,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Towaoc home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $55,383, 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 Towaoc's effective rate of 0.30%, 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 Towaoc
Towaoc runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Towaoc.
Who works in Towaoc, and how
Work in Towaoc centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 69%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 15%
Life in Towaoc
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Towaoc.
What the weather is like in Towaoc, month by month
Towaoc sees roughly 162 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 13. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 27° | 13° |
| April | 68° | 49° | 28° |
| July | 93° | 74° | 53° |
| October | 70° | 49° | 31° |
Flying in and out of Towaoc
The nearest airport, Cortez Municipal, is about 8 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 191 miles away.
The best schools in and around Towaoc
Schools across Towaoc average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mesa ElementaryC− · 28% proficient
- Red Mesa Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Mesa Elementary SchoolD · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- C.v. Koogler MiddleC · 32% proficient
- Montezuma-cortez Middle SchoolD− · 15% proficient
- Tse Bit Ai MiddleD− · 14% proficient
Top high schools
- Aztec HighC− · 30% proficient
- Montezuma-cortez High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Red Mesa High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Towaoc school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Towaoc 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 Towaoc against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Towaoc
Is Towaoc a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Towaoc ranks 42,533rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on short commutes, the weather, and low property taxes, and lowest on thin health care access 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 Towaoc expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $265,552. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $55,383 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Towaoc safe?
Towaoc is safer than 6% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $899 per resident a year.
Compare Towaoc with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Towaoc. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Towaoc 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.
Towaoc detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Towaoc: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Towaoc: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Towaoc: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Towaoc: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Towaoc 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.