Best PlacesValencia County, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Valencia County, 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.
Valencia County ranks 1,934th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Valencia County
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.
The best areas in Valencia County
The parts of Valencia County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Peralta & Bosque Farms
It is quieter.
Los Lunas
Fewer homes sit empty and prices have run up less.
Belen
Incomes run lower and local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Valencia County run from about the 4th to the 83rd percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Valencia County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Valencia County ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of counties
- Nice weatherabout 169 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of counties
- TransitBetter than 84% of counties
- BikingBetter than 75% of counties
- Health outlookBetter than 72% of counties
Where Valencia County ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 6% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 9% of counties
- Air qualityBetter than only 14% of counties
- Short commute30.2 minutes each way, better than only 15% of counties
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 16% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Valencia County
A household needs to earn about $56,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Valencia County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $64,799, 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 Valencia County's effective rate of 0.62%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Valencia County
Valencia County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Valencia County.
Who works in Valencia County, and how
Work in Valencia County centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Valencia County
Valencia County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties and less parkland per resident than most counties. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Valencia County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Valencia County growing, and who is moving in?
Valencia County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Albuquerque, NM metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Valencia County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Valencia County, month by month
Valencia County sees roughly 169 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 95 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 35° | 22° |
| April | 76° | 59° | 41° |
| July | 95° | 80° | 65° |
| October | 74° | 58° | 43° |
Flying in and out of Valencia County
Albuquerque International Sunport sits about 21 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 Valencia County
Schools across Valencia County average a C−, better than 23% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Cubero ElementaryB · 50% proficient
Top high schools
- Highland HighB− · 41% proficient
- Los Lunas HighC+ · 40% proficient
- Belen HighC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Valencia County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Valencia County 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 Valencia County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Valencia County suits
Common questions about living in Valencia County
Is Valencia County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Valencia County ranks 1,934th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on cell coverage, the weather, and transit, and lowest on tree cover and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Valencia County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $219,371. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $64,799 median income, cost of living beats 32% of counties.
Is Valencia County safe?
Valencia County is safer than 38% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $493 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Valencia County?
July highs average about 95 degrees, and January highs near 51 with lows near 22. That works out to about 169 pleasant days a year, more than 96% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Valencia County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Peralta & Bosque Farms, Los Lunas, and Belen. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Valencia County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Valencia County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Valencia County 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.
Valencia County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Valencia County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Valencia County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Valencia County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Valencia County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Valencia County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.