Best PlacesVallecitos, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Vallecitos, 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.
Vallecitos ranks 49,176th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Vallecitos
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.
Vallecitos' strengths and weaknesses
Where Vallecitos ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 161 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 89% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 79% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 77% of towns
Where Vallecitos ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Short commute43.6 minutes each way, better than only 2% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$43,740 median, better than only 3% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Vallecitos
A household needs to earn about $70,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vallecitos home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $43,740, 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 Vallecitos' effective rate of 0.35%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Vallecitos
Vallecitos 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 Vallecitos.
Who works in Vallecitos, and how
Work in Vallecitos centers on retail trade and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 50%
- Work from home 40%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Vallecitos
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Vallecitos.
What the weather is like in Vallecitos, month by month
Vallecitos sees roughly 161 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 41, with lows near 10. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 41° | 25° | 10° |
| April | 65° | 47° | 27° |
| July | 88° | 70° | 51° |
| October | 68° | 48° | 30° |
Flying in and out of Vallecitos
The nearest airport, Santa Fe Regional, is about 60 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 102 miles away.
Vallecitos 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 Vallecitos against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Vallecitos
Is Vallecitos a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vallecitos ranks 49,176th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low property taxes, and heat safety, and lowest on cell coverage and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Vallecitos expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $287,098. The overall cost of living runs about 5% below the national average. Set against a $43,740 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Vallecitos safe?
Vallecitos is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,402 per resident a year.
Compare Vallecitos with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vallecitos. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vallecitos 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.
Vallecitos detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vallecitos: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vallecitos: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vallecitos: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vallecitos: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vallecitos 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.