Best PlacesVanadium, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Vanadium, 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.
Vanadium ranks 43,679th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Vanadium
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.
Vanadium's strengths and weaknesses
Where Vanadium ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 176 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Short commute17.6 minutes each way, better than 94% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 73% of towns
Where Vanadium ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Household income$30,436 median, better than only 3% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Vanadium
A household needs to earn about $39,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Vanadium home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $30,436, 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 Vanadium's effective rate of 0.41%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Vanadium
Vanadium 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 Vanadium.
Who works in Vanadium, and how
Work in Vanadium centers on health care & social and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 68%
- Work from home 27%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Vanadium
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Vanadium.
What the weather is like in Vanadium, month by month
Vanadium sees roughly 176 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 Vanadium
The nearest airport, Grant County, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 178 miles away.
Vanadium 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 Vanadium against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Vanadium
Is Vanadium a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Vanadium ranks 43,679th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, short commutes, and a stable housing market, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and low incomes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Vanadium expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $157,470. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $30,436 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Vanadium safe?
Vanadium is safer than 4% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $977 per resident a year.
Compare Vanadium with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Vanadium. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Vanadium 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.
Vanadium detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Vanadium: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Vanadium: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Vanadium: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Vanadium: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Vanadium 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.