Best PlacesVelarde, NM Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Velarde, 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.
Velarde ranks 32,935th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on heat safety by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Velarde
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.
Velarde's strengths and weaknesses
Where Velarde ranks high
- Heat safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 183 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- TransitBetter than 92% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 86% of towns
Where Velarde ranks low
- Short commute41.2 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 6% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 9% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Velarde
A household needs to earn about $80,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Velarde home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,282, 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 Velarde's effective rate of 0.25%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Velarde
Velarde 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 Velarde.
Who works in Velarde, and how
Work in Velarde centers on construction and admin & support services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 18%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Velarde
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Velarde.
What the weather is like in Velarde, month by month
Velarde sees roughly 183 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 40, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 40° | 31° | 24° |
| April | 64° | 51° | 41° |
| July | 85° | 72° | 62° |
| October | 65° | 53° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Velarde
The nearest airport, Santa Fe Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 84 miles away.
The best schools in and around Velarde
Schools across Velarde average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top high schools
- Penasco HighC · 31% proficient
- Espanola Valley HighD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Velarde school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Velarde 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 Velarde against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Velarde
Is Velarde a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Velarde ranks 32,935th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on heat safety, the weather, and low property taxes, and lowest on long commutes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Velarde expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $332,599. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $81,282 median income, cost of living beats 67% of towns.
Is Velarde safe?
Velarde is safer than 10% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $753 per resident a year.
Compare Velarde with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Velarde. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Velarde 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.
Velarde detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Velarde: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Velarde: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Velarde: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Velarde: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Velarde 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.