El CerroNM
A town of 2,923.
Is El Cerro a good place to live?
El Cerro gives you more for your money than most places: homes are within reach, about $312K for a typical one, or 4.4 years of the Albuquerque metro’s $71K median household income. It grades B− overall, 6th of 72 graded towns in New Mexico. The low prices come with trade-offs. FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk higher than 86% of U.S. communities, with inland flooding at the top. 31% of residents are 65 or older in El Cerro, against 17% in New Mexico’s towns and 18% across U.S. towns. Only 6 of New Mexico’s 161 towns score lower on the outdoors. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 74% of U.S. towns.
98% of working residents leave El Cerro for work
Where El Cerro’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How El Cerro grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Mexico), ordered by how far El Cerro is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to El Cerro: who provides what
El Cerro is unincorporated, so Valencia County and regional agencies provide most services.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 27, 2026.
The data
Ordered by what stands out in El Cerro.
El Cerro has hotter summers than nearly all U.S. towns and sends most of its workers to Albuquerque and beyond, but it is a long drive from an emergency room.
El Cerro faces a very high natural-hazard risk, led by inland flooding
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
About half of El Cerro’s working residents commute to Albuquerque
El Cerro has 175 jobs for its 1,175 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. Jobs based here fell from 474 in 2013 to 175.
Most working residents leave El Cerro for work: only 2% work in town. 5.9% of residents live below the poverty line in El Cerro. Since 2013, El Cerro has lost 299 jobs, to 175 in 2023.
| El Cerro | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Below the poverty line | 5.9% | 21% | 9.6% |
| Median household income | $106,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 |
| Working residents who work in town | 2% | 15% | 8% |
| Average trip to work | 28 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
In El Cerro, expect four seasons and hot summers
July afternoons average 94°, hotter than in 95% of U.S. towns; January nights average 21.2°.
El Cerro has chilly winters and hot summers, with very little rain. The July high in El Cerro is 94°F. About 5 inches of snow falls in a winter.
| El Cerro | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| July high | 94°F | 93°F | 85°F |
| January low | 21°F | 21°F | 22°F |
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
El Cerro is healthier than 53% of U.S. towns
The nearest emergency room, Presbyterian Hospital, is 21.1 miles away in a straight line. Within New Mexico it is healthier than 75% of the 73 graded towns: much of New Mexico scores lower on these measures.
El Cerro beats the New Mexico average on 7 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 1. 71% of El Cerro adults had a checkup this year.
| El Cerro | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 71% | 69% | 79% |
| Frequent mental distress (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 16% | 17% |
| Binge drink (CDC PLACES) | 13% | 13% | 16% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 16% | 16% | 8.1% |
| What stands out | El Cerro | NM |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing a utility shut-off | 8.1% | 11.2% |
| Fewer adults without reliable transportation | 8.4% | 11% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.3% | 7.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Everything we know about El Cerro
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of El Cerro
About 3 of every 100 El Cerro residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across New Mexico.
About El Cerro
Census-designated place in New Mexico, United States
El Cerro is a census-designated place in Valencia County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, El Cerro had a population of 2,946. It is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 4.2 sq mi
- Elevation
- 4,842 ft
El Cerro’s neighbors
3 towns share a border with El Cerro.
| Town | NM rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Cerro | #6 | B− | B+ | — | B− | B− |
| Los Lunas | #53 | D | C | D | B− | B− |
| Valencia | — | — | B+ | — | B− | C |
| El Cerro Mission | #52 | D | A | — | B− | D− |
Valencia has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. El Cerro, Valencia and El Cerro Mission report no FBI crime data of their own. Compare El Cerro with a neighbor →
Questions about El Cerro
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is El Cerro, NM a good place to live?
El Cerro grades B− overall, better than 52% of U.S. towns and #6 of 72 in New Mexico. It grades B− for health and B− for schools. Hazard risk is its weak spot, with a D.
Is El Cerro, NM expensive?
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades B+.