El Cerro MissionNM
With 5,323 residents, it is a town in New Mexico.
Is El Cerro Mission a good place to live?
El Cerro Mission’s lowest grade is for health: residents are less healthy than 96% of U.S. towns on CDC estimates. With a D overall, El Cerro Mission is better than 13% of U.S. towns and ranks 52nd of 72 in New Mexico. Walkability is weaker too. Most errands need a car: it is less walkable than 98% of U.S. towns. Cost of living is its strong suit: a typical home costs about $115K, 1.6 years of the Albuquerque metro’s $71K median household income. The town’s average trip to work is 46 minutes, where New Mexico’s towns sit at 23 minutes and U.S. towns at 25 minutes. Only 2 of the 73 New Mexico towns we compare have a lower share of adults with a bachelor’s degree than El Cerro Mission. The median household income is $49K, and a quarter of residents live below the poverty line.
Figures: home values, Zillow · incomes, Census ACS, 2020–24 · health, CDC PLACES.
99% of working residents leave El Cerro Mission for work
Where El Cerro Mission’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
How El Cerro Mission grades
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Mexico), ordered by how far El Cerro Mission is from typical.
Its grades run from A for cost of living (better than 90% of comparable towns) to D− for walkability (better than 3%), so the D overall blends very different results.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Moving to El Cerro Mission: who provides what
El Cerro Mission 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 Mission.
El Cerro Mission sends most of its workers to Albuquerque and beyond, but it is a long drive from an emergency room.
More of El Cerro Mission’s adults get no exercise outside work than in the typical New Mexico or U.S. town
The nearest emergency room, Presbyterian Hospital, is 21.7 miles away in a straight line.
Among 73 New Mexico towns, just 6 have a higher share of adults who have obesity than El Cerro Mission. El Cerro Mission: two in five adults sleep under 7 hours. Against the New Mexico average, El Cerro Mission comes out ahead on 1 CDC measures out of 32, and behind on 19. Two figures for adults here: 21% report frequent physical distress, 40% worry about having enough food.
| El Cerro Mission | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 37% | 25% | 19% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 21% | 17% | 14% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 40% | 23% | 14% |
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 66% | 69% | 79% |
| What stands out | El Cerro Mission | NM |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults who have had cancer | 5.1% | 7.4% |
| More adults facing food insecurity | 39.6% | 20.9% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
El Cerro Mission stands out in New Mexico and nationally, with the average trip to work longer than most
El Cerro Mission has 50 jobs for its 1,781 working residents: even if every job went to a resident, most would still commute out. The average commute takes 46 minutes, against 23.5 across New Mexico.
For working residents in El Cerro Mission, the share who work locally is 1.1%. The median commute is under 22 miles. The top destinations are Albuquerque (49%), Los Lunas (14%) and South Valley (4%).
| El Cerro Mission | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average trip to work | 46 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 25% | 20% | 9.6% |
| Working residents who work in town | 1.1% | 15% | 8% |
| Median household income | $49,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 |
Where working residents work
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Typical low → high °F
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
El Cerro Mission keeps 2.8% of its land conserved
2.6 miles of trail. El Cerro Mission’s density of trails stands at 0.4 miles per square mile.
| El Cerro Mission | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.4 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2.8% | 4% | 4.3% |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
The biggest natural risk in El Cerro Mission is inland flooding, at a moderate overall level
In El Cerro Mission, the FEMA hazard score is 52 of 100. 70% of the town’s expected losses from natural hazards come from inland flooding, followed by earthquakes at 11%.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Everything we know about El Cerro Mission
Colleges nearby
1 within 15 miles of the center of El Cerro Mission
About 6 of every 100 El Cerro Mission residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Mexico.
About El Cerro Mission
CDP in New Mexico, United States
El Cerro Mission is a census-designated place (CDP) in Valencia County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2020 census, El Cerro Mission had a population of 4,566. It is part of the Albuquerque Metropolitan Statistical Area. The U.S. Census Bureau previously considered El Cerro Mission and the neighboring community of Monterey Park to be a single CDP, El Cerro-Monterey Park. The CDP was split prior to the 2010 Census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
- Area
- 5.9 sq mi
- Elevation
- 5,052 ft
El Cerro Mission’s neighbors
2 towns share a border with El Cerro Mission.
| Town | NM rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Cerro Mission | #52 | D | A | — | B− | D− |
| El Cerro | #6 | B− | B+ | — | B− | B− |
| Monterey Park | — | — | — | — | — | — |
El Cerro Mission and El Cerro report no FBI crime data of their own. Monterey Park isn’t graded (fewer than 1,000 residents, or not enough data). Compare El Cerro Mission with a neighbor →
Questions about El Cerro Mission
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Is El Cerro Mission, NM a good place to live?
El Cerro Mission grades D overall, better than 13% of U.S. towns and #52 of 72 in New Mexico. It grades D− for health and B− for schools. Walkability is its weak spot, with a D−.
Is El Cerro Mission, 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 A.