Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 13,317, settled in 1941.
Los Alamos is one of the best-graded places in America: an A+, 1st of 72 graded towns in New Mexico. On CDC health estimates it is near the top nationally, its schools outperform 96% of the state's, and a typical home costs about $579K, 3.9 years of the Los Alamos area’s $147K median household income. Its lowest mark, an A, is in incomes. 70% of adults 25 and older hold a bachelor’s degree or more in Los Alamos, against 23% in New Mexico’s towns and 29% across U.S. towns. On the outdoors, just 2 of New Mexico’s 161 towns do better. Los Alamos is home to University of New Mexico-Los Alamos Campus.
Where Los Alamos beats most towns.
| Widest gap | Los Alamos | NM |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.3% | 20.9% |
26.2% of the town is conserved land, across 18 parks and preserves.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within New Mexico), ordered by how far Los Alamos is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory is a National Historic Landmark, the National Register’s top tier.
Census counts: 11,310 in 1970, 13,179 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1943 and 4 maps from 1952 on.
5 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Los Alamos is unincorporated, so Los Alamos 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.
Ordered by what stands out in Los Alamos.
Los Alamos is among the three healthiest towns in New Mexico, pairs an A+ for schools with modest home prices and carries less natural-hazard risk than most of New Mexico (mostly inland flooding).
The median property tax bill is $2,749, against $1,731 across New Mexico, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
Los Alamos’ median rent is $1,359 a month. The typical Los Alamos home is worth about $579,000, down 0.7% in a year, 83% above the New Mexico typical home.
| Los Alamos | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,359 a month | $936 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 67% | 70% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Its A+ for schools comes with an A for cost of living: the typical home is worth about $579K. Its A+ ranks #1 of the 73 New Mexico towns we grade for schools.
Its public schools are run by the Los Alamos school district. Two of its 6 schools are below, each with why it’s listed. The largest public high school is Los Alamos High, with 1,181 students.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Alamos MiddleLargest public middle schoolGrades 7–8 | Grades 7–8 | 543 | – |
| Los Alamos HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,181 | A |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within NM on state tests and graduation
Its A+ for the outdoors ranks #3 of 73 in New Mexico.
The trail density in Los Alamos is 7.4 miles per square mile. Santa Fe National Forest, at 267 acres with 6.7 miles of trail, is the biggest park or preserve. 82 miles of trail in 18 parks and preserves.
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Santa Fe National Forest | 6.7 mi | 267 |
| 2. Kinnikinnik Park | 0.8 mi | 13 |
| 3. Urban Park | 0.5 mi | 11 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
It ranks #2 of the 73 New Mexico towns we grade on the CDC estimates behind the Health Grade. Its widest gap with New Mexico is food insecurity: 7.3% of its 10,169 adults worry about having enough food, against 20.9% statewide.
9.9% of adults report frequent physical distress in Los Alamos. Among 73 New Mexico towns, just 1 have a lower share of adults who say their health is fair or poor than Los Alamos. 13% of adults report frequent mental distress in Los Alamos.
| Los Alamos | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 9.9% | 17% | 14% |
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 14% | 28% | 25% |
| Fair or poor health (CDC PLACES) | 12% | 26% | 19% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 8% | 14% | 12% |
| What stands out | Los Alamos | NM |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer adults facing food insecurity | 7.3% | 20.9% |
| Fewer older adults who have lost all their teeth | 5% | 14.2% |
| More adults who have had cancer | 8.3% | 7.4% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
19,704 jobs are based in Los Alamos, 2.7 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in. The average commute takes 12.4 minutes, against 23.5 across New Mexico.
77% of Los Alamos’s working residents work right in town. 4.1% of Los Alamos residents live below the poverty line. Jobs based in Los Alamos grew to 19,704 in 2023, 6,054 more than in 2013.
| Los Alamos | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median household income | $141,000 | $55,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 12 minutes | 23 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 4.1% | 21% | 9.6% |
| Work from home | 17% | 8.4% | 11% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Los Alamos has chilly, snowy winters and warm summers, with very little rain. Among 73 New Mexico towns, just 5 have a lower July high than Los Alamos.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
FEMA rates its natural-hazard risk lower than 82% of New Mexico towns; that rating is what its A− for hazard risk is built on.
FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
Los Alamos's reported crime rate is well below New Mexico's. No town among the 32 in New Mexico we compare has a lower violent crime rate than Los Alamos. Most reported incidents are property crimes, mainly thefts.
| Los Alamos | New Mexico towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.6 per 1,000 residents | 4.4 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 2.9 per 1,000 residents | 16.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Los Alamos. Close and well known come first.
4 mi National MonumentBandelier National Monument248K visitors a year
6 mi National PreserveValles Caldera National Preserve85K visitors a year
4 mi National Historical ParkManhattan Project National Historical Park56K visitors a year
24 mi MuseumGeorgia O'Keeffe Museum
in town MuseumBradbury Science Museum
17 mi Park & preserveKasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National MonumentBandelier National Monument: Andrew Dunn (talk · contribs), CC BY-SA 2.0 · Valles Caldera National Preserve: Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, Public domain · Manhattan Project National Historical Park: Unknown, Public domain · Georgia O'Keeffe Museum: John Phelan, CC BY 3.0 · Bradbury Science Museum: Blueag9, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Kasha-Katuwe Tent Rocks National Monument: Marshallhenrie, CC BY-SA 4.0
2 within 15 miles of the center of Los Alamos
About 5 of every 100 Los Alamos residents are enrolled in college, about the same as New Mexico.
Where Los Alamos’s working residents go each day. Line width shows the share.
Census LEHD 2023
5 places in Los Alamos on the National Register of Historic Places.
Census-designated place in New Mexico, United States
Los Alamos (Spanish: Los Álamos, meaning 'The Poplars') is a census-designated place in Los Alamos County, New Mexico, United States, that is recognized as one of the development and creation places of the atomic bomb—the primary objective of the Manhattan Project by Los Alamos National Laboratory during World War II. The town is on four mesas of the Pajarito Plateau, and had a population of about 13,200 as of 2020. It is the county seat and one of two population centers in Los Alamos County; the other is White Rock.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Yes, by almost any measure. Los Alamos grades A+ overall, among the top 2% of U.S. towns and #1 of 72 in New Mexico. It grades A+ for health and A+ for schools, and has the most trail per square mile in the state.
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.
