Moving to
North Valley.

All North Valley data Compare North Valley

10,455people live here $61,498median household income▼ 24% below US $302,700median home valueNear US average

North Valley is an unincorporated community in Bernalillo County, NM. It has no city government: the county runs it, and the Census counts it as its own place.

What it's like to live in North Valley

North Valley is an unincorporated community in New Mexico with commutes that run shorter than most cities and schools with smaller class sizes than the national average. Those factors carry real weight for anyone weighing where to move next.

The tradeoffs are worth naming plainly. North Valley deals with household incomes below the national average, air quality that falls short of national benchmarks, a population that has been shrinking, and a rent burden that leaves many renters stretched thin.

The good

Short commutes
Low student-teacher ratio

The not so good

Below-average household incomes
Air quality concerns
Shrinking population
High rent burden for renters
Cold winters
Hot summers

How North Valley compares

Median household income

North Valley$61,498

New Mexico avg$64,059

US$80,734

Median home value

North Valley$302,700

New Mexico avg$248,100

US$332,700

What it takes to move to North Valley

Based on North Valley's median rent, home value and household income

To buy

$60,540

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $30,270
Homes cost 4.9× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Job market

3.9% county unemployment

Unemployment in Bernalillo County is 3.9%, close to the national average of 4.3%. That's the county-wide rate; BLS doesn't measure a place this size on its own.

Bernalillo County (county-wide)

Safety

624 violent crimes per 100k, whole jurisdiction

North Valley doesn't have its own police department, so there's no crime rate for it alone. The figures shown are for the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office jurisdiction as a whole, which runs above the national average for violent crime and covers many communities. Individual neighborhoods can differ a lot from that overall rate.

Property crime 1466/100k · Policed by Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office (county-wide rate) · 2025 data

Getting around▼ 24% below US

20 min average commute

Commutes are reasonable, averaging 19.8 minutes. Nothing heroic, and there's still time left over for a life after work. 8 in 10 workers drive to work; 22% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

71%

Work from home

22%

Carpool

5.8%

Other

0.7%

Walk

0.6%

Climate

Summers are hot and humid, with highs regularly hitting 91°F, and winters are cold, with lows around 22°F and snow a regular occurrence. It's a dry climate with limited rainfall.

Average month

High °FLow °FPrecip (in)

30-year averages, 1991–2020

Education & workforce▼ 23% below US

28% bachelor's degree or higher

College degree attainment runs below average at 28%. That tends to reflect a more trade and working-class economy, which can be great or limiting depending on the industry.

Schools

4 public schools inside the boundary

There are 4 public schools inside the boundary. The student-to-teacher ratio is 9:1, well below the national average of 16:1. Smaller class sizes are generally a positive sign for a district.

Parks & recreation

The nearest national park or historic site is Petroglyph National Monument (7 miles away). There are 8 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

North Valley's strongest point is commutes that run shorter than most cities; the main tradeoffs are household incomes below the national average and air quality that falls short of national benchmarks. It tends to suit remote workers (22% of workers here already work from home) and people who want short commutes.

See all the data for North Valley →·All New Mexico cities →