Moving to
South Valley.

All South Valley data Compare South Valley

37,120people live here $58,224median household income▼ 28% below US $954median rent per month▼ 32% below US $224,300median home value▼ 33% below US

South 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 South Valley

South Valley is an unincorporated community in New Mexico with rent below the national average, home prices that remain within reach, 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. South Valley deals with household incomes below the national average, air quality that falls short of national benchmarks, college degree attainment below the national average, and a population that has been shrinking.

The good

Rent below the national average
Affordable home prices
Low student-teacher ratio

The not so good

Below-average household incomes
Air quality concerns
Low college degree attainment
Shrinking population
High poverty rate
Cold winters

How South Valley compares

Median household income

South Valley$58,224

New Mexico avg$64,059

US$80,734

Median rent (per month)

South Valley$954

New Mexico avg$1,067

US$1,413

Median home value

South Valley$224,300

New Mexico avg$248,100

US$332,700

What it takes to move to South Valley

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

To rent

$1,908

up front: first month plus a typical one-month deposit

Income to keep rent under 30%: $38,160 a year
40% of South Valley renters spend 30% or more of their income on rent

To buy

$44,860

a 20% down payment on the median home

With 10% down: $22,430
Homes cost 3.9× the typical local household income (US: 4.1×)

Moving costs, closing costs and taxes not included.

The details

Cost of living▼ 32% below US

$954/mo median rent

Rent here is genuinely low, with median rent around $954 a month. Factoring in local incomes, the value gets even better. Money stretches further here than in most of the country. Home prices here are genuinely accessible, with a median around $224,300. That kind of affordability is rare in today's market.

Median home value $224,300 · 40% of renters cost-burdened

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

South 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 aroundNear US average

26 min average commute

Commutes run about average, at 25.6 minutes. Fine day to day, but it adds up over a year, and where someone lives relative to where they work starts to matter. 9 in 10 workers drive to work; 8% work from home.

How workers get to work

Drive alone

76%

Carpool

14%

Work from home

8.3%

Walk

1.1%

Other

0.9%

Public transit

0.1%

Climate

Summers are hot and humid, with highs regularly hitting 91°F, and winters are cold, with lows around 24°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▼ 58% below US

15% bachelor's degree or higher

This is a working-class city, and college degree rates reflect that. Trades, manufacturing, and service industries tend to dominate the local economy, which is a strength for some fields and a real constraint for others.

Schools

15 public schools inside the boundary

There are 15 public schools inside the boundary and 1 private school. The student-to-teacher ratio is 12:1, 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 (9 miles away). There are 8 national parks and sites within a day's drive.

Bottom line

South Valley's strongest points are rent below the national average and home prices that remain within reach; the main tradeoffs are household incomes below the national average and air quality that falls short of national benchmarks. A year of median rent ($954/mo) equals 20% of the median household income here, about the same as the 21% typical nationwide. It tends to suit people watching their budget. It may be a harder fit for anyone who doesn't drive.

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