The 10 Cheapest Albuquerque, NM Neighborhoods To Live In For 2026

Q: Is a cheap neighborhood a bad neighborhood?

Not necessarily -- this ranking measures what things cost relative to income, nothing else. Check our safest neighborhoods in Albuquerque ranking before you sign a lease, because cheap and safe are separate questions.

The cheapest Albuquerque neighborhoods are South Los Altos and Tijeras Arroyo for 2026 based on Saturday Night Science.

Written by

Chris Kolmar

HomeSnacks

Last updated

July 19, 2026

Everything else equal, we can all agree that living in a cheaper place is better than living in a more expensive place.

I’d much rather pay $500/mo in rent than $1,000. And I’d rather pay $2 for coffee than $5.

And while every neighborhood in Albuquerque might be more expensive than living in rural New Mexico, there are certain neighborhoods that are definitely cheaper.

What exactly are those Albuquerque neighborhoods where your dollar goes a little further — you can get that one bedroom instead of the studio?

Instead of relying on public opinion and speculation, we wanted to get the facts straight and determine which neighborhoods in Albuquerque are the cheapest using Saturday Night Science.

1

No. 1 cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque

South Los Altos, NM

3,620 people

88 cost of living index

Located in Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Data

2

No. 2 cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque

Tijeras Arroyo, NM

4,026 people

94 cost of living index

Located in Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Data

3

No. 3 cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque

Kirtland Community, NM

106 people

91 cost of living index

Located in Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Data

3

No. 3 cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque

Yale Village, NM

35 people

91 cost of living index

Located in Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Data

5

No. 5 cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque

North Eastern, NM

3,133 people

93 cost of living index

Located in Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Data

6

No. 6 cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque

Encanto Village, NM

195 people

92 cost of living index

Located in Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Data

7

No. 7 cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque

Jeanne Bellamah East, NM

1,395 people

95 cost of living index

Located in Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Data

8

No. 8 cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque

Skies West, NM

4,500 people

97 cost of living index

Located in Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Data

9

No. 9 cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque

Alta Monte, NM

1,814 people

76 cost of living index

Located in Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Data

9

No. 9 cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque

Fair Heights, NM

1,097 people

94 cost of living index

Located in Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Data

The receipts

Compare the top ten

Pick a metric. The bars rescale. The red line is New Mexico’s statewide median.

City Cost of living index vs NM

1 South Los Altos 88 —

2 Tijeras Arroyo 94 —

3 Kirtland Community 91 —

3 Yale Village 91 —

5 North Eastern 93 —

6 Encanto Village 92 —

7 Jeanne Bellamah East 95 —

8 Skies West 97 —

9 Alta Monte 76 —

9 Fair Heights 94 —

City Home value to income vs NM

1 South Los Altos 2.283122874232769 —

2 Tijeras Arroyo 2.247303093782509 —

3 Kirtland Community 2.8284366526761504 —

3 Yale Village 2.8284366526761504 —

5 North Eastern 2.800502919343449 —

6 Encanto Village 3.064254575321694 —

7 Jeanne Bellamah East 1.9272362119573614 —

8 Skies West 2.2643844378319753 —

9 Alta Monte 0.28125791116986865 —

9 Fair Heights 2.8693333333333335 —

City Rent to income vs NM

1 South Los Altos 0.013526721138433872 —

2 Tijeras Arroyo 0.010844626850783065 —

3 Kirtland Community 0.01054860156743305 —

3 Yale Village 0.01054860156743305 —

5 North Eastern 0.010127279929729078 —

6 Encanto Village 0.0 —

7 Jeanne Bellamah East 0.013440444925073382 —

8 Skies West 0.014363580744737061 —

9 Alta Monte 0.01870552164496076 —

9 Fair Heights 0.013404444444444445 —

Saturday Night Science

Methodology: How we determined the cheapest Albuquerque hoods in 2026

To rank the cheapest places to live in Albuquerque, we had to determine what criteria define “cheap” and then apply Saturday Night Science.

Using Census and extrapolated BLS data, we arrived at the following set of criteria:

Overall Cost Of Living
Rent To Income Ratio
Median Home Value To Income Ratio

We then ranked each neighborhood with scores from 1 to 197 in each category, where 1 was the cheapest.

Next, we averaged the rankings for each neighborhood to create a cheap neighborhood index.

And finally, we crowned the neighborhood with the lowest cheapest neighborhood index, the “Cheapest City Neighborhood In Albuquerque.” We’re lookin’ at you, South Los Altos.

We updated this article for 2026. Skip to the end to see the list of all the neighborhoods in the city, from cheapest to most expensive.

The full plate

Detailed list of the cheapest neighborhoods to live in Albuquerque for 2026

Click any column to sort. Search by neighborhood name.

Rank	Neighborhood	Cost Of Living Index
1	South Los Altos	88
2	Tijeras Arroyo	94
3	Kirtland Community	91
3	Yale Village	91
5	North Eastern	93
6	Encanto Village	92
7	Jeanne Bellamah East	95
8	Skies West	97
9	Alta Monte	76
9	Fair Heights	94
11	Mountain View	87
12	Valley Gardens	91
12	Holiday Park	104
14	Victory Hills	100
15	Stardust Skies Park	106
16	Stronghurst	93
17	Tuscany	102
18	Snow Heights	98
19	McKinley	93
20	Clayton Heights-Lomas Del Cielo	91
20	Skyview West	87
22	Ventana Ranch	100
23	Route 66 West	95
24	South Atrisco	92
25	Westgate Vecinos	91
26	Jackson Area	98
27	Eagle Ranch	106
28	Fair West	93
29	Quail Ridge	94
30	San Jose	87
31	Laurelwood	102
32	Wildflower	88
33	Onate	104
33	Crestview Heights	104
35	Paloma Del Sol	113
36	Painted Sky	98
37	Avalon	88
38	John Robert	107
39	Albuquerque Meadows	82
39	Classic Uptown	102
41	Prospectors Ridge	111
42	Hodgin	98
43	Osuna Park	102
44	Oso Grande	107
45	Villa De Paza	94
46	Princess Jeanne	97
47	S Y Jackson	106
48	Eastrange-Piedra Vista	104
49	San Antonio	94
49	Del Rey R	94
51	Martineztown	87
52	Las Lomitas	107
53	Highlands North	98
54	Embudo Canyon	112
55	Tierra Oeste	110
56	Jade Park	94
57	Matheson Park	96
58	Los Alamos	100
59	Siesta Hills	93
59	Elder Homestead	93
61	Quigley Park	102
62	Vista Sandia Hoa	93
63	Cibola Addition	115
64	Alban Hills	109
65	SR Marmon	100
66	Cherry Hills	107
66	Academy North	107
68	Vecinos Del Bosque	91
69	Willow Wood	102
70	Palomas Park	89
70	North Hills	89
72	Eldorado Heights	103
72	Vista Del Norte	106
74	Pat Hurley	93
75	Westgate Hts	96
76	San Gabriel	107
77	Eisenhower	110
78	Stinson Tower	101
79	Candelmen	94
80	Quaker Heights	103
81	Mirabella	102
82	South Broadway	89
83	Heritage Hills	108
84	Supper Rock	109
85	West Bluff	96
85	Academy Acres North	104
87	Chelwood Vista	93
87	Piedras Marcadas	111
89	Seven Bar North	110
89	Saragossa	110
89	Paradise Heights	110
92	Antelope Run	129
93	N Albuquerque Acres	125
93	Sombra Del Monte	103
95	Vista Montecito	104
95	Parkland Hills	109
97	Stardust Skies North	105
98	Glenwood Hills	120
99	Ladera West	99
100	Alameda N Valley	97

Source: U.S. Census ACS 2020-2024. All 197 Albuquerque neighborhoods.

Summary

Summary: Lowest cost places to live in Albuquerque

If you’re measuring the neighborhoods in Albuquerque where prices are low, and it’s cheap to live, this is an accurate list.

The most affordable neighborhoods in Albuquerque are South Los Altos, Tijeras Arroyo, Kirtland Community, Yale Village, North Eastern, Encanto Village, Jeanne Bellamah East, Skies West, Alta Monte, and Fair Heights.

As mentioned earlier, the neighborhoods in Albuquerque aren’t all cheap. Arroyo Del Oso North takes the title of the most expensive neighborhood to live in Albuquerque.

We ranked the neighborhoods from cheapest to most expensive in the chart below. Not sold on New Mexico? Take the two-minute Find Your Place quiz and see which state actually fits you.

Questions and answers

Cheapest Neighborhoods In Albuquerque FAQs

What is the cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque?

South Los Altos is the cheapest neighborhood in Albuquerque for 2026. It posts the best combination of overall cost of living, rent against income, and home prices against income. Tijeras Arroyo and Kirtland Community are next.

What are the cheapest neighborhoods in Albuquerque?

The cheapest neighborhoods in Albuquerque are South Los Altos, Tijeras Arroyo, Kirtland Community, Yale Village, North Eastern, Encanto Village, Jeanne Bellamah East, Skies West, Alta Monte, and Fair Heights. We ranked all 197 neighborhoods in the city.

How do you decide which neighborhoods are cheapest?

Three measures: an overall cost of living index, rent-to-income, and home-value-to-income, all from Census tract data. Scoring costs against local incomes keeps one luxury tower from skewing the math.

Is a cheap neighborhood a bad neighborhood?

Not necessarily — this ranking measures what things cost relative to income, nothing else. Check our safest neighborhoods in Albuquerque ranking before you sign a lease, because cheap and safe are separate questions.

What is the most expensive neighborhood in Albuquerque?

Arroyo Del Oso North lands at the expensive end of the 197 neighborhoods we scored. If your budget disagrees with it, the rest of the list runs cheaper.

About the author

Chris Kolmar

Chris Kolmar has been in the real estate business for almost ten years now. He originally worked for Movoto Real Estate as the director of marketing before founding HomeSnacks.

He believes the key to finding the right place to live comes down to looking at the data, reading about things to do, and, most importantly, checking it out yourself before you move.

If you've been looking for a place to live in the past several years, you've probably stumbled upon his writing already.

You can find out more about him on LinkedIn or his website.

Website All articles by Chris Kolmar Take the Find Your Place quiz

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