Elephant Butte, NM

The affordability dashboard for Elephant Butte, NM aggregates Census ACS 5-Year Estimates across 1 ZIP code covering 1,770 residents, then layers in county-level federal data to produce an overall grade of D (44/100). The headline inputs are median household income of $51,033, median home value of $197,700, median rent of $1,111 per month, and 16.5% of adults holding a bachelor's degree or higher. These four metrics alone explain most of the variance between city dashboards.

Cross-agency feeds widen the picture beyond Census demographics. HUD publishes a Fair Market Rent for a 2-bedroom in this county at $1,004 per month (studio $692, 1BR $765, 3BR $1,396, 4BR $1,619).

Reading the overall grade requires reading all seven dimensions together. The score weights Income 20%, Safety 20%, Housing 15%, Rent 15%, Education 10%, Commute 10%, and Childcare 10%, with each sub-score benchmarked against national percentiles rather than state averages — so the grade is genuinely comparable across any city in the country. Pressure points are income, education. Unemployment currently reads 5.3% and poverty 9.2% — numbers worth keeping alongside the headline grade.