Rio Rancho

New Mexico's third-largest city sits on the mesa northwest of Albuquerque, and most of it was built in the last thirty years. That shows up in the housing stock: stucco single-family homes on full lots in Northern Meadows, Enchanted Hills, and Loma Colorado, plus custom builds in River's Edge and Mariposa, where 3,000 acres of preserve back up to the subdivision. Buyers come for square footage rather than character, and inventory is deep enough to be choosy.

Rio Rancho runs its own district, Rio Rancho Public Schools, separate from APS, feeding V. Sue Cleveland and Rio Rancho High. Intel's Rio Rancho campus anchors employment with Fab 9 advanced packaging, and Presbyterian Rust Medical Center on Unser Boulevard is the other major employer. Weekends mean A Park Above's splash pad, Haynes Park, and Goatheads hockey at the Rio Rancho Events Center. Most Albuquerque commuters take NM 528 or Unser Boulevard south.