The Safest and Most Dangerous Places in Valencia County, NM
Valencia County is home to 78,500 residents and includes Los Lunas and Belen · Updated November 2026
Is Valencia County, NM safe?
Crime in Valencia County is moderate, with an overall CrimeGrade™ of B+. Most US neighborhoods have little crime: 65% of Americans live in neighborhoods with less crime than Valencia County. Property crime grades better than violent crime here, A- against B+. What matters most is the neighborhood: grades within Valencia County run from A+ to F, so check the map or the safest and least safe places below.
B+
Overall CrimeGrade™
Safety score 739 of 1,000Less safe than most US neighborhoodsi What this means
35% of Americans live in neighborhoods with more crime than Valencia County as a whole, and 65% in neighborhoods with less. The typical US neighborhood has a safety score of 838, a CrimeGrade™ of A-. Valencia County scores 739.
Crime is concentrated in a small share of places, so most neighborhoods score high on the 0 to 1,000 scale. That is why a score in the 800s can still mean more crime than most US neighborhoods.
How to read the map: each area's color compares its crime with the people, homes and cars there, on one national scale, from green for the least crime to red for the most. Each area gets its own color, so a busy shopping center can show red while the homes beside it stay green. The interactive maps load faster on a strong connection. Compare high speed internet in Valencia County, NM at ISP Reports.
Who this page is for: homeowners and renters in Valencia County, and anyone thinking about buying or renting a home there.
Business and enterprise customers: this free map shows neighborhood areas. CrimeGrade™ business reports map crime at about 66-meter detail and estimate it for one address and type of business. See business reports
What stands out in Valencia County
Robberies are less common than in most B-graded counties. Valencia County has 0.24 robberies a year per 1,000 residents; for the typical resident of a B-graded US county, the figure is 0.77.
Car thefts happen at homes far more often than nationally. In Valencia County, 66% of reported car thefts happen at homes, against 33% nationally.
The safest and most dangerous places in Valencia County
Low crime is the norm across Valencia County: 86% of residents live in areas graded A or B, and 6% in areas graded D or F. Grades across Valencia County run from A+ to F; 27% of residents live in areas with less crime than the typical US neighborhood.
86%
A or B 86%C 8%D or F 6%
Share of residents, by the overall CrimeGrade™ of the area they live in.
Cities and towns in Valencia County with at least 1,000 residents. Ranked by overall CrimeGrade™; beside each grade is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer), and the other numbers are residents.
Across the county, the west side has the least crime and the south side the most.
Is crime going up in Valencia County?
Reported crime in Valencia County has fallen since 2019: violent crime is down 41% and property crime down 26%. Murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults went from about 9.9 to 5.8 a year per 1,000 residents (US: 3.7); burglaries, thefts and vehicle thefts from about 26 to 19 (US: 18). Neither changed much from 2023 to 2024.
Violent crime, change since 2019
Property crime, change since 2019
Valencia CountyUnited States
Source: crime reports to the FBI from the police departments across Valencia County. The charts follow crimes per resident.
Data table
Year
Violent, Valencia County
Violent, US
Property, Valencia County
Property, US
2016
-8%
+4%
+34%
+15%
2017
+1%
+4%
+27%
+12%
2018
+2%
+0%
+6%
+4%
2019
+0%
+0%
+0%
+0%
2020
-51%
+4%
-23%
-8%
2021
-43%
+6%
-13%
-10%
2022
-45%
+5%
-6%
-6%
2023
-47%
+2%
-29%
-7%
2024
-41%
-4%
-26%
-15%
Crime rates and types in Valencia County
CrimeGrade™ estimates Valencia County has about 44 reported crimes a year for every 1,000 residents, 17% more than the US as a whole and 30% less than New Mexico.
Overall crime
Violent crime
Property crime
Reported crimes a year, per 1,000 residents. These figures include simple assaults and vandalism, which the FBI's violent and property crime rates leave out.
Assault is the most common crime in Valencia County, about 34% of everything reported, and it also accounts for the largest share of what crime costs here.
Each CrimeGrade™ compares a crime with what it affects: people for assaults and robbery, homes for burglary, parked cars for vehicle theft. Rates count crimes per 1,000 residents.
Select a crime's name to see its map above. CrimeGrade™ business reports map each crime at about 66-meter detail.
Where and when crime happens in Valencia County
These figures come from the reports of the police departments across Valencia County, 2022 to 2024.
In Valencia County, 65% of burglaries hit homes, against 57% nationally. Thefts from cars happen most often at homes: 39% of them, against 34% nationally.
Crime
Most often at
Busiest time
Burglary
Homes (65%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Car theft
Homes (66%)
Morning (6 am to noon)
Theft from cars
Homes (39%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Vandalism
Homes (62%)
Afternoon (noon to 6 pm)
Robbery
Stores and businesses (52%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Aggravated assault
Homes (62%)
Evening (6 pm to midnight)
Shares of the crimes reported to police, 2022 to 2024. Reports with no time recorded are left out of the times.
How Valencia County compares with nearby counties
Valencia County has more crime than 9 of its 10 nearest counties. Torrance County and Cibola County have the least crime nearby.
Nearest first, with each place's distance from Valencia County. Beside each overall CrimeGrade™ is its safety score, from 0 to 1,000 (higher is safer).
Compared with counties of similar size and density, Valencia County has more crime than 97% of them.
Two things set Valencia County apart: it has 5.9 stores and restaurants for every 1,000 residents, against 10.5 nationally, and 21 jobs for every 100 residents, against 45 for the US as a whole. Places like that tend to report less theft; here theft sits near the national middle.
Stores and restaurantsShops and restaurants draw crowds and parked cars. Places with many stores tend to report more theft.5.9 per 1,000 residentsUS: 10.5Lower than for 99% of Americans
JobsJobs draw daytime crowds. Places with many jobs tend to report more theft and robbery.21 for every 100 residentsUS: 45Lower than for 97% of Americans
Walk GradeBestNeighborhood's grade for getting through daily life on foot, traced along real walking routes to shops, schools and parks. Walkable places tend to report more theft. 95% of residents here live in car-dependent areas.F (6 of 100)US: 21Lower than for 94% of Americans
Show all 6
Lit at nightSatellite images show which neighborhoods are lit at night, a sign of busy streets and businesses. Brightly lit places tend to report more theft and vandalism.51% where people liveUS: 78%Lower than for 83% of Americans
Residents in dense blocksBlocks of 10,000 or more people per square mile. Dense neighborhoods tend to report more robbery.4% of residentsUS: 24%Lower than for 82% of Americans
Empty homesSeasonal and vacation homes are left out. Places with many empty homes tend to report more burglary and arson.8.1% of homesUS: 7.1%Higher than for 75% of Americans
These traits tend to go with more or less crime; none of them causes it on its own. Sources: Census job counts and housing figures, OpenStreetMap and Overture business listings, CrimeGrade™ parking estimates, NASA night-light imagery, US Forest Service tree cover, EPA transit data and BestNeighborhood's Walk Grade.
What crime costs Valencia County
Counting police, courts and prisons as well as victims' losses, crime costs Valencia County about $1,899 a year per household, 58% more than the US figure of $1,205.
Cost of crime per resident, per year
Counting the pain and suffering of victims, which comes almost entirely from violent crime, the full cost comes to about $212 million a year, or $2,707 per resident.
How the cost breaks down
Crime
Cost a year
Per resident
Murder
$16 million
$206
Rape
$1.8 million
$24
Robbery
$580,000
$7
Assault
$17 million
$218
Burglary
$3.3 million
$42
Theft
$4.6 million
$59
Vehicle theft
$4.1 million
$52
Arson
$250,000
$3
Vandalism
$4.7 million
$60
Total
$53 million
$671
How CrimeGrade™ works
A CrimeGrade™ shows how much crime an area has compared with the rest of the country, from A+ for the least crime to F for the most. Every neighborhood in the US is graded on the same scale, so a B in Valencia County means the same as a B anywhere else.
CrimeGrade™ starts from the crimes people report to police and measures each kind of crime against what it affects: people for assaults, homes for burglaries, parked cars for car thefts.
The rates on this page count crimes for every 1,000 people who live here, the way police departments report them.
Comparisons with US neighborhoods use the Census Bureau's block groups, small areas of about 1,400 residents, and count the people who live in each. The figures count crimes reported to police; many crimes, shoplifting above all, never are. Behind the grades, CrimeGrade™ tested 21,607 factors from 125 data families. For business owners, paid CrimeGrade™ location reports estimate crime at a single address for each type of business.
Where the numbers come from
Crime reports that police departments file with the FBI
State crime records and city crime data, where they are published
Published research on what crime costs victims and communities
These are estimates of reported crime for whole areas, not a record of what happened on any one street. CrimeGrade™ updates them once a year and provides them free and without guarantee. Check local sources before you rely on them for a decision.
Schools in Valencia County, NM average a SchoolGrade of C: 31% of students test proficient, against 28% projected for schools like them. Overall, they exceed expectations. See schools in Valencia County on SchoolGrade
