Rio Rancho has been named by Business Week magazine as the state of New Mexico's best place to raise kids in 2009. For Business Week's second annual list of best places to raise kids they teamed with New York based real estate provider OnBoard Informatics to select a community from every state. Communities with 50,000 residents and a median family income between 440,000 and $100,000 were used as a starting point to create this year's list.

The list was then narrowed using weighted criteria such as school performance, number of schools, household expenditures, crimes rates, air quality, job growth, family income, museums, parks, theaters, diversity, and other amenities. School performance and public safety were weighted the most heavily when assessing a community followed by amenities and affordability.

This past April, Rio Rancho was recognized by Fortune Small Business magazine as one of the best places to live and launch a business in the United States. In addition in 2005 and 2006 the city was listed by Money Magazine as one of the best 100 places to live in America.