If you're looking into Peralta real estate, know that it is a pretty small town. When we say that Peralta is a small town, we mean very small town. It may have a larger population than Estancia, but it's much more spread out, with far fewer of the amenities you may be looking for. At 55% more than half of the people in Peralta are over 40 years of age. Rental properties in the area typically go for under $600 a month, so the town is not totally inaccessible to people below a certain income level, but Peralta is primarily home to people who have sort of established themselves and settled down. For people who are looking for plenty of open air and a little peace and quiet, Peralta is perfect, but it's easy to see why there aren't a lot of young people here, with adults aged under 25 years making up only 8% of the population.
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With 36% of people in Peralta not in the labor force, there is a strong representation of retirees in the town, but 58% of Peraltans are still working for a living. There are some jobs in the area, and 6%, or 101 people total, walk of ride a bicycle to work. Another 10% work from home, and 73% drive to work. Many of those in the latter group drive to nearby towns or into Albuquerque, preferring the quiet life of Peralta in their downtime while doing their 9-to-5 in the city.
The big industries in Peralta are education and health, at 24% of all area jobs, and retail and wholesale, at 14%. Another 11% goes to construction, 19% to various professional fields and jobs simply listed as "others," and 10% to public administration.
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The town isn't as inexpensive as Estancia, but there are plenty of homes available for well under $200,000. The main reason the homes here are pricier than in some neighboring towns is that they tend to be quite large and spacious. There are some modest pre-fab homes, trailers and small one and two room houses in the area, but the median home size is 2,262, with many ranch-style villas and buildings dating back to the mid 20th Century and earlier, and most of the homes here come with quite a bit of land.
Farm and ranch style homes are the norm here. A typical Peraltan home is going to be rather spacious, perhaps with some livestock grazing here and there or a chicken coop out back. Homesteading is quite popular in Peralta. Even the trailers and prefabs tend to have their own unique look, with owners building additional rooms or protecting the walls with real wood siding, or even stacking bricks or logs around modest little trailer homes.
In Belen, another spacious, scenic town in the ABQ metropolitan area, the median home size is 1,790. In Thoreau, NM, the median home size is 2,064, but the median list price is around half of Peralta's, at $169,900. Peralta hits the state median for home pricing, but is a bit above average when it comes to how big these homes are.
The town is known as the site of the Battle of Peralta. A minor skirmish of the Civil War, the clash took place in 1862 when Confederate General Henry Hopkins Sibley was retreating after the Battle of Glorieta Pass, and Colonel Edward Canby's Union Army forces had caught up with the Grays. The armies engaged in a brief battle before a dust storm created a smokescreen allowing the Confederates to flee to Los Lunas. This battle may have been a footnote in the Civil War, but served as the basis for a similar battle scene in The Good The Bad And The Ugly.
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The short answer to what Peraltans do for fun: They drive to Albuquerque. A more comprehensive answer would be that people who love nature will find more than enough to keep themselves busy in Peralta. The town shares a lot of great hiking, biking and horse-riding trails with nearby Los Lunas, as well as plenty of great campout locations and natural scenery that's great to take in even if you're just taking a walk down the road.
In particular, you'll want to take the family down to Riverside Park, a 1.2 mile trail going right through the Rio Grande Bosque. Los Lunas also hosts a Fishing Derby every year at the River Park. The event is free and usually held in March.
Peralta isn't an typically considered an exciting town, but not everyone needs to be surrounded by excitement. For some of us, a spacious home in the hills is all we need to feel content. Peralta isn't for everyone, and people who move here either love it and never want to live anywhere else, or they want to move away to anywhere else as soon as possible. Our advice: Take a week-long trip at a hotel in nearby Los Lunas and see what you think.
