El Paso Move GuideWhere it is
The Upper Valley follows the Rio Grande northwest of the city along Doniphan Drive, from where the West Side hill flattens out near Sunland Park Drive to the New Mexico line at Canutillo. Country Club Road, Artcraft Road and Borderland Road cross it; I-10 runs along its upper edge. Parts are inside the El Paso city limits and parts are unincorporated county, which changes who supplies your water and who approves your septic system. Measurements below start at Doniphan and Country Club Road.
What the housing looks like
It looks unlike the rest of El Paso: cottonwood-lined lanes, irrigation canals with their ditch roads, horse properties, and parcels that range from a fraction of an acre to several acres. Houses come from every decade since the 1940s, from adobe and territorial-style originals through 1970s ranch homes to a steady trickle of new custom builds, with a few planned subdivisions such as the lake communities off Country Club. Homeowners associations exist only in those newer enclaves; most of the valley has none. Outbuildings, wells, barns and second dwellings on one parcel are common, and each of them is a question for the title company and the appraiser.
Prices. Land drives price here, not square footage, so two homes with the same floor plan can be far apart. Ask us for a dated MLS snapshot by parcel size, or run the home-value report if you own here and tell us about the acreage and water rights so the number is right.
The drive
By Doniphan and I-10 the valley is closer to Downtown and UTEP than most of the city: 15 and 16 minutes. Fort Bliss is the longest run of any area in this series, 28 minutes to the Pena Gate and 22 to the nearest at Pershing. The East Side and the airport are across the whole city.
| Destination | Miles | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Downtown El Paso (San Jacinto Plaza) | 10.3 mi | 15 min |
| Nearest Fort Bliss gate — Pershing Gate | 14.9 mi | 22 min |
| MSgt. Pena Gate, Fort Bliss (East Bliss) | 19.7 mi | 28 min |
| El Paso International Airport | 23.7 mi | 37 min |
| UTEP | 8.7 mi | 16 min |
| Medical Center of the Americas | 14.4 mi | 22 min |
| Cielo Vista Mall / The Fountains | 17.7 mi | 26 min |
Everyday
- Retail. Grocery and services along Doniphan and at Sunland Park Drive; the full Mesa Street corridor a few minutes up the hill; Canutillo's small commercial strip at the north end.
- Hospitals. The Hospitals of Providence Transmountain Campus is the closest full hospital; Providence Memorial and University Medical Center are 22 minutes toward Downtown.
- Parks and trails. Keystone Heritage Park and the El Paso Desert Botanical Garden on Doniphan, the river levee trail, and the ditch roads themselves, which many people walk and ride.
- Schools. Canutillo ISD serves the northern valley and El Paso ISD the southern end; the line between them runs through the valley, so check the exact parcel.
New construction here
New homes in the Upper Valley are almost all custom builds on individual lots, plus the occasional small subdivision off Country Club or Artcraft. There is no production inventory to list, so the way in is a lot plus a builder. We can pull current lots and land, and the builders page covers how a construction loan differs from a purchase loan.
Rent or buy here
There is very little to rent in the Upper Valley, and what there is tends to be a house on acreage that the owner wants kept occupied rather than a priced-to-market rental, so the rent-versus-buy comparison is mostly theoretical. What is real is the carrying cost of land: irrigation assessments, well and septic maintenance, fencing and grounds on an acre or more add up to a second line under the mortgage. Buyers who want the trees and the room and plan to stay a long time do well here; the valley does not turn over quickly and is not a place to buy for a two-year hold. Sellers should start with the home-value report and be ready to document water rights, because they move the number.
Verify before you decide
None of this is a substitute for checking the specific address. For any home here, pull these yourself or ask us to pull them with you:
- Water: whether the parcel is on El Paso Water or a private well, and if a well, its permit, depth, recent flow test and water-quality test.
- Sewer: city sewer or an on-site septic system. For septic, the TCEQ on-site sewage (septic) rules apply through El Paso County environmental permitting; get the permit, the as-built and a pumping inspection.
- Irrigation: whether the parcel has water rights and pays an assessment to the El Paso County Water Improvement District No. 1, and where the ditch right of way crosses the lot.
- FEMA flood map for the parcel, and the lender's flood-zone determination once you are under contract. Much of the valley floor is a mapped flood zone behind the river levees, which sets flood-insurance cost.
- the existing survey and the title commitment, read for easements, irrigation-ditch rights of way and utility lines.
- The current tax bill and every taxing entity on it at El Paso Central Appraisal District, including any municipal utility district, public improvement district or emergency services district that adds to the rate. Ask specifically about an agricultural valuation and what happens to it on transfer.
- The attendance zone for the exact address, using the district's own lookup: Canutillo ISD, El Paso ISD. Zones change block to block and are redrawn; do not rely on a listing remark or on this post. The TEA school district locator shows which district a parcel sits in.
- On older homes: roof age and material, the sewer line (a camera inspection is cheap here), galvanized or polybutylene supply lines, the electrical panel, evaporative-cooler versus refrigerated-air, and any foundation movement in the desert clay.
Drive times are typical no-traffic estimates produced by a routing engine from the centre point named in the table and will differ from your actual commute. Inventory counts and prices shown in live blocks come from our listings feed at the moment the page loads and are subject to change without notice. School districts, utility providers, hospitals and retail are named as facts about the area, not as endorsements, and every one of them should be confirmed for a specific address. Nothing here is financing, legal, tax or investment advice. All information is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. El Paso Move Guide is committed to equal housing opportunity.