Best PlacesBlackburn, AR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blackburn, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Blackburn ranks 37,204th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Blackburn
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Blackburn's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blackburn ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 85% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 84% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 75% of towns
Where Blackburn ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 16% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 16% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 19% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 67 pleasant days a year, better than only 19% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Blackburn
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blackburn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,421, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Blackburn's effective rate of 0.41%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Blackburn
Blackburn runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Blackburn.
Who works in Blackburn, and how
Work in Blackburn centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 78%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Blackburn
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Blackburn.
What the weather is like in Blackburn, month by month
Blackburn sees roughly 67 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 49, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 49° | 37° | 27° |
| April | 72° | 59° | 47° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 74° | 60° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Blackburn
The nearest airport, Northwest Arkansas Ntl, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 242 miles away.
The best schools in and around Blackburn
Schools across Blackburn average a D+, better than 16% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mountainburg Elementary SchoolB · 45% proficient
- Greenland Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- West Fork Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Cedarville Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
- Greenland Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- West Fork Middle SchoolD+ · 24% proficient
Top high schools
- Mountainburg High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- West Fork High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Greenland High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blackburn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blackburn measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Blackburn against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Blackburn
Is Blackburn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blackburn ranks 37,204th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, low property taxes, and state finances, and lowest on cell coverage and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blackburn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $197,639. The overall cost of living runs about 15% below the national average. Set against a $59,421 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is Blackburn safe?
Yes, Blackburn is safer than 75% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $340 per resident a year.
Compare Blackburn with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blackburn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blackburn represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Blackburn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blackburn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blackburn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blackburn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blackburn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blackburn detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.