Best PlacesBlandford, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blandford, 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.
Blandford ranks 16,281st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Blandford
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.
Blandford's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blandford ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 92% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 88% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 87% of towns
Where Blandford ranks low
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- Short commute37.2 minutes each way, better than only 9% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 14% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Blandford
A household needs to earn about $85,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blandford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $97,618, 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 Blandford's effective rate of 1.08%, 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 Blandford
Blandford runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Blandford.
Who works in Blandford, and how
Work in Blandford centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Blandford
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Blandford.
What the weather is like in Blandford, month by month
Blandford sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 28° | 18° |
| April | 63° | 48° | 36° |
| July | 88° | 74° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Blandford
Bradley International sits about 21 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.3 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Blandford
Schools across Blandford average a B−, better than 61% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hartland SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Live Oaks SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Calf Pen Meadow SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Harborside Middle SchoolA− · 54% proficient
- East Shore Middle SchoolB+ · 51% proficient
- Gateway Regional Middle SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top high schools
- Joseph A. Foran High SchoolB+ · 58% proficient
- Gateway Regional HighB+ · 55% proficient
- Jonathan Law High SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blandford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blandford 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 Blandford against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Blandford
Is Blandford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blandford ranks 16,281st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, tree cover, and big-city access, and lowest on childcare costs and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blandford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $314,971. The overall cost of living runs about 6% above the national average. Set against a $97,618 median income, cost of living beats 69% of towns.
Is Blandford safe?
Yes, Blandford is safer than 96% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $146 per resident a year.
Compare Blandford with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blandford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blandford 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.
Blandford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blandford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blandford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blandford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blandford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blandford 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.