Best PlacesBlanding, UT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blanding, 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.
Blanding ranks 5,620th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Blanding
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.
Blanding's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blanding ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 178 pleasant days a year, better than 98% of towns
- Short commute14.3 minutes each way, better than 98% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 92% of towns
Where Blanding ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 5% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 14% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 19% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Blanding
A household needs to earn about $79,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blanding home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $74,354; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Blanding's effective rate of 0.50%, 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 Blanding
Blanding runs younger than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Blanding.
Who works in Blanding, and how
Work in Blanding centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 88%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Blanding
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Blanding.
What the weather is like in Blanding, month by month
Blanding sees roughly 178 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, August, and September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 29° | 21° |
| April | 66° | 51° | 37° |
| July | 92° | 77° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 53° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Blanding
The nearest airport, Cortez Municipal, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 238 miles away.
The best schools in and around Blanding
Schools across Blanding average a C+, better than 46% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Monticello SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Blanding SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Seventh Street Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Albert R. Lyman MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- Monticello HighB+ · 57% proficient
- San Juan HighC · 32% proficient
- Dove Creek High SchoolD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blanding school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blanding 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 Blanding against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Blanding
Is Blanding a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blanding ranks 5,620th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, the weather, and short commutes, and lowest on distance from a big city and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blanding expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $315,424. The overall cost of living runs about 11% below the national average. Set against a $74,354 median income, cost of living beats 50% of towns.
Is Blanding safe?
Yes, Blanding is safer than 69% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $338 per resident a year.
Compare Blanding with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blanding. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blanding 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.
Blanding detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blanding: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blanding: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blanding: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blanding: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blanding 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.