Best PlacesBlue, AZ Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blue, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Blue ranks 41,986th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on quiet by a wide margin, and civic engagement ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Blue
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.
Blue's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blue ranks high
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 168 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 93% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 76% of towns
Where Blue ranks low
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 1% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 2% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 4% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Blue
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blue home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $51,250; 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 Blue's effective rate of 0.24%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Blue
Blue 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 Blue.
Who works in Blue, and how
Work in Blue centers on mining & oil & gas and health care & social. Unemployment runs well above the national rate.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Blue
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Blue.
What the weather is like in Blue, month by month
Blue sees roughly 168 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 34° | 17° |
| April | 73° | 55° | 35° |
| July | 93° | 77° | 60° |
| October | 75° | 56° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Blue
The nearest airport, Show Low Regional, is about 67 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Phoenix Sky Harbor International, about 165 miles away.
The best schools in and around Blue
Schools across Blue average a B−, better than 56% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Alpine Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Metcalf Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- Pima Elementary SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fairbanks Middle SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Pima Junior High SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Canyon Day Junior High SchoolF · 5% proficient
Top high schools
- Morenci High SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Round Valley High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Alchesay High SchoolF · 4% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blue school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blue 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 Blue against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Blue
Is Blue a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blue ranks 41,986th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on quiet, low property taxes, and the weather, and lowest on civic engagement and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blue expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $228,500. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $51,250 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Blue safe?
Blue is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $632 per resident a year.
Compare Blue with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blue. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blue 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.
Blue detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blue: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blue: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blue: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blue: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blue 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.