Best PlacesBlue John, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blue John, 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 John ranks 46,692nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Blue John
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 John's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blue John ranks high
- Cheap childcare$476 a month, better than 95% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 74% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 74% of towns
Where Blue John ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 1% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than only 10% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 12% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Blue John
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blue John home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $50,936, 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 Blue John's effective rate of 0.52%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Blue John
Blue John runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Blue John.
Who works in Blue John, and how
Work in Blue John centers on retail trade and other services. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 98%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Blue John
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Blue John.
What the weather is like in Blue John, month by month
Blue John sees roughly 79 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 87 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 36° | 29° |
| April | 69° | 56° | 46° |
| July | 87° | 76° | 67° |
| October | 71° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Blue John
The nearest airport, Blue Grass, is about 76 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 134 miles away.
The best schools in and around Blue John
Schools across Blue John average a C, better than 39% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Burnside Elementary SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Whitley City Elementary SchoolD · 19% proficient
Top middle schools
- Southern Middle SchoolC+ · 39% proficient
- Mccreary County Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Southwestern High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Somerset High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Mccreary Central High SchoolD · 18% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blue John school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blue John 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 John against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Blue John
Is Blue John a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blue John ranks 46,692nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, tree cover, and fast internet, and lowest on health outcomes and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blue John expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $161,499. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $50,936 median income, cost of living beats 14% of towns.
Is Blue John safe?
Blue John is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $459 per resident a year.
Compare Blue John with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blue John. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blue John 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 John detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blue John: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blue John: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blue John: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blue John: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blue John 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.