Best PlacesBluefield, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bluefield, 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.
Bluefield ranks 27,953rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bluefield
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.
Bluefield's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bluefield ranks high
- Cheap childcare$480 a month, better than 95% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 92% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 90% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
Where Bluefield ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Household income$55,769 median, better than only 20% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bluefield
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bluefield home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $55,769, 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 Bluefield's effective rate of 0.63%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bluefield
Bluefield 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 Bluefield.
Who works in Bluefield, and how
Work in Bluefield centers on retail trade and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 13%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Bluefield
Bluefield has more restaurants and bars per resident than 95% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Bluefield and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bluefield, month by month
Bluefield sees roughly 101 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 66° | 53° | 42° |
| July | 81° | 71° | 62° |
| October | 67° | 55° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Bluefield
The nearest airport, Raleigh County Memorial, is about 39 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 142 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bluefield
Schools across Bluefield average an A−, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Graham IntermediateA+ · 76% proficient
- Bland County ElementaryA · 67% proficient
- Abb's Valley-boissevain ElementaryB− · 43% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tazewell MiddleA+ · 70% proficient
- Graham MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
- Bluefield Middle SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Graham HighA+ · 86% proficient
- Tazewell HighA+ · 81% proficient
- Bland County HighA · 73% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bluefield school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bluefield 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 Bluefield against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bluefield
Is Bluefield a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bluefield ranks 27,953rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, good schools, and heat safety, and lowest on noise and state finances. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bluefield expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $134,188. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $55,769 median income, cost of living beats 31% of towns.
Is Bluefield safe?
Bluefield is safer than 24% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $416 per resident a year.
Compare Bluefield with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bluefield. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bluefield 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.
Bluefield detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bluefield: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bluefield: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bluefield: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bluefield: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bluefield 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.