Best PlacesBluff, UT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bluff, 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.
Bluff ranks 46,582nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low disaster risk by a wide margin, and the cost of living against local pay is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bluff
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.
Bluff's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bluff ranks high
- Disaster safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 98% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 162 pleasant days a year, better than 95% of towns
Where Bluff ranks low
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 3% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 7% of towns
- Household income$45,326 median, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bluff
A household needs to earn about $32,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bluff home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $45,326, 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 Bluff's effective rate of 0.14%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Bluff
Bluff runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, 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 Bluff.
Who works in Bluff, and how
Work in Bluff centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Bluff
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Bluff.
What the weather is like in Bluff, month by month
Bluff sees roughly 162 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 Bluff
The nearest airport, Cortez Municipal, is about 51 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 221 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bluff
Schools across Bluff average a D, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Blanding SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Red Mesa Elementary SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
Top middle schools
- Albert R. Lyman MiddleB− · 42% proficient
Top high schools
- San Juan HighC · 32% proficient
- Red Mesa High SchoolF · 10% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bluff school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bluff 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 Bluff against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bluff
Is Bluff a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bluff ranks 46,582nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low disaster risk, low property taxes, and heat safety, and lowest on the cost of living against local pay and thin health care access. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bluff expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $133,377. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $45,326 median income, cost of living beats 3% of towns.
Is Bluff safe?
Bluff is safer than 13% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $614 per resident a year.
Compare Bluff with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bluff. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bluff 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.
Bluff detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bluff: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bluff: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bluff: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bluff: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bluff 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.