Best PlacesBluffton, OH Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bluffton, 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.
Bluffton ranks 4,026th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cheap car insurance by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bluffton
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.
Bluffton's strengths and weaknesses
Where Bluffton ranks high
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 98% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 97% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 95% of towns
- BikingBetter than 93% of towns
- TransitBetter than 93% of towns
Where Bluffton ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 16% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 16% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 24% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 32% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 32% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bluffton
A household needs to earn about $58,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bluffton home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $82,348, 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 Bluffton's effective rate of 0.74%, 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 Bluffton
Bluffton 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 Bluffton.
Who works in Bluffton, and how
Work in Bluffton centers on health care & social 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 82%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 9%
Life in Bluffton
Bluffton has more restaurants and bars per resident than 71% of towns and more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Bluffton and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bluffton, month by month
Bluffton sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 35, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 35° | 28° | 22° |
| April | 62° | 50° | 40° |
| July | 85° | 74° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 54° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Bluffton
The nearest airport, Eugene F Kranz Toledo Express, is about 48 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is John Glenn Columbus International, about 81 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bluffton
Schools across Bluffton average an A, better than 97% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bluffton Elementary SchoolA+ · 86% proficient
- Pandora-gilboa Elementary SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
- Cory-rawson Elementary SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pandora-gilboa Middle SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Bluffton Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
Top high schools
- Bluffton High SchoolA · 77% proficient
- Pandora-gilboa High SchoolA− · 67% proficient
- Cory-rawson High SchoolB · 48% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bluffton school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bluffton 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 Bluffton against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bluffton
Is Bluffton a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bluffton ranks 4,026th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cheap car insurance, good schools, and walkability, and lowest on noise and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bluffton expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $223,211. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $82,348 median income, cost of living beats 64% of towns.
Is Bluffton safe?
Bluffton is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $269 per resident a year.
Compare Bluffton with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bluffton. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bluffton 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.
Bluffton detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bluffton: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bluffton: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bluffton: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bluffton: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bluffton 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.