Best PlacesBlum, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Blum, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Blum ranks 32,144th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on the weather by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Blum
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.
Blum's strengths and weaknesses
Where Blum ranks high
- Nice weatherabout 167 pleasant days a year, better than 96% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 83% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
- Cheap childcare$653 a month, better than 72% of towns
Where Blum ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Short commute40.6 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 15% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Blum
A household needs to earn about $57,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Blum home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $71,521, 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 Blum's effective rate of 1.24%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Blum
Blum runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Blum.
Who works in Blum, and how
Work in Blum centers on manufacturing and construction. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 81%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 10%
Life in Blum
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Blum.
What the weather is like in Blum, month by month
Blum sees roughly 167 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 58, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 58° | 46° | 37° |
| April | 76° | 65° | 56° |
| July | 96° | 85° | 75° |
| October | 80° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Blum
The nearest airport, Waco Regional, is about 38 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Dallas-Fort Worth International, about 57 miles away.
The best schools in and around Blum
Schools across Blum average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gerard ElB · 45% proficient
- Whitney IntB− · 40% proficient
- Rio Vista ElC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Whitney MiddleC · 34% proficient
- Lowell Smith Jr MiddleC · 31% proficient
- Rio Vista MiddleD · 22% proficient
Top high schools
- Rio Vista H SB · 50% proficient
- Cleburne H SB · 46% proficient
- Whitney H SB− · 43% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Blum school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Blum 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 Blum against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Blum
Is Blum a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Blum ranks 32,144th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on the weather, low taxes, and big-city access, and lowest on summer heat and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Blum expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $206,038. The overall cost of living runs about 8% below the national average. Set against a $71,521 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Blum safe?
Blum is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $392 per resident a year.
Compare Blum with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Blum. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Blum 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.
Blum detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Blum: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Blum: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Blum: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Blum: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Blum 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.