Best PlacesCedar Bluff, VA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Cedar 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.
Cedar Bluff ranks 28,515th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and low incomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Cedar 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.
Cedar Bluff's strengths and weaknesses
Where Cedar Bluff ranks high
- Cheap childcare$489 a month, better than 93% of towns
- School gradeA, better than 92% of towns
- TransitBetter than 88% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than 83% of towns
Where Cedar Bluff ranks low
- Household income$51,685 median, better than only 14% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 14% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 16% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than only 19% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Cedar Bluff
A household needs to earn about $36,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Cedar Bluff home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $51,685, 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 Cedar Bluff's effective rate of 0.57%, 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 Cedar Bluff
Cedar Bluff runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Cedar Bluff.
Who works in Cedar Bluff, and how
Work in Cedar Bluff centers on retail trade and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Cedar Bluff
Cedar Bluff has more restaurants and bars per resident than 76% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Cedar Bluff and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Cedar Bluff, month by month
Cedar Bluff sees roughly 113 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 81 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 28. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 34° | 28° |
| April | 63° | 52° | 44° |
| July | 81° | 72° | 64° |
| October | 66° | 57° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Cedar Bluff
The nearest airport, Tri-Cities, is about 53 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Charlotte/Douglas International, about 135 miles away.
The best schools in and around Cedar Bluff
Schools across Cedar Bluff average an A, better than 92% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Belfast ElementaryA+ · 83% proficient
- Richlands ElementaryA+ · 74% proficient
- Cedar Bluff ElementaryA · 68% proficient
Top middle schools
- Tazewell MiddleA+ · 70% proficient
- Glade Spring MiddleA+ · 68% proficient
- Richlands MiddleA · 65% proficient
Top high schools
- Tazewell HighA+ · 81% proficient
- Richlands HighA · 72% proficient
- Patrick Henry HighA · 70% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Cedar Bluff school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Cedar 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 Cedar Bluff against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Cedar Bluff
Is Cedar Bluff a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Cedar Bluff ranks 28,515th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, good schools, and transit, and lowest on low incomes and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Cedar Bluff expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $141,640. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $51,685 median income, cost of living beats 19% of towns.
Is Cedar Bluff safe?
Cedar Bluff is safer than 39% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $356 per resident a year.
Compare Cedar Bluff with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Cedar Bluff. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Cedar 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.
Cedar Bluff detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Cedar Bluff: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Cedar Bluff: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Cedar Bluff: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Cedar Bluff: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Cedar 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.