Best PlacesSouth Cottonwood Acres, Murray, UT Best Neighborhoods

2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026

Every neighborhood in and around South Cottonwood Acres, Murray, 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.

See the map of best neighborhoods

South Cottonwood Acres, Murray ranks 1,003rd of 5,983 U.S. neighborhoods on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on fast internet by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.

#1,003
of 5,983 neighborhoods
BestNeighborhood rank
Defaults weight crime safety, affordability, schools, and weather highest: the things hardest to change after a move
N/A
of 5,983 neighborhoods
Your rank
Set your priorities to see your rank

The best neighborhoods in South Cottonwood Acres, Murray

Map of the best neighborhoods in the South Cottonwood Acres, Murray area, with better matches in green and worse matches in red
Click the map to explore
National median
Worse match Better match
Colorblind friendly off
Popular priorities:

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.

South Cottonwood Acres, Murray's strengths and weaknesses

Top 3%Fast internet
Top 10%Low property taxes
Top 10%Low crime
Each measure against the national median. Bars to the right beat the median; bars to the left fall short. Percentiles compare South Cottonwood Acres, Murray with other neighborhoods.

Where South Cottonwood Acres, Murray ranks high

  • Internet speedBetter than 99% of neighborhoods
  • Low property taxBetter than 94% of neighborhoods
  • Crime safetyBetter than 90% of neighborhoods
  • State infrastructureBetter than 85% of neighborhoods
  • Local economyBetter than 82% of neighborhoods

Where South Cottonwood Acres, Murray ranks low

  • Disaster safetyBetter than only 23% of neighborhoods
  • Air qualityBetter than only 27% of neighborhoods
  • Tree shadeBetter than only 34% of neighborhoods
  • Big-city accessBetter than only 40% of neighborhoods
  • QuietBetter than only 48% of neighborhoods

What it costs to buy a home in South Cottonwood Acres, Murray

A household needs to earn about $147,000 a year to comfortably buy the median South Cottonwood Acres, Murray home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $104,209, so buying stretches a typical household.

Income to buy the median home
$147,000
a year, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate
Estimated monthly payment
$3,438
principal, interest, tax, and insurance on a $589,870 home
Median rent
$1,641
a month, across all home sizes

Where the monthly payment goes

Principal & interest$3,008
Property tax$234
Homeowners insurance$197

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 South Cottonwood Acres, Murray's effective rate of 0.48%, 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.

Cumulative cost of renting versus owning the median home, first 10 years. Illustrative estimate.

Who lives in South Cottonwood Acres, Murray

South Cottonwood Acres, Murray's age mix sits close to the national median.

Median age
40
about the U.S. median of 41
Residents 65 and older
20%
versus 18% nationally
Average household
2.6
near the U.S. average of 2.6

Residents by age

Under 1821%
18 to 3422%
35 to 4919%
50 to 6418%
65 and older20%

Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for South Cottonwood Acres, Murray.


Who works in South Cottonwood Acres, Murray, and how

Work in South Cottonwood Acres, Murray centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.

Work from home
22%
above the national average
Unemployment
2.7%
below the national average
Job growth
+1.5%
/y 2019-2023, slower than the national pace

Largest industries

Health care & social12%
Education12%
Professional & technical11%
Manufacturing11%
Retail trade8%

How people get to work

  • Drive or carpool 73%
  • Work from home 22%
  • Transit, walk, or bike 5%

Life in South Cottonwood Acres, Murray

The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across South Cottonwood Acres, Murray.


What the weather is like in South Cottonwood Acres, Murray, month by month

South Cottonwood Acres, Murray sees roughly 131 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 25. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and September.

Average daily high, mean, and low in degrees Fahrenheit, NOAA station data 2016 to 2025.
Show the monthly temperatures
MonthAvg highAvgAvg low
January39°31°25°
April62°50°40°
July94°81°68°
October64°52°42°

Flying in and out of South Cottonwood Acres, Murray

Salt Lake City International sits about 12 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 13.4 million passengers in 2025, with 154 nonstop destinations.

Nearest airport
SLC
Salt Lake City International, about 12 miles
Airport size
Large hub
23rd-busiest in the US, 154 nonstop destinations
Average drive
17 min
from the area, with no traffic

The best schools in and around South Cottonwood Acres, Murray

Schools across South Cottonwood Acres, Murray average a C+, better than 52% of neighborhoods.

Top elementary schools

Top middle schools

Top high schools

Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every South Cottonwood Acres, Murray school and its grade on SchoolGrade.


South Cottonwood Acres, Murray 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 South Cottonwood Acres, Murray against the other 5,982 neighborhoods.


Common questions about living in South Cottonwood Acres, Murray

Is South Cottonwood Acres, Murray a good place to live?

Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, South Cottonwood Acres, Murray ranks 1,003rd of 5,983 neighborhoods. It scores highest on fast internet, low property taxes, and low crime, and lowest on disaster risk and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.

Is South Cottonwood Acres, Murray expensive to live in?

The median home is worth $589,870. The overall cost of living runs about 2% above the national average. Set against a $104,209 median income, cost of living beats 74% of neighborhoods.

Is South Cottonwood Acres, Murray safe?

Yes, South Cottonwood Acres, Murray is safer than 90% of neighborhoods. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $307 per resident a year.


Compare South Cottonwood Acres, Murray with other neighborhoods


Sources and methodology

Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to South Cottonwood Acres, Murray. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in South Cottonwood Acres, Murray 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.

South Cottonwood Acres, Murray detail on BestNeighborhood maps:

  1. Walk Grade for South Cottonwood Acres, Murray: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
  2. Noise in South Cottonwood Acres, Murray: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
  3. Conservative vs liberal map of South Cottonwood Acres, Murray: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
  4. Mobile and cell coverage in South Cottonwood Acres, Murray: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.

South Cottonwood Acres, Murray detail on related sites:

  1. CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
  2. ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
  3. CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.

Federal and public data:

  1. 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.
  2. NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
  3. FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
  4. Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
  5. FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
  6. U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
  7. FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
  8. CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
  9. National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
  10. FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
  11. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
  12. Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.