Best PlacesHalf Mound, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Half Mound, 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.
Half Mound ranks 26,800th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and internet speeds rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Half Mound
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.
Half Mound's strengths and weaknesses
Where Half Mound ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- QuietBetter than 80% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 69% of towns
- Cheap childcare$692 a month, better than 67% of towns
Where Half Mound ranks low
- Internet speedBetter than only 8% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 10% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 18% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Half Mound
A household needs to earn about $41,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Half Mound home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $69,416, 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 Half Mound's effective rate of 1.25%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Half Mound
Half Mound 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 Half Mound.
Who works in Half Mound, and how
Work in Half Mound centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 89%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Half Mound
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Half Mound.
What the weather is like in Half Mound, month by month
Half Mound sees roughly 88 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 20. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 30° | 20° |
| April | 71° | 56° | 43° |
| July | 92° | 80° | 68° |
| October | 74° | 58° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Half Mound
Kansas City International sits about 42 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 5.7 million passengers in 2025, with 104 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Half Mound
Schools across Half Mound average a C−, better than 20% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Atchison County Community Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Holton Elementary SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Valley Falls ElemD+ · 22% proficient
Top middle schools
- Holton MiddleC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Holton HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Atchison County Community Jr/sr HighD− · 17% proficient
- Valley Falls HighD− · 14% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Half Mound school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Half Mound 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 Half Mound against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Half Mound
Is Half Mound a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Half Mound ranks 26,800th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low crime, and quiet, and lowest on internet speeds and biking. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Half Mound expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $148,043. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $69,416 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Half Mound safe?
Yes, Half Mound is safer than 91% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $189 per resident a year.
Compare Half Mound with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Half Mound. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Half Mound 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.
Half Mound detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Half Mound: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Half Mound: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Half Mound: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Half Mound: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Half Mound 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.