Best PlacesHardenville, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hardenville, 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.
Hardenville ranks 43,331st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hardenville
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.
Hardenville's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hardenville ranks high
- Cheap childcare$326 a month, better than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 85% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than 79% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
Where Hardenville ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 2% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 14% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 16% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hardenville
A household needs to earn about $37,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hardenville home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $58,669, 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 Hardenville's effective rate of 0.41%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hardenville
Hardenville 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 Hardenville.
Who works in Hardenville, and how
Work in Hardenville centers on education and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Hardenville
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hardenville.
What the weather is like in Hardenville, month by month
Hardenville sees roughly 78 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 47, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 47° | 37° | 29° |
| April | 71° | 59° | 48° |
| July | 90° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Hardenville
The nearest airport, Branson, is about 43 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Memphis International, about 177 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hardenville
Schools across Hardenville average a B, better than 65% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Gainesville Elem.B · 48% proficient
Top high schools
- Gainesville HighB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hardenville school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hardenville 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 Hardenville against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hardenville
Is Hardenville a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hardenville ranks 43,331st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, low property taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on health outcomes and crime. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hardenville expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $149,914. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $58,669 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Hardenville safe?
Hardenville is safer than 5% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $809 per resident a year.
Compare Hardenville with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hardenville. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hardenville 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.
Hardenville detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hardenville: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hardenville: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hardenville: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hardenville: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hardenville 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.