Best PlacesHardesty, OK Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hardesty, 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.
Hardesty ranks 45,638th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hardesty
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.
Hardesty's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hardesty ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 98% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 94% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 90% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 89% of towns
- QuietBetter than 85% of towns
Where Hardesty ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 1% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Short commute41.0 minutes each way, better than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hardesty
A household needs to earn about $33,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hardesty home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,897, 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 Hardesty's effective rate of 0.69%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hardesty
Hardesty runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hardesty.
Who works in Hardesty, and how
Work in Hardesty centers on retail trade and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Hardesty
Hardesty has more restaurants and bars per resident than 98% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Hardesty and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hardesty, month by month
Hardesty sees roughly 128 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 96 degrees. January highs sit near 52, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 52° | 35° | 22° |
| April | 75° | 57° | 42° |
| July | 96° | 80° | 67° |
| October | 77° | 58° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Hardesty
The nearest airport, Liberal Mid-America Regional, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Denver International, about 293 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hardesty
Schools across Hardesty average a D, better than 8% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hooker EsD+ · 21% proficient
- Hardesty EsD · 16% proficient
Top middle schools
- North Park EsC− · 27% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hardesty school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hardesty 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 Hardesty against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hardesty
Is Hardesty a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hardesty ranks 45,638th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, clean air, and population health, and lowest on crime and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hardesty expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $129,500. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $54,897 median income, cost of living beats 15% of towns.
Is Hardesty safe?
Hardesty is safer than 1% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,316 per resident a year.
Compare Hardesty with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hardesty. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hardesty 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.
Hardesty detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hardesty: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hardesty: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hardesty: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hardesty: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hardesty 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.