Best PlacesHardin County, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in Hardin County, 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.
Hardin County ranks 1,408th of 3,144 U.S. counties on the BestNeighborhood index. Summer heat pulls hardest against it, while it scores best on a stable housing market.
The best neighborhoods in Hardin County
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.
The best areas in Hardin County
The parts of Hardin County, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the county.
Lumberton
Local pay stretches further, incomes run higher, and more residents vote.
Kountze
Fewer homes sit empty, though homes cost more.
Sour Lake
More households have young kids and heat risk is lower.
Silsbee
It is noisier and schools score lower.
Scores across Hardin County run from about the 4th to the 84th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Hardin County's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hardin County ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 90% of counties
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 90% of counties
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of counties
- Household income$85,200 median, better than 82% of counties
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 81% of counties
Where Hardin County ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 7% of counties
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 12% of counties
- Short commute30.0 minutes each way, better than only 16% of counties
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 21% of counties
- Low property taxBetter than only 21% of counties
What it costs to buy a home in Hardin County
A household needs to earn about $55,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hardin County home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,200, 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 Hardin County's effective rate of 1.16%, 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 Hardin County
Hardin County's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hardin County.
Who works in Hardin County, and how
Work in Hardin County centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 93%
- Work from home 5%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Hardin County
Hardin County has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most counties. That concentrates in some parts of Hardin County and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Hardin County growing, and who is moving in?
Hardin County has grown about 6% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from the rest of the Beaumont, TX metro.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Hardin County go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Hardin County, month by month
Hardin County sees roughly 116 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 65, with lows near 45. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 65° | 53° | 45° |
| April | 80° | 69° | 61° |
| July | 93° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 84° | 71° | 61° |
Flying in and out of Hardin County
The nearest airport, Jack Brooks Regional, is about 28 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is George Bush Intcntl/Houston, about 68 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hardin County
Schools across Hardin County average a B−, better than 61% of counties.
Top elementary schools
- Lumberton PriA− · 56% proficient
- Sour Lake ElB− · 42% proficient
- Fred ElB− · 42% proficient
Top middle schools
- Henderson MiddleA− · 55% proficient
- Lumberton MiddleA− · 53% proficient
- Warren J HC+ · 38% proficient
Top high schools
- Hardin-jefferson H SA · 69% proficient
- Lumberton H SA− · 62% proficient
- Warren H SB+ · 53% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hardin County school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hardin County 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 Hardin County against the other 3,143 counties.
Who Hardin County suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of counties, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 5% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Hardin County
Is Hardin County a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hardin County ranks 1,408th of 3,144 counties. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low taxes, and tree cover, and lowest on summer heat and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hardin County expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $200,081. The overall cost of living runs about 10% below the national average. Set against a $85,200 median income, cost of living beats 81% of counties.
Is Hardin County safe?
Hardin County is safer than 49% of counties. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $401 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hardin County?
July highs average about 93 degrees, and January highs near 65 with lows near 45. That works out to about 116 pleasant days a year, more than 72% of counties.
What are the best neighborhoods in Hardin County?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Lumberton, Kountze, and Sour Lake. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Compare Hardin County with other counties
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hardin County. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hardin County 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.
Hardin County detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hardin County: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hardin County: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hardin County: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hardin County: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hardin County 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.