Best PlacesHardin, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hardin, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hardin ranks 37,982nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low taxes by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hardin
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.
Hardin's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hardin ranks high
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 122 pleasant days a year, better than 81% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 81% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 77% of towns
Where Hardin ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 3% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 5% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 8% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 10% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hardin
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hardin home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $61,517, 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's effective rate of 1.22%, 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 5 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
Hardin runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hardin.
Who works in Hardin, and how
Work in Hardin centers on arts & entertainment and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 72%
- Work from home 25%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hardin
The coast is about 47 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Hardin, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hardin, month by month
Hardin sees roughly 122 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
George Bush Intcntl/Houston sits about 38 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 23.3 million passengers in 2025, with 214 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hardin
Schools across Hardin average a B−, better than 58% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hardin ElB− · 41% proficient
- Hull-daisetta ElF · 9% proficient
Top middle schools
- Hardin J HC+ · 36% proficient
- Hull-daisetta J HC · 34% proficient
Top high schools
- Hardin H SB+ · 58% proficient
- Hull-daisetta H SC− · 30% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hardin school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hardin 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 against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hardin
Is Hardin a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hardin ranks 37,982nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low taxes, big-city access, and the weather, and lowest on air quality 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 expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $177,542. The overall cost of living runs about 14% below the national average. Set against a $61,517 median income, cost of living beats 33% of towns.
Is Hardin safe?
Hardin is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $395 per resident a year.
Compare Hardin with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hardin. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hardin 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 detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hardin: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hardin: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hardin: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hardin: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hardin 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.