Best PlacesHarding, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harding, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Harding ranks 400th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low crime by a wide margin, and childcare costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Harding
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.
Harding's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harding ranks high
- Crime safetyBetter than 99% of towns
- Household income$175,177 median, better than 99% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 98% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 97% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 96% of towns
Where Harding ranks low
- Cheap childcare$2,328 a month, better than only 1% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 59 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 8% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than only 19% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harding
A household needs to earn about $216,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harding home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $175,177, so buying stretches a typical household.
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 Harding's effective rate of 1.61%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Harding
Harding runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Harding.
Who works in Harding, and how
Work in Harding centers on hospitality & food and finance & insurance. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 75%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Harding
The coast is about 37 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Harding, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Harding, month by month
Harding sees roughly 59 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs May through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 32° | 22° |
| April | 63° | 50° | 38° |
| July | 88° | 75° | 62° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 42° |
Flying in and out of Harding
General Edward Lawrence Logan International sits about 21 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 21.1 million passengers in 2025, with 199 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Harding
Schools across Harding average an A−, better than 90% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- ChickeringA+ · 74% proficient
- Ralph Wheelock SchoolA · 63% proficient
- Pine HillA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Dover-sherborn Regional Middle SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Thomas Blake MiddleA · 66% proficient
- Millis MiddleB+ · 47% proficient
Top high schools
- Dover-sherborn Regional HighA+ · 94% proficient
- Millis High SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Medfield Senior HighA+ · 83% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harding school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harding 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 Harding against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harding
Is Harding a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harding ranks 400th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low crime, high incomes, and health care access, and lowest on childcare costs and the weather. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harding expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $743,479. The overall cost of living runs about 25% above the national average. Set against a $175,177 median income, cost of living beats 97% of towns.
Is Harding safe?
Yes, Harding is safer than 100% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $100 per resident a year.
Compare Harding with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harding. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harding 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.
Harding detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harding: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harding: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harding: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harding: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harding 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.