Best PlacesHardy, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hardy, 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.
Hardy ranks 41,531st of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a stable housing market by a wide margin, and health outcomes rank lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hardy
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.
Hardy's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hardy ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 93% of towns
- Cheap childcare$545 a month, better than 88% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 86% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 81% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 75% of towns
Where Hardy ranks low
- Health outlookBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 16% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hardy
A household needs to earn about $27,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hardy home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,775, 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 Hardy's effective rate of 0.87%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Hardy
Hardy runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hardy.
Who works in Hardy, and how
Work in Hardy centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 9%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Hardy
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hardy.
What the weather is like in Hardy, month by month
Hardy sees roughly 86 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 35° | 27° |
| April | 71° | 57° | 46° |
| July | 86° | 75° | 66° |
| October | 72° | 59° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Hardy
The nearest airport, Tri-State/Milton J Ferguson Field, is about 56 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, about 166 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hardy
Schools across Hardy average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Belfry ElementaryC · 31% proficient
- Matewan Pk8C− · 29% proficient
Top middle schools
- Belfry Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Belfry High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hardy school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hardy 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 Hardy against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hardy
Is Hardy a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hardy ranks 41,531st of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a stable housing market, affordable childcare, and tree cover, and lowest on health outcomes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hardy expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $103,165. The overall cost of living runs about 19% below the national average. Set against a $59,775 median income, cost of living beats 34% of towns.
Is Hardy safe?
Hardy is safer than 48% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $275 per resident a year.
Compare Hardy with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hardy. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hardy 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.
Hardy detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hardy: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hardy: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hardy: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hardy: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hardy 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.