Best PlacesHarg, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Harg, 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.
Harg ranks 19,005th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on what local pay buys by a wide margin, and air quality ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Harg
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.
Harg's strengths and weaknesses
Where Harg ranks high
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 91% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap childcare$520 a month, better than 90% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than 85% of towns
- Household income$97,458 median, better than 83% of towns
Where Harg ranks low
- Air qualityBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 9% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 65 pleasant days a year, better than only 17% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 24% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Harg
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Harg home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $97,458, 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 Harg's effective rate of 0.87%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Harg
Harg's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Harg.
Who works in Harg, and how
Work in Harg 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 92%
- Work from home 6%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Harg
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Harg.
What the weather is like in Harg, month by month
Harg sees roughly 65 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 43, with lows near 22. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 43° | 31° | 22° |
| April | 71° | 56° | 44° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 73° | 58° | 46° |
Flying in and out of Harg
The nearest airport, Columbia Regional, is about 11 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is St Louis Lambert International, about 99 miles away.
The best schools in and around Harg
Schools across Harg average a D+, better than 9% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Cedar Ridge Elem.C · 32% proficient
- Eliot Battle ElementaryD · 18% proficient
Top middle schools
- Oakland Middle SchoolD · 22% proficient
- John B. Lange MiddleD− · 17% proficient
Top high schools
- Muriel W. Battle High SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Harg school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Harg 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 Harg against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Harg
Is Harg a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Harg ranks 19,005th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on what local pay buys, population health, and affordable childcare, and lowest on air quality and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Harg expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $286,295. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $97,458 median income, cost of living beats 91% of towns.
Is Harg safe?
Yes, Harg is safer than 64% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $299 per resident a year.
Compare Harg with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Harg. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Harg 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.
Harg detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Harg: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Harg: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Harg: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Harg: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Harg 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.