Best PlacesHartford, CT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Hartford metro, 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.
Photo by Tichnor Brothers, Publisher, via commons
Hartford ranks 32nd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. Paychecks stretch further here than almost anywhere else: the median household brings in $106,989, everyday costs sit below the national average, and an educated workforce ranks near the top of the country. The main drawbacks are state finances, property taxes, and childcare costs.
The best neighborhoods in the Hartford metro
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.
Hartford's strengths and weaknesses
Hartford ranks where it does because the parts of life that are hardest to change mostly work here. Civic engagement is the standout, in the top 1% of metro areas. Fast internet and what local pay buys follow.
The one real hole is state finances, near the bottom of the country. Property taxes and childcare costs also cost it ground. The measures below break that down, and the map shows how much of it holds street by street.
Where Hartford ranks high
- Voter turnoutBetter than 99% of metro areas
- Internet speedBetter than 97% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 95% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 95% of metro areas
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of metro areas
Where Hartford ranks low
- State fiscal healthBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$1,460 a month, better than only 7% of metro areas
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 7% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 19% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Hartford
A household needs to earn about $100,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hartford home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $106,989, 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 Hartford's effective rate of 1.89%, 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 10 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hartford
Hartford'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 Hartford.
Who works in Hartford, and how
Work in Hartford centers on health care & social and manufacturing. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 17%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Hartford
Hartford has more parkland per resident than 74% of metro areas and less late-night activity than most metro areas. The coast is about 40 minutes away. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Hartford and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Hartford growing, and who is moving in?
Hartford has grown about 3% over the last decade.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Hartford go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Hartford, month by month
Hartford sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 23. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 23° |
| April | 63° | 51° | 39° |
| July | 88° | 77° | 66° |
| October | 69° | 56° | 45° |
Flying in and out of Hartford
Bradley International sits about 12 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.3 million passengers in 2025, with 92 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hartford
Schools across Hartford average a B, better than 74% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Latimer Lane SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Hopewell SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Buttonball Lane SchoolA+ · 75% proficient
Top middle schools
- House Of Arts Letters And Science (hals) AcademyA+ · 75% proficient
- West Woods Upper Elementary SchoolA+ · 74% proficient
- Avon Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
Top high schools
- Avon High SchoolA+ · 80% proficient
- Longmeadow HighA · 78% proficient
- Daniel Hand High SchoolA · 77% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hartford school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hartford 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 Hartford against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Hartford suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 17% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Hartford
Is Hartford a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hartford ranks 32nd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on civic engagement, fast internet, and what local pay buys, and lowest on state finances and property taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hartford expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $332,675. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $106,989 median income, cost of living beats 95% of metro areas.
Is Hartford safe?
Yes, Hartford is safer than 65% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $235 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Hartford?
July highs average about 88 degrees, and January highs near 42 with lows near 23. That works out to about 62 pleasant days a year, more than 7% of metro areas.
Is Hartford good for families?
Schools beat 74% of metro areas, crime safety beats 65%, and childcare runs $1,460 a month.
Is Hartford good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 95% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 97% of metro areas. About 17% of workers already work from home.
Compare Hartford with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hartford. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hartford 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.
Hartford detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hartford: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hartford: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hartford: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hartford: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hartford 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.