Best PlacesHartly, DE Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hartly, 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.
Hartly ranks 23,209th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and a weak job market ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hartly
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.
Hartly's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hartly ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 98% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than 93% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 93% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 85% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 83% of towns
Where Hartly ranks low
- Local economyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 13% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 64 pleasant days a year, better than only 14% of towns
- Short commute33.2 minutes each way, better than only 19% of towns
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hartly
A household needs to earn about $69,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hartly home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $81,696, 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 Hartly's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 7 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hartly
Hartly'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 Hartly.
Who works in Hartly, and how
Work in Hartly centers on construction and retail trade. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 94%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Hartly
The coast is about 28 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Hartly, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hartly, month by month
Hartly sees roughly 64 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 46, with lows near 27. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 46° | 36° | 27° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 72° | 61° | 50° |
Flying in and out of Hartly
The nearest airport, New Castle, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall, about 53 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hartly
Schools across Hartly average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sunnyside Elementary SchoolC · 35% proficient
- Hartly Elementary SchoolC− · 28% proficient
Top middle schools
- Fred Fifer Iii Middle SchoolC · 34% proficient
- Clayton Intermediate SchoolC− · 29% proficient
- William Henry Middle SchoolD− · 16% proficient
Top high schools
- Caesar Rodney High SchoolB+ · 57% proficient
- Smyrna High SchoolC+ · 35% proficient
- Dover High SchoolC · 32% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hartly school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hartly 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 Hartly against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hartly
Is Hartly a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hartly ranks 23,209th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, big-city access, and few empty homes, and lowest on a weak job market and education levels. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hartly expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $277,999. The overall cost of living runs about 4% below the national average. Set against a $81,696 median income, cost of living beats 52% of towns.
Is Hartly safe?
Yes, Hartly is safer than 76% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $207 per resident a year.
Compare Hartly with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hartly. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hartly 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.
Hartly detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hartly: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hartly: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hartly: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hartly: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hartly 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.