Best PlacesHawley, MA Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hawley, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hawley ranks 25,030th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on health care access by a wide margin, and cell coverage ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hawley
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.
Hawley's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hawley ranks high
- Healthcare accessBetter than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 93% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 91% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 90% of towns
Where Hawley ranks low
- Cell coverageBetter than only 3% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,385 a month, better than only 6% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 62 pleasant days a year, better than only 11% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 15% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 19% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hawley
A household needs to earn about $103,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hawley home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $72,881, 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 Hawley's effective rate of 1.18%, 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 Hawley
Hawley runs older than the country, 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 Hawley.
Who works in Hawley, and how
Work in Hawley centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 74%
- Work from home 22%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Hawley
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hawley.
What the weather is like in Hawley, month by month
Hawley sees roughly 62 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 85 degrees. January highs sit near 36, with lows near 18. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36° | 26° | 18° |
| April | 60° | 47° | 35° |
| July | 85° | 71° | 59° |
| October | 65° | 52° | 41° |
Flying in and out of Hawley
Bradley International sits about 44 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 Hawley
Schools across Hawley average a C−, better than 25% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sanderson AcademyB− · 42% proficient
- Emma L Miller Elementary SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
- Hawlemont RegionalD · 19% proficient
Top high schools
- Mohawk Trail Regional SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Hoosac Valley High SchoolD · 23% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hawley school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hawley 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 Hawley against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hawley
Is Hawley a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hawley ranks 25,030th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on health care access, tree cover, and clean air, and lowest on cell coverage and childcare costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hawley expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $375,986. The overall cost of living runs about 11% above the national average. Set against a $72,881 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Hawley safe?
Yes, Hawley is safer than 90% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $177 per resident a year.
Compare Hawley with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hawley. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hawley 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.
Hawley detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hawley: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hawley: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hawley: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hawley: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hawley 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.