Best PlacesHayden, MO Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hayden, 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.
Hayden ranks 33,243rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hayden
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.
Hayden's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hayden ranks high
- Cheap childcare$423 a month, better than 98% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 86% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 82% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 75% of towns
- State fiscal healthBetter than 73% of towns
Where Hayden ranks low
- Short commute40.2 minutes each way, better than only 5% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 5% of towns
- BikingBetter than only 8% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 18% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 18% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hayden
A household needs to earn about $76,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hayden home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $79,655, 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 Hayden's effective rate of 0.51%, 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 Hayden
Hayden runs younger than the country, though it still carries a larger-than-average share of residents over 65, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hayden.
Who works in Hayden, and how
Work in Hayden centers on other services and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 80%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Hayden
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hayden.
What the weather is like in Hayden, month by month
Hayden sees roughly 73 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 42, with lows near 24. The comfortable stretch runs April through June and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 42° | 32° | 24° |
| April | 68° | 55° | 45° |
| July | 89° | 78° | 68° |
| October | 70° | 58° | 48° |
Flying in and out of Hayden
The nearest airport, Waynesville-St Robert Regional Forney Field, is about 24 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 Hayden
Schools across Hayden average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Col. John B. Wyman Elem.B · 50% proficient
- Dixon Elem.B− · 40% proficient
- Vienna Elem.D+ · 23% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rolla MiddleB− · 41% proficient
- Maries Co. MiddleC− · 28% proficient
- Vienna MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Rolla Sr. HighB− · 43% proficient
- Vienna HighC+ · 37% proficient
- Dixon HighD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hayden school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hayden 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 Hayden against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hayden
Is Hayden a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hayden ranks 33,243rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, a strong job market, and tree cover, and lowest on long commutes and cell coverage. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hayden expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $304,086. The overall cost of living runs about 20% below the national average. Set against a $79,655 median income, cost of living beats 72% of towns.
Is Hayden safe?
Hayden is safer than 42% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $390 per resident a year.
Compare Hayden with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hayden. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hayden 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.
Hayden detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hayden: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hayden: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hayden: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hayden: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hayden 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.