Best PlacesHays, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hays, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hays ranks 40,622nd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hays
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.
Hays' strengths and weaknesses
Where Hays ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 99% of towns
- QuietBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute17.2 minutes each way, better than 95% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 94% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than 89% of towns
Where Hays ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 1% of towns
- School gradeD−, better than only 3% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 8% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hays
A household needs to earn about $22,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hays home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $54,709, 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 Hays' effective rate of 0.04%, 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 4 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hays
Hays runs younger than the country, 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 Hays.
Who works in Hays, and how
Work in Hays centers on public administration and education. Unemployment runs well above the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 77%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 7%
Life in Hays
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hays.
What the weather is like in Hays, month by month
Hays sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 88 degrees. January highs sit near 38, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 38° | 27° | 17° |
| April | 56° | 43° | 30° |
| July | 88° | 73° | 56° |
| October | 60° | 46° | 34° |
Flying in and out of Hays
The nearest airport, Havre City-County, is about 62 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Boise Air Trml/Gowen Field, about 475 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hays
Schools across Hays average a D−, better than 3% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Winifred SchoolB · 50% proficient
- Harlem Elementary SchoolD+ · 23% proficient
- Dodson SchoolF · 10% proficient
Top middle schools
- Winifred 6-8A · 60% proficient
- Dodson 7-8D+ · 25% proficient
- Harlem 7-8F · 11% proficient
Top high schools
- Winifred High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Dodson High SchoolD+ · 25% proficient
- Hays-lodge Pole High SchD+ · 25% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hays school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hays 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 Hays against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hays
Is Hays a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hays ranks 40,622nd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, quiet, and short commutes, and lowest on thin health care access and the schools. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hays expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $92,805. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $54,709 median income, cost of living beats 25% of towns.
Is Hays safe?
Hays is safer than 8% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $810 per resident a year.
Compare Hays with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hays. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hays 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.
Hays detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hays: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hays: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hays: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hays: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hays 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.