Best PlacesHays, TX 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. 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.
Hays ranks 5,066th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and summer heat is the weak spot.
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
- Cell coverageBetter than 97% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than 95% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 95% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
Where Hays ranks low
- Heat safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- Short commute37.3 minutes each way, better than only 9% of towns
- Air qualityBetter than only 16% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than only 17% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 31% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hays
A household needs to earn about $122,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hays home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $92,201, 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 Hays' effective rate of 1.25%, 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 Hays
Hays runs older than the country.
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 education and construction. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 82%
- Work from home 14%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
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 148 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 97 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 51° | 41° |
| April | 82° | 69° | 58° |
| July | 97° | 84° | 74° |
| October | 85° | 71° | 60° |
Flying in and out of Hays
Austin-Bergstrom International sits about 28 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 10.7 million passengers in 2025, with 127 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hays
Schools across Hays average a C+, better than 41% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Carpenter Hill ElA · 62% proficient
- Hernandez ElC+ · 39% proficient
- Crockett ElC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Eric Dahlstrom MiddleA− · 56% proficient
- Miller MiddleC · 33% proficient
- Goodnight MiddleD+ · 25% proficient
Top high schools
- Jack C Hays H SB · 48% proficient
- San Marcos H SC · 30% 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 5,066th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, a strong job market, and an educated workforce, and lowest on summer heat and long commutes. 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 $438,596. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $92,201 median income, cost of living beats 89% of towns.
Is Hays safe?
Yes, Hays is safer than 88% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $221 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.