Best PlacesHazel, KY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hazel, 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.
Hazel ranks 32,698th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hazel
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.
Hazel's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hazel ranks high
- Cheap childcare$503 a month, better than 92% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 79% of towns
- Short commute23.1 minutes each way, better than 74% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 70% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 67% of towns
Where Hazel ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 17% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 21% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 22% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 25% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 26% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hazel
A household needs to earn about $49,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hazel home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $67,117, 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 Hazel's effective rate of 0.56%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hazel
Hazel runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hazel.
Who works in Hazel, and how
Work in Hazel centers on education and manufacturing. Unemployment sits above the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Hazel
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Hazel.
What the weather is like in Hazel, month by month
Hazel sees roughly 72 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 89 degrees. January highs sit near 45, with lows near 30. The comfortable stretch runs April, May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 45° | 37° | 30° |
| April | 70° | 59° | 49° |
| July | 89° | 79° | 71° |
| October | 73° | 61° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Hazel
The nearest airport, Barkley Regional, is about 45 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Nashville International, about 96 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hazel
Schools across Hazel average a B−, better than 60% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Southwest Calloway Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Sedalia Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- East Calloway Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
Top middle schools
- Calloway County Middle SchoolB− · 40% proficient
- Graves County Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
Top high schools
- Calloway County High SchoolC+ · 38% proficient
- Graves County High SchoolC · 34% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hazel school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hazel 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 Hazel against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hazel
Is Hazel a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hazel ranks 32,698th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, fast internet, and short commutes, and lowest on car insurance costs and disaster risk. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hazel expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $195,465. The overall cost of living runs about 23% below the national average. Set against a $67,117 median income, cost of living beats 56% of towns.
Is Hazel safe?
Yes, Hazel is safer than 58% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $251 per resident a year.
Compare Hazel with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hazel. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hazel 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.
Hazel detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hazel: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hazel: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hazel: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hazel: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hazel 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.