Best PlacesHeizer, KS Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Heizer, 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.
Heizer ranks 37,764th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on affordable childcare by a wide margin, and tree cover ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Heizer
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.
Heizer's strengths and weaknesses
Where Heizer ranks high
- Cheap childcare$467 a month, better than 96% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 95% of towns
- Short commute19.3 minutes each way, better than 90% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 88% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 115 pleasant days a year, better than 78% of towns
Where Heizer ranks low
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 6% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 9% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Heizer
A household needs to earn about $26,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Heizer home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $56,689, 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 Heizer's effective rate of 1.30%, 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 Heizer
Heizer runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Heizer.
Who works in Heizer, and how
Work in Heizer centers on health care & social and agriculture & forestry. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 76%
- Work from home 20%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Heizer
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Heizer.
What the weather is like in Heizer, month by month
Heizer sees roughly 115 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 93 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 21. The comfortable stretch runs May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 31° | 21° |
| April | 70° | 54° | 41° |
| July | 93° | 79° | 68° |
| October | 72° | 57° | 44° |
Flying in and out of Heizer
The nearest airport, Hays Regional, is about 37 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Kansas City International, about 234 miles away.
The best schools in and around Heizer
Schools across Heizer average a C−, better than 24% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Otis-bison ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Lincoln ElementaryB+ · 55% proficient
- Lincoln ElemC · 35% proficient
Top middle schools
- Great Bend Middle SchoolD · 23% proficient
- Hoisington MiddleD · 20% proficient
Top high schools
- Otis-bison Junior/senior High SchoolD · 21% proficient
- Hoisington HighD · 20% proficient
- Great Bend High SchoolD · 20% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Heizer school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Heizer 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 Heizer against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Heizer
Is Heizer a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Heizer ranks 37,764th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on affordable childcare, state infrastructure, and short commutes, and lowest on tree cover and distance from a big city. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Heizer expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $92,296. The overall cost of living runs about 24% below the national average. Set against a $56,689 median income, cost of living beats 42% of towns.
Is Heizer safe?
Heizer is safer than 21% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $452 per resident a year.
Compare Heizer with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Heizer. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Heizer 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.
Heizer detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Heizer: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Heizer: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Heizer: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Heizer: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Heizer 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.