Best PlacesHesper, MT Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hesper, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Local pay runs high here, and housing takes the biggest bite out of it. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hesper ranks 5,456th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on a strong job market by a wide margin, and distance from a big city ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Hesper
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.
Hesper's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hesper ranks high
- Local economyBetter than 96% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 92% of towns
- BikingBetter than 89% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 89% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than 88% of towns
Where Hesper ranks low
- Big-city accessBetter than only 12% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 14% of towns
- Cheap childcare$1,072 a month, better than only 21% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 33% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than only 38% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hesper
A household needs to earn about $118,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hesper home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $99,162, 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 Hesper's effective rate of 0.73%, 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 Hesper
Hesper's age mix sits close to the national median, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Hesper.
Who works in Hesper, and how
Work in Hesper centers on health care & social and professional & technical. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 83%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 5%
Life in Hesper
Hesper has more parkland per resident than 99% of towns. That concentrates in some parts of Hesper and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hesper, month by month
Hesper sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 39, with lows near 17. The comfortable stretch runs May through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 39° | 27° | 17° |
| April | 60° | 45° | 33° |
| July | 92° | 75° | 59° |
| October | 63° | 48° | 36° |
Flying in and out of Hesper
The nearest airport, Billings Logan International, is about 6 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Salt Lake City International, about 381 miles away.
The best schools in and around Hesper
Schools across Hesper average a C+, better than 50% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Central Heights SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Elysian SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Elder Grove SchoolB · 45% proficient
Top middle schools
- Rocky Mountain Middle SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Elysian Middle SchoolB+ · 48% proficient
- Canyon Creek 7-8C · 35% proficient
Top high schools
- Billings West High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Billings Sr High SchoolC · 31% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hesper school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hesper 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 Hesper against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hesper
Is Hesper a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hesper ranks 5,456th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on a strong job market, few empty homes, and biking, and lowest on distance from a big city and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hesper expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $455,427. The overall cost of living runs about 6% below the national average. Set against a $99,162 median income, cost of living beats 87% of towns.
Is Hesper safe?
Hesper is safer than 38% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $485 per resident a year.
Compare Hesper with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hesper. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hesper 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.
Hesper detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hesper: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hesper: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hesper: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hesper: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hesper 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.