Best PlacesHilliard, FL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Hilliard, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Hilliard ranks 19,428th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and car insurance costs are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Hilliard
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.
Hilliard's strengths and weaknesses
Where Hilliard ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 99% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 96% of towns
- Crime safetyBetter than 86% of towns
- School gradeA−, better than 86% of towns
- Local economyBetter than 84% of towns
Where Hilliard ranks low
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 6% of towns
- Short commute35.8 minutes each way, better than only 12% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 13% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 19% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Hilliard
A household needs to earn about $59,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Hilliard home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $74,626, 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 Hilliard's effective rate of 0.58%, 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 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Hilliard
Hilliard 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 Hilliard.
Who works in Hilliard, and how
Work in Hilliard centers on construction and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 86%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Hilliard
Hilliard has more restaurants and bars per resident than 84% of towns. The coast is about 48 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of Hilliard and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Hilliard, month by month
Hilliard sees roughly 112 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 94 degrees. January highs sit near 69, with lows near 42. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 69° | 54° | 42° |
| April | 83° | 69° | 56° |
| July | 94° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 84° | 72° | 62° |
Flying in and out of Hilliard
Jacksonville International sits about 20 miles away. It is a medium hub and boarded 3.7 million passengers in 2025, with 86 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around Hilliard
Schools across Hilliard average an A−, better than 86% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Hilliard Elementary SchoolA+ · 78% proficient
- Callahan Intermediate SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Kingsland Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
Top middle schools
- Callahan Middle SchoolA+ · 72% proficient
- Camden Middle SchoolA− · 53% proficient
- Carver Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Top high schools
- Hilliard Middle-senior HighA− · 63% proficient
- West Nassau County High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Tavares High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Hilliard school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Hilliard 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 Hilliard against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Hilliard
Is Hilliard a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Hilliard ranks 19,428th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, low taxes, and low crime, and lowest on car insurance costs and long commutes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Hilliard expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $232,806. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $74,626 median income, cost of living beats 58% of towns.
Is Hilliard safe?
Yes, Hilliard is safer than 86% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $133 per resident a year.
Compare Hilliard with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Hilliard. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Hilliard 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.
Hilliard detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Hilliard: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Hilliard: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Hilliard: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Hilliard: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Hilliard 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.