Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Hanford earns a D, 569th of 841 graded towns in California. What it does well: it is more walkable than 79% of U.S. towns. Hanford’s July high is 98°F, against 89°F in California’s towns and 85°F across U.S. towns. Hanford's civic life (library use, community groups, volunteering) trails 94% of U.S. towns. Hanford has 3 places on the National Register of Historic Places, among them Kings County Courthouse and Hanford Carnegie Library.
Where Hanford beats most towns.
Tyson Chandler
Taoist TempleEach subject compared with towns across the country (schools within California), ordered by how far Hanford is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Census counts: 269 in 1880, 57,990 in 2020. The archive holds 22 old photos and papers going back to 1900 and 3 maps from 1926 on.
3 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Who provides power, water and the rest in Hanford, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Nov 18, 2024.
Ordered by what stands out in Hanford.
Hanford has a longer frost-free season than nearly all U.S. towns, has seen reported crime fall beyond ordinary swings and has commutes shorter than most of California.
The typical Hanford home is worth about $381,000, up 2.7% in a year, 50% below the California typical home. The median rent in Hanford is $1,309 a month.
| Hanford | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Median rent | $1,309 a month | $1,898 a month | $1,185 a month |
| Households that own their home | 62% | 64% | 73% |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
Three of its 26 schools are below, each with why it’s listed.
| School | Level | Students | Letter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Martin Luther King Jr. ElementaryLargest public elementary schoolGrades K–6 | Grades K–6 | 624 | C+ |
| Hanford HighLargest public high schoolGrades 9–12 | Grades 9–12 | 1,498 | – |
| Jefferson AcademyTop results in townGrades K–8 | Grades K–8 | 501 | A− |
NCES · EDFacts · graded within CA on state tests and graduation
The average commute for its 21,465 working residents takes 22.6 minutes, against 28.7 across California.
About one in 4 of Hanford’s working residents works in town. Hanford’s average trip to work is 23 minutes. Since 2013, Hanford has added 1,363 jobs, to 15,457 in 2023.
| Hanford | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 26% | 6.6% | 8% |
| Work from home | 7.2% | 14% | 11% |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 28 minutes | 25 minutes |
| Below the poverty line | 15% | 10% | 9.6% |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
Reported crimes fell from 937 to 815 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings.
Within California, it does better than 56% of towns.
| Hanford | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 3.4 per 1,000 residents | 2.9 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 9.9 per 1,000 residents | 13.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
The Hanford 1 S weather station records that the frost-free season runs about 296 days, longer than in 95% of U.S. towns. The Hanford 1 S weather station records that about 108 days a year reach 90°, more than in 96% of U.S. towns.
Hanford has mild winters and hot summers, with very little rain. July afternoons reach 98°, January nights drop to 38° and snow is almost unheard of.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Hanford beats the California average on 0 of 32 CDC measures and trails it on 13. 70% of adults had a checkup this year in Hanford.
| Hanford | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yearly checkup (CDC PLACES) | 70% | 72% | 79% |
| Food insecurity (CDC PLACES) | 24% | 16% | 14% |
| No health insurance, 18–64 (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 9% | 8.1% |
| Feel lonely (CDC PLACES) | 38% | 36% | 33% |
| What stands out | Hanford | CA |
|---|---|---|
| More adults facing a utility shut-off | 10.5% | 7.3% |
| More uninsured adults | 15.2% | 10.6% |
| More adults without reliable transportation | 12.5% | 9.3% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Expected storm and flood damage is higher than in 60% of U.S. communities. One flood insurance claim has been paid in Hanford since 2016.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
5.4 miles of trail in 12 parks and preserves. The biggest park or preserve is Kings County Fairgrounds, at 79 acres.
| Hanford | California towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.3 miles per square mile | 1.0 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 2% | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Freedom Park | 1 mi | 23 |
| 2. Kings County Fairgrounds | — | 79 |
| 3. Ball Park | — | 25 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
1 within 15 miles of the center of Hanford
About 7 of every 100 Hanford residents are enrolled in college, about the same as California.
3 places in Hanford on the National Register of Historic Places.
53 notable people were born in Hanford.
City in California, United States
Hanford is the most populous city in and the county seat of Kings County, California, located in the San Joaquin Valley region of the greater Central Valley. The population was 57,990 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
One town shares a border with Hanford.
| Town | CA rank | Overall | Cost | Safety | Schools | Health |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanford | #569 | D | D | C | B | C+ |
| Home Garden | — | — | B | — | B− | D− |
Home Garden has fewer than 2,500 residents, so it gets subject grades but no overall grade. Home Garden reports no FBI crime data of its own. Compare Hanford with a neighbor →
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Hanford grades D overall, better than 14% of U.S. towns and #569 of 841 in California. It grades C+ for health, C for safety and B for schools. Cost of living is its weak spot, with a D.
Within California, it does better than 56% of towns.
Yes. That is 5.4 years of the area's median household income ($70,995 across the Hanford-Corcoran, CA metro area). Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades D.
53 notable people were born here, including Tyson Chandler and Sean Parnell.
