Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
A town of 6,763, platted in 1807.
Hillsboro gives you more for your money than most places: a typical home costs about $210K, 3.2 years of the county’s $66K median household income. It grades B− overall, 589th of 987 graded towns in Ohio. The low prices come with trade-offs. CDC estimates put its residents' health behind 88% of the country, and the median household income is $56K, and 22% of residents live below the poverty line. On the plus side, natural-hazard risk is low. History is its standout character grade: an A+, better than 96% of U.S. towns, with 13 places on the National Register. 22% of residents live below the poverty line in Hillsboro, above both Ohio’s towns (9.1%) and U.S. towns (9.6%). Its National Register listings include Highland County Courthouse and East Main Street Historic District. Hillsboro's schools outperform 74% of the state's.
Where Hillsboro beats most towns.
Highland County Courthouse
Census counts: 220 in 1810, 6,481 in 2020. The archive holds 12 old photos and papers going back to 1873 and 5 maps from 1917 on.
13 places on the National Register of Historic Places.
Each subject compared with towns across the country (schools within Ohio), ordered by how far Hillsboro is from typical.
How TownRatings grades towns →
Who provides power, water and the rest in Hillsboro, and how to reach them.
EPA SDWIS (Oct 9, 2026) · HIFLD + EIA-861 2025 · Census 2020 ZCTAs · NCES 2024–25 · registration: vote.gov, updated Aug 3, 2026.
Ordered by what stands out in Hillsboro.
Hillsboro trades lower home prices for longer drives to work, draws workers from Liberty Township and beyond and has seen reported crime fall by a third or more.
4,784 jobs are based in Hillsboro, 1.8 for every working resident, so most of the people who work here commute in.
About one worker in four stays in Hillsboro for work. The top destinations are Wilmington (7%), Columbus (5%) and Liberty Township (3%). Its typical journey to work is 23 minutes.
| Hillsboro | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Working residents who work in town | 26% | 6.8% | 8% |
| Median household income | $56,000 | $75,000 | $80,000 |
| Average trip to work | 23 minutes | 24 minutes | 25 minutes |
Census LEHD 2023 · ACS
The share of adults in Hillsboro who have been diagnosed with depression: 27%. Among adults locally, 42% sleep under 7 hours and 15% have diabetes.
| Hillsboro | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Get no exercise (CDC PLACES) | 34% | 28% | 25% |
| Sleep under 7 hours (CDC PLACES) | 42% | 38% | 36% |
| Diabetes (CDC PLACES) | 15% | 13% | 12% |
| Frequent physical distress (CDC PLACES) | 17% | 15% | 14% |
| What stands out | Hillsboro | OH |
|---|---|---|
| More older adults who have lost all their teeth | 21.4% | 15.3% |
| More adults with COPD | 10.8% | 8% |
| More adults with heart disease | 9.1% | 7.1% |
CDC PLACES 2025 · modeled estimates for adults · CMS · HRSA
Flood insurance has paid out on 2 claims in Hillsboro since 1994. Compared with 91% of U.S. communities, expected storm and flood damage locally is lower. FEMA puts 55% of the town’s expected hazard losses down to inland flooding, and 15% to tornadoes. Households here have drawn federal disaster aid in 3 declared disasters, most recently in 2012.
FEMA flood insurance claims · FEMA disaster declarations and aid · FEMA National Risk Index · OpenFEMA
The range runs from 22° on a January night to 84° on a July afternoon, with about 18 inches of snow a winter.
NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020
Homes are within reach (about $210K for the typical one, A− for cost of living), but half of working residents commute more than 25 miles. The median property tax bill is $1,241, against $2,822 across Ohio, another input to its cost-of-living grade.
The median rent for Hillsboro comes to $770 a month. A typical home locally is worth about $210,000, up 4.6% in a year, 15% below the Ohio typical home. Among households in the town, 53% own their home.
| Hillsboro | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Households that own their home | 53% | 77% | 73% |
| Median rent | $770 a month | $944 a month | $1,185 a month |
Census ACS, 2020–24 · Zillow Home Value Index · Redfin Data Center
The biggest park or preserve is Shaffer Park, at 90 acres. 0.7 miles of trail in 1 park or preserve. For Hillsboro, the trail network density is 0.1 miles per square mile.
| Hillsboro | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miles of trail per square mile | 0.1 miles per square mile | 0.2 | 0.4 |
| Conserved land | 3.6% | 3.7% | 4.3% |
| Biggest places to walk | Trails | Acres |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Shaffer Park | 0.5 mi | 90 |
Trails & parks © OpenStreetMap contributors · Conserved land: USGS PAD-US
Reported crimes fell from 118 to 77 over the last three FBI years, a drop beyond ordinary year-to-year swings. Violent crime is rare: 5 reported in 2025, 0.8 per 1,000 residents.
The violent offense rate in Hillsboro is 0.8 per 1,000 residents. The property offense rate locally is 10.8 per 1,000 residents.
| Hillsboro | Ohio towns | U.S. towns | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Violent crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 0.8 per 1,000 residents | 1.2 | 1.6 |
| Property crimes per 1,000 (2025) | 10.8 per 1,000 residents | 9.4 | 9.9 |
FBI crime data, 2025 · crimes reported to police
Museums, parks, gardens and other places to visit around Hillsboro. Close and well known come first.
16 mi MountainSerpent Mound
Big draw37 mi Theme parkKings Island3.5M visitors a year
21 mi National Historical ParkHopewell Culture National Historical Park52K visitors a year
35 mi MuseumChateau Laroche
35 mi LandmarkPeters Cartridge Company
20 mi TheatreMurphy TheatreSerpent Mound: The British Library, No restrictions · Kings Island: Eli Duke from Portland, OR, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0 · Hopewell Culture National Historical Park: Ɱ, CC BY-SA 4.0 · Chateau Laroche: ConlonTT, Public domain · Peters Cartridge Company: Internet Archive Book Images, No restrictions · Murphy Theatre: Aesopposea, CC BY-SA 3.0
1 within 15 miles of the center of Hillsboro
About 2 of every 100 Hillsboro residents are enrolled in college, against 6 across Ohio.
13 places in Hillsboro on the National Register of Historic Places.
20 notable people were born in Hillsboro.
City in Ohio, United States
Hillsboro is a city in and the county seat of Highland County, Ohio, United States, approximately 35 miles (56 km) west of Chillicothe and 50 miles (80 km) east of Cincinnati. The population was 6,481 at the 2020 census.
From Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 · facts via Wikidata (CC0)
Short answers, built from the data on this page.
Hillsboro grades B− overall, better than 51% of U.S. towns and #589 of 987 in Ohio. It grades D for health, B− for safety and B+ for schools. Health is its weak spot, with a D.
Not for the area. Cost of living, which also weighs rents, property taxes and how many households pay 30% or more of their income for housing, grades A−.
Hillsboro was platted in 1807 and has 13 places on the National Register of Historic Places. 20 notable people were born here, including Milton Caniff and Bob McEwen.
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