King of the Hill focuses on a humble, Texas town and the small town issues of its town folk. However, just because their town isn't that large, that doesn't mean its citizens don't have big ideas. This series is all about handling day-to-day issues with common sense, something that can often get lost in either the hustle and bustle of the modern world or the rigid traditions of local culture.
Arlen is an entire world where the more clever and intelligent get to rule over the simple people or, at the very least, get to weather the worst of the stupidity of their friends leaders. This list will be looking ranking some of the best minds, as it runs down some of the smartest characters in King of the Hill.
10 Chane Wassanasong
Though he often plays the classic, grade school bully (much to Bobby Hill's dismay), Chane Wassonasong is one of the top and most active students in Tom Landry Middle School. He parallels a lot of Connie's activities, such as participating in band, competing in Quiz Bowl, and ranking within the school's honor roll.
He differs from Bobby's spunky, young love interest by giving all of the above his own arrogant flare, and his father's cutthroat style of superiority. While he isn't the nicest guy, Chane was on quite the path to success during the series' run.
9 M.F. Thatherton
M.F. Thatherton is a recurring villain in King of the Hill, and the archnemesis/business rival to Buck Strickland. Long ago, he once worked under Buck, until he gained the knowledge and confidence to go out on his own. Though Hank wouldn't join him in his desertion, Thatherton has made quite a successful living for himself.
He's often threatening Strickland with his special brand of small-town marketing and often capitalizes on some of Buck's failed deals. While Hank's loyalty is certainly appreciated, it took some smarts and business savvy for Thatherton to go out on his own and quickly become one of the Heimlich Four.
8 Hank
Hank Hill is the center of all of King of the Hill's philosophy. In a world where snobby elites and country bumpkins can both be harmfully asinine, Hank Hill gets to save the day with a little common sense. He's able to step back from some of the most absurd situations, like a new scam from Buck or his friends once again getting under danger, and taking everything with incredible calmness and objectivity.
His conservative upbringing and studious lifestyle have also made him one of the most reliably organized characters to ever hit television, giving some weight and depth to his typically corny ideology on practicality.
7 Dale
At the surface, Dale Gribble may not seem like the "smartest" character. However, this may be due to the fact that he's not necessarily the most rational or practical person. Susceptible to tales of grandeur and paranoia as a kid, Dale Gribble is either at the reactive end of deals or launching strange ones of his own.
However, because of this active lifestyle, Dale has immersed himself in a variety niche areas, such as political history in his conspiracy theories, entomology for his extermination job, and by-heart memorization of civil rights which was used in John Redcorn's early lawsuits to reclaim some of his people's land. Though he may often shoot himself in the foot, there is always something in Dale's chamber.
6 Kahn
Kahn is a modern success story for Asian immigrants and a classic example of a neighborhood elitist. He's a systems manager whose studious nature and technological know-how have allowed him to both become a key part of different organizations and rise up in importance within them.
However, all that success is still not able to satiate him, as Kahn is always scheming to get ahead in the world, either by trying to squeeze himself into the coveted Nine Rivers Country Club or using his simple neighbors to do some work for him. Though he went off his medication to do so, Kahn also built and designed a robotic grill to entertain at one of Strickland Propane's marketing events. While he can be hot tempered and even a little greedy at times, that big head has allowed him more success than most.
5 Buck Strickland
Buck Strickland is the very definition of a shrewd businessman. He started a county spanning business from nothing and was able to both maintain it for several decades as well as amass a large fortune from it. In his heyday, Buck was a patient and practical man who knew both the foundation of propane and customer service.
In his later years, he would grow more cutthroat and decisive as a businessman and would find a variety of ways to either keep his business afloat or avoid a severe legal issues. While he isn't the most ethical businessman, he's definitely a key one to learn from.
4 Peggy
While Peggy Hill can make the fact seem unbearable and even over-inflated at times, she is one of the more well-read and versatile characters within the series. She was a substitute educator who was able to take over from a variety of subjects. While her best one was a shoddy Spanish lesson, it's impressive nonetheless that she was able to get her students interested in learning the language.
She also has a strong and well-researched collection of literature under her and is an avid writer capable of being hired for various sections of the Arlen Bystander. Towards the end of the series, she transitioned a lot of that cleverness and energy into realty, where she worked hard and found creative solutions to selling her houses. While she's not as smart as she thinks, she's a little smarter than most may think.
3 Connie
Connie is Bobby's prime love interest in the series and is often portrayed as one of the smartest kids in her school if not the smartest. She outclasses Chane in every subject and extracurricular that they share and has received various academic and musical accolades.
With a strong head on her shoulders, she's been able to remain a strong and consistent friend for Bobby and Joseph and has weathered a couple of her father's different midlife crises. She's an ambitious girl who was definitely working her way to a strong future.
2 Ted Wassanasong
Ted is one of the strongest forces within the Arlen community that still manages to catch the main characters by surprise every now and then. He's significantly more successful than Kahn and is a rising leader in both the Laotian and Arlen community. The show even surprisingly revealed that he was a central figurehead in a plot to free Laos, when he tried to recruit Kahn into his tiny army.
His high class, progressive ties have also given him a preferred voice in community issues as well as that one court case, where Hank tried to stop him from building a McMansion. With a reputation that often precedes him, Ted Wassonasong is definitely one of the series' most tactile characters.
1 Boomhauer
While he isn't always the most pronounced person, Boomhauer is surprisingly the most consistent voice of reason throughout the entire series. Though one really needs to press their ear against the speaker, Boomhauer does often comment with some surprising insight to the gang's various exploits, though this level of common sense is only made apparent when he talked normally in "A Fire-Fighting We Will Go."
The gang, however, does a good job of hinting at this by constantly remarking at his own solidity and wisdom during conversation. The series finale even revealed that Boomhauer was also a Texas Ranger, one of Texas' most elite, investigative organizations. With wisdom and cleverness built into his character and functioning at a speed too fast for mere mortals, Boomhauer has to be the smartest character in the King of the Hill.