Best PlacesAlcoa, TN Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Alcoa, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. This page is for people who live here or already know they want to. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Alcoa ranks 15,933rd of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state finances by a wide margin, and noise is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Alcoa
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.
Alcoa's strengths and weaknesses
Where Alcoa ranks high
- State fiscal healthBetter than 96% of towns
- BikingBetter than 91% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 89% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than 89% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than 88% of towns
Where Alcoa ranks low
- QuietBetter than only 10% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 12% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 63 pleasant days a year, better than only 13% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than only 31% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 33% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Alcoa
A household needs to earn about $73,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Alcoa home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $66,678; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
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 Alcoa's effective rate of 0.65%, 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 8 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Alcoa
Alcoa's age mix sits close to the national median.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Alcoa.
Who works in Alcoa, and how
Work in Alcoa centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 87%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Alcoa
Alcoa has more restaurants and bars per resident than 92% of towns and more parkland per resident than 96% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Alcoa and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Alcoa, month by month
Alcoa sees roughly 63 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 29. The comfortable stretch runs April through June, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 39° | 29° |
| April | 74° | 60° | 47° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 69° |
| October | 76° | 62° | 49° |
Flying in and out of Alcoa
The nearest airport, McGhee Tyson, is about 2 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 151 miles away.
The best schools in and around Alcoa
Schools across Alcoa average a B, better than 67% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Sam Houston ElementaryA · 70% proficient
- Foothills ElementaryA · 65% proficient
- John Sevier ElementaryA− · 60% proficient
Top middle schools
- Montgomery Ridge Intermediate SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- Coulter Grove Intermediate SchoolA+ · 73% proficient
- Alcoa Middle SchoolB · 46% proficient
Top high schools
- Alcoa High SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- William Blount High SchoolB− · 45% proficient
- Heritage High SchoolB− · 41% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Alcoa school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Alcoa 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 Alcoa against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Alcoa
Is Alcoa a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Alcoa ranks 15,933rd of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state finances, biking, and walkability, and lowest on noise and an overheated housing market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Alcoa expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $283,279. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $66,678 median income, cost of living beats 60% of towns.
Is Alcoa safe?
Alcoa is safer than 50% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $408 per resident a year.
Compare Alcoa with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Alcoa. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Alcoa 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.
Alcoa detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Alcoa: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Alcoa: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Alcoa: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Alcoa: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Alcoa 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.