Best PlacesAnniston, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Anniston metro, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The averages are not the whole story, and the strongest areas score well above them. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Photo by Rivers Langley; SaveRivers, CC BY-SA 3.0, via commons
Anniston ranks 340th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on low incomes and empty homes. It does better on a stable housing market, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Anniston metro
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.
The best areas in Anniston
The towns and districts of the Anniston metro, ranked by the BestNeighborhood standard score across every neighborhood in each, highest scoring first. Each note says how that part differs from the rest of the metro.
Jacksonville & Piedmont
Schools score higher.
Ohatchee & Wellington
Crime runs lower and it is quieter.
Oxford, Eastaboga & West End-Cobb Town
Fewer adults hold degrees and health outcomes score lower.
Saks & Alexandria
Tree cover is thicker.
Downtown Anniston
More households have young kids, though local pay stretches less far.
Scores across Anniston run from about the 2nd to the 75th percentile nationally. The map is where that becomes a choice of area.
Anniston's strengths and weaknesses
Anniston ranks near the bottom because several of the basics fall short at once. A stable housing market is the standout, in the top 2% of metro areas. Low property taxes and affordable childcare follow.
The weak spots are broad rather than narrow: low incomes, empty homes, and health outcomes all drag on the score. Those are area averages, and the map below shows which parts run well above them.
Where Anniston ranks high
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Low property taxBetter than 98% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$553 a month, better than 98% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 92% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of metro areas
Where Anniston ranks low
- Household income$59,042 median, better than only 2% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Health outlookBetter than only 6% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 10% of metro areas
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Anniston
A household needs to earn about $38,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Anniston home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $59,042, 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 Anniston's effective rate of 0.33%, 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 6 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Anniston
Anniston'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 Anniston.
Who works in Anniston, and how
Work in Anniston centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 90%
- Work from home 7%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Anniston
Anniston has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and more late-night spots per resident than 81% of metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Anniston and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Anniston growing, and who is moving in?
Anniston has held roughly flat in population over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Birmingham, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Anniston go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Anniston, month by month
Anniston sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 36. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 45° | 36° |
| April | 76° | 63° | 51° |
| July | 91° | 80° | 71° |
| October | 78° | 65° | 55° |
Flying in and out of Anniston
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 55 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 79 miles away.
The best schools in and around Anniston
Schools across Anniston average a C, better than 16% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Moody Elementary SchoolB+ · 55% proficient
- White Plains Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
- De Armanville Elementary SchoolB · 48% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ce Hanna SchoolB− · 42% proficient
- White Plains Middle SchoolB− · 39% proficient
- Oxford Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Oxford High SchoolB− · 43% proficient
- Jacksonville High SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Ohatchee High SchoolC · 33% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Anniston school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Anniston 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 Anniston against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Anniston suits
Common questions about living in Anniston
Is Anniston a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Anniston ranks 340th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on a stable housing market, low property taxes, and affordable childcare, and lowest on low incomes and empty homes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Anniston expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $154,238. The overall cost of living runs about 22% below the national average. Set against a $59,042 median income, cost of living beats 12% of metro areas.
Is Anniston safe?
Anniston is safer than 26% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $392 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Anniston?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 36. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 46% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Anniston?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Jacksonville & Piedmont, Ohatchee & Wellington, and Oxford, Eastaboga & West End-Cobb Town. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Anniston good for families?
Schools beat 16% of metro areas, crime safety beats 26%, and childcare runs $553 a month.
Is Anniston good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 12% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 55% of metro areas. About 7% of workers already work from home.
Compare Anniston with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Anniston. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Anniston 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.
Anniston detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Anniston: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Anniston: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Anniston: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Anniston: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Anniston 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.
- U.S. Census Bureau Population Estimates Program: population growth and net migration behind the population-change section.
- 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.