Best PlacesAttalla, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Attalla, 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.
Attalla ranks 37,367th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on low property taxes by a wide margin, and taxes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Attalla
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.
Attalla's strengths and weaknesses
Where Attalla ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 95% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 91% of towns
- Cheap childcare$531 a month, better than 89% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- WalkabilityBetter than 81% of towns
Where Attalla ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 1% of towns
- QuietBetter than only 6% of towns
- School gradeD+, better than only 13% of towns
- Educational attainmentBetter than only 20% of towns
- Health outlookBetter than only 22% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Attalla
A household needs to earn about $34,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Attalla home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,960, 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 Attalla's effective rate of 0.30%, 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 5 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Attalla
Attalla runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Attalla.
Who works in Attalla, and how
Work in Attalla centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 95%
- Work from home 4%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Attalla
Attalla has more restaurants and bars per resident than 77% of towns and more parkland per resident than 88% of towns. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Attalla and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Attalla, month by month
Attalla sees roughly 76 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 54, with lows near 33. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, September, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 54° | 42° | 33° |
| April | 75° | 61° | 48° |
| July | 91° | 79° | 70° |
| October | 77° | 63° | 51° |
Flying in and out of Attalla
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 50 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 100 miles away.
The best schools in and around Attalla
Schools across Attalla average a D+, better than 13% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- John S Jones Elementary SchoolB+ · 53% proficient
- Steele Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
- Duck Springs Elementary SchoolC+ · 37% proficient
Top middle schools
- Ashville Middle SchoolB · 43% proficient
- Rainbow Middle SchoolB− · 41% proficient
- Fort Payne Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Southside High SchoolC− · 28% proficient
- Ashville High SchoolC− · 27% proficient
- Fort Payne High SchoolC− · 26% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Attalla school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Attalla 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 Attalla against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Attalla
Is Attalla a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Attalla ranks 37,367th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on low property taxes, a stable housing market, and affordable childcare, and lowest on taxes and noise. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Attalla expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $139,880. The overall cost of living runs about 21% below the national average. Set against a $63,960 median income, cost of living beats 46% of towns.
Is Attalla safe?
Attalla is safer than 40% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $355 per resident a year.
Compare Attalla with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Attalla. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Attalla 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.
Attalla detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Attalla: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Attalla: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Attalla: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Attalla: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Attalla 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.