Best PlacesAuburn, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Auburn 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 AuburnPilot at en.wikipedia, via commons
Auburn ranks 266th of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on taxes and walkability. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Auburn 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 Auburn
The towns and districts of the Auburn 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.
Waverly
More adults hold degrees, schools score higher, and crime runs lower.
Downtown Auburn
Biking is better, though homes cost more.
Smiths, Salem & Smiths Station
Fewer homes sit empty and local pay stretches further.
Phenix City
Prices have run up less and it is quieter.
Opelika
Health outcomes score lower.
Notasulga
Tree cover is thicker, though incomes run lower.
Tuskegee & Tuskegee Institute
Fewer households have young kids and heat risk is higher.
Auburn shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 3%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Auburn's strengths and weaknesses
Auburn lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low property taxes, a strong job market, and affordable childcare carry most of that.
The one real hole is taxes, near the bottom of the country. Walkability and empty homes also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Auburn to another than it does between Auburn and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Auburn ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 96% of metro areas
- Local economyBetter than 95% of metro areas
- Cheap childcare$635 a month, better than 89% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Educational attainmentBetter than 85% of metro areas
Where Auburn ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- Low vacancyBetter than only 13% of metro areas
- BikingBetter than only 17% of metro areas
- Household income$68,973 median, better than only 19% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Auburn
A household needs to earn about $64,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Auburn home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $68,973, 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 Auburn's effective rate of 0.39%, 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 Auburn
Auburn runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Auburn.
Who works in Auburn, and how
Work in Auburn centers on education and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 84%
- Work from home 10%
- Transit, walk, or bike 6%
Life in Auburn
Auburn has more restaurants and bars per resident than 74% of metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Auburn and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Auburn growing, and who is moving in?
Auburn has grown about 18% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Birmingham, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Auburn go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Auburn, month by month
Auburn sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 90 degrees. January highs sit near 57, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and September through November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 57° | 47° | 37° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 54° |
| July | 90° | 80° | 72° |
| October | 78° | 66° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Auburn
The nearest airport, Columbus, is about 32 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Auburn
Schools across Auburn average a C+, better than 49% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Creekside Elementary SchoolA · 69% proficient
- Wrights Mill Road Elementary SchoolA · 67% proficient
- Margaret Yarbrough Elementary SchoolA · 65% proficient
Top middle schools
- Drake Middle SchoolA− · 57% proficient
- East Samford SchoolB+ · 52% proficient
- Sanford Middle SchoolC+ · 36% proficient
Top high schools
- Auburn High SchoolB+ · 54% proficient
- Loachapoka High SchoolD · 20% proficient
- Beauregard High SchoolD− · 15% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Auburn school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Auburn 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 Auburn against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Auburn suits
Common questions about living in Auburn
Is Auburn a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Auburn ranks 266th of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, a strong job market, and affordable childcare, and lowest on taxes and walkability. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Auburn expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $260,521. The overall cost of living runs about 13% below the national average. Set against a $68,973 median income, cost of living beats 22% of metro areas.
Is Auburn safe?
Auburn is safer than 28% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $388 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Auburn?
July highs average about 90 degrees, and January highs near 57 with lows near 37. That works out to about 87 pleasant days a year, more than 49% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Auburn?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Waverly, Downtown Auburn, and Smiths, Salem & Smiths Station. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Auburn good for families?
Schools beat 49% of metro areas, crime safety beats 28%, and childcare runs $635 a month.
Is Auburn good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 22% of metro areas, though advertised internet speeds beat only 35% of metro areas. About 10% of workers already work from home.
Compare Auburn with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Auburn. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Auburn 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.
Auburn detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Auburn: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Auburn: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Auburn: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Auburn: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Auburn 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.