Best PlacesBirmingham, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in the Birmingham 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 LeRoy Woodson, CC BY 2.0, via commons
Birmingham ranks 283rd of 387 U.S. metro areas on the BestNeighborhood index. It ranks low mainly on taxes and air quality. It does better on low property taxes, which keeps it off the bottom.
The best neighborhoods in the Birmingham 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 Birmingham
The towns and districts of the Birmingham 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.
Hoover, Alabaster & Vestavia Hills
More adults hold degrees, fewer homes sit empty, and schools score higher.
Clanton, Chelsea & Columbiana
Incomes run higher and local pay stretches further.
Leeds, Irondale & Cropwell
Scores close to Clanton, Chelsea & Columbiana, except that crime runs higher here.
Gardendale, Fultondale & Warrior
Tree cover is thicker and more households have young kids.
Trussville, Center Point & Pinson
It is quieter, though biking is worse.
Downtown Birmingham
Streets are more walkable, though prices have run up more.
Bessemer & Hueytown
Homes cost less.
Jasper & Dora
Heat risk is higher and health outcomes score lower.
Fairfield, Pleasant Grove & Forestdale
Health care is harder to reach.
Birmingham shows why a single number is not enough. Some neighborhoods score in the bottom 1% of the country and others in the top 1%. Pick the area first, then the home.
Birmingham's strengths and weaknesses
Birmingham lands in the middle because its strengths and weaknesses roughly balance. Low property taxes, tree cover, and state infrastructure carry most of that.
The one real hole is taxes, near the bottom of the country. Air quality and crime also cost it ground. Cost swings more from one part of Birmingham to another than it does between Birmingham and its neighbors, which the map below shows.
Where Birmingham ranks high
- Low property taxBetter than 93% of metro areas
- Tree shadeBetter than 87% of metro areas
- State infrastructureBetter than 86% of metro areas
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of metro areas
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 81% of metro areas
Where Birmingham ranks low
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 4% of metro areas
- Air qualityBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- Crime safetyBetter than only 12% of metro areas
- Short commute27.0 minutes each way, better than only 13% of metro areas
- WalkabilityBetter than only 15% of metro areas
What it costs to buy a home in Birmingham
A household needs to earn about $68,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Birmingham home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $83,355, 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 Birmingham's effective rate of 0.43%, 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 Birmingham
Birmingham'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 Birmingham.
Who works in Birmingham, and how
Work in Birmingham centers on health care & social and retail trade. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 85%
- Work from home 12%
- Transit, walk, or bike 4%
Life in Birmingham
Birmingham has fewer places to eat and drink per resident than most metro areas and less parkland per resident than most metro areas. Dining, parks, and nightlife concentrates in some parts of Birmingham and thins out in others, which the map shows.
Is Birmingham growing, and who is moving in?
Birmingham has grown about 4% over the last decade. The largest inbound stream comes from Tuscaloosa, AL.
Where new residents come from
Where people leaving Birmingham go
Move counts are the latest county-to-county migration flows, each county grouped into its metro.
What the weather is like in Birmingham, month by month
Birmingham sees roughly 84 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 91 degrees. January highs sit near 56, with lows near 37. The comfortable stretch runs March through May, October, and November.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 56° | 45° | 37° |
| April | 76° | 64° | 53° |
| July | 91° | 81° | 73° |
| October | 79° | 67° | 57° |
Flying in and out of Birmingham
The nearest airport, Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International, is about 3 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Hartsfield/Jackson Atlanta International, about 136 miles away.
The best schools in and around Birmingham
Schools across Birmingham average a C, better than 22% of metro areas.
Top elementary schools
- Crestline Elementary SchoolA+ · 85% proficient
- Mountain Brook Elementary SchoolA+ · 79% proficient
- East ElementaryA+ · 79% proficient
Top middle schools
- Pizitz Middle SchoolA+ · 77% proficient
- Liberty Park Middle SchoolA+ · 76% proficient
- Mountain Brook Junior High SchoolA+ · 71% proficient
Top high schools
- Mountain Brook High SchoolA · 75% proficient
- Vestavia Hills High SchoolA · 72% proficient
- Homewood High SchoolA− · 63% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Birmingham school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Birmingham 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 Birmingham against the other 386 metro areas.
Who Birmingham suits
Remote workers
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of metro areas, internet is fast and widely advertised, and 12% already work from home.
Common questions about living in Birmingham
Is Birmingham a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Birmingham ranks 283rd of 387 metro areas. It scores highest on low property taxes, tree cover, and state infrastructure, and lowest on taxes and air quality. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Birmingham expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $273,902. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $83,355 median income, cost of living beats 81% of metro areas.
Is Birmingham safe?
Birmingham is safer than 12% of metro areas. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $454 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in Birmingham?
July highs average about 91 degrees, and January highs near 56 with lows near 37. That works out to about 84 pleasant days a year, more than 45% of metro areas.
What are the best neighborhoods in Birmingham?
Using the default rankings, the highest-scoring areas are Hoover, Alabaster & Vestavia Hills, Clanton, Chelsea & Columbiana, and Leeds, Irondale & Cropwell. The ranked list and the re-weightable map above let you re-sort them for your own priorities.
Is Birmingham good for families?
Schools beat 22% of metro areas, crime safety beats 12%, and childcare runs $699 a month.
Is Birmingham good for remote workers?
Cost of living against local pay beats 81% of metro areas, and the fastest advertised internet here beats 61% of metro areas. About 12% of workers already work from home.
Compare Birmingham with other metro areas
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Birmingham. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Birmingham 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.
Birmingham detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Birmingham: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Birmingham: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Birmingham: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Birmingham: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Birmingham 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.