Best PlacesBucks, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Bucks, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Bucks ranks 40,885th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Bucks
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.
Bucks' strengths and weaknesses
Where Bucks ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Cost of living vs incomeBetter than 82% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 82% of towns
Where Bucks ranks low
- Short commute53.7 minutes each way, better than only 1% of towns
- Internet speedBetter than only 1% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 4% of towns
- School gradeD, better than only 6% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 6% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Bucks
A household needs to earn about $46,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Bucks home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $85,968, 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 Bucks' effective rate of 0.32%, 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 Bucks
Bucks runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Bucks.
Who works in Bucks, and how
Work in Bucks centers on manufacturing and health care & social. Unemployment is low, and employment has held roughly flat.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 1%
- Transit, walk, or bike 3%
Life in Bucks
The coast is about 43 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Bucks, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Bucks, month by month
Bucks sees roughly 87 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 64, with lows near 39. The comfortable stretch runs February through May and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 64° | 51° | 39° |
| April | 80° | 67° | 55° |
| July | 92° | 81° | 74° |
| October | 84° | 70° | 59° |
Flying in and out of Bucks
The nearest airport, Mobile Regional, is about 24 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 148 miles away.
The best schools in and around Bucks
Schools across Bucks average a D, better than 6% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Mcdavidjones Elementary SchoolC · 33% proficient
- Bay Minette Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- North Mobile County Middle SchoolD+ · 21% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bay Minette Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
- Lott Middle SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Baldwin County High SchoolD · 22% proficient
- Citronelle High SchoolF · 9% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Bucks school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Bucks 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 Bucks against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Bucks
Is Bucks a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Bucks ranks 40,885th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, low property taxes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on long commutes and internet speeds. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Bucks expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $189,338. The overall cost of living runs about 17% below the national average. Set against a $85,968 median income, cost of living beats 82% of towns.
Is Bucks safe?
Yes, Bucks is safer than 72% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $223 per resident a year.
Compare Bucks with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Bucks. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Bucks 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.
Bucks detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Bucks: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Bucks: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Bucks: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Bucks: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Bucks 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.