Best PlacesCarpenter, AL Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Carpenter, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Carpenter ranks 39,585th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on tree cover by a wide margin, and disaster risk is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Carpenter
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.
Carpenter's strengths and weaknesses
Where Carpenter ranks high
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 94% of towns
- State infrastructureBetter than 89% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 82% of towns
- Cheap childcare$619 a month, better than 77% of towns
Where Carpenter ranks low
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 3% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than only 11% of towns
- Cell coverageBetter than only 14% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 15% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 20% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Carpenter
A household needs to earn about $42,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Carpenter home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $65,062, 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 Carpenter's 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 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 Carpenter
Carpenter runs older than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Carpenter.
Who works in Carpenter, and how
Work in Carpenter centers on retail trade and other services. Unemployment is low, and jobs are growing.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 3%
- Transit, walk, or bike 1%
Life in Carpenter
The coast is about 24 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Carpenter, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Carpenter, month by month
Carpenter sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 92 degrees. January highs sit near 63, with lows near 43. The comfortable stretch runs February through April and October through December.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 63° | 52° | 43° |
| April | 78° | 69° | 60° |
| July | 92° | 83° | 76° |
| October | 83° | 72° | 63° |
Flying in and out of Carpenter
The nearest airport, Mobile International, is about 22 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Louis Armstrong New Orleans International, about 156 miles away.
The best schools in and around Carpenter
Schools across Carpenter average a C−, better than 22% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Bay Minette Elementary SchoolC · 32% proficient
- Delta Elementary SchoolC− · 27% proficient
Top middle schools
- Bay Minette Middle SchoolC− · 30% proficient
Top high schools
- Baldwin County High SchoolD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Carpenter school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Carpenter 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 Carpenter against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Carpenter
Is Carpenter a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Carpenter ranks 39,585th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on tree cover, low property taxes, and state infrastructure, and lowest on disaster risk and taxes. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Carpenter expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $172,866. The overall cost of living runs about 18% below the national average. Set against a $65,062 median income, cost of living beats 57% of towns.
Is Carpenter safe?
Carpenter is safer than 34% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $333 per resident a year.
Compare Carpenter with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Carpenter. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Carpenter 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.
Carpenter detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Carpenter: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Carpenter: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Carpenter: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Carpenter: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Carpenter 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.